Todaynis the birthday of one of my heroes. I love authors who write aboutnscience in a clear, easy-to-understand way—authors who are excitednabout science—authors who are able to express that excitement isnsuch a way that it’s catchy!
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nRichardnDawkins does exactly these things!
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Anothernof my heroes who transmitted scientific knowledge and excitement innequal measures is Carl Sagan. Sadly, Sagan died in 1996 at age 62. Inloved reading his books and still sometimes reread them, but I was onnthe lookout for another author who could fill the popular-sciencenniche. When I read Dawkins’s book Unweaving the Rainbow, Inrealized that I had found a new hero. I also really like Dawkins’snbook for young people, The Magic of Reality.
Anothernof my heroes who transmitted scientific knowledge and excitement innequal measures is Carl Sagan. Sadly, Sagan died in 1996 at age 62. Inloved reading his books and still sometimes reread them, but I was onnthe lookout for another author who could fill the popular-sciencenniche. When I read Dawkins’s book Unweaving the Rainbow, Inrealized that I had found a new hero. I also really like Dawkins’snbook for young people, The Magic of Reality.n
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Butnneither of those are the book that made Dawkins famous. His book ThenSelfish Gene, published in 1976, became extremely popular andneven revolutionary. It has sold over a million copies and has beenntranslated into more than 25 languages.
Butnneither of those are the book that made Dawkins famous. His book ThenSelfish Gene, published in 1976, became extremely popular andneven revolutionary. It has sold over a million copies and has beenntranslated into more than 25 languages.n
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nYounmight know that a gene is a unit of heredity, something that isnpassed down from parent to child. It is a section of DNA thatndetermines (or helps determine) a particular trait such as eye colornor the shape of a nose. n
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nRichardnDawkins’s book talks about evolution, not from the viewpoint ofnindividual animals that struggle to live and reproduce, but from thenviewpoint of genes. He is not talking about genes that make people ornanimals selfish—instead, his book explains why people and somenanimals are so amazingly UN-selfish. It really is an interesting andnworthwhile read, although a fairly high-level one.
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nFromnGenes to Memes… n
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nInnThe Selfish Gene, Dawkins introduced the word meme tonmean a unit of culture. What, you may ask, is a unit of culture? Itnis a song or ditty, a catchphrase or slang word, an idea or belief, a story or even a behavior thatnis passed from one person to another through retelling and imitation. Memes not onlynreproduce (spread through imitation), they change or evolve. n
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Dawkinsncoined the word meme long before the internet became thenincredible “all-encompassing cultural juggernaut” that itnis today, but we now use the word most often to mean something on the internet—usually an image or video, or a type of image ornvideo—that spreads through “liking” and sharing. Images, websites, Facebook pages, and videos that spread far and wide in a short period of time are said to have gone viral. Here some teens discussnsuch internet memes (and not too kindly!).
Dawkinsncoined the word meme long before the internet became thenincredible “all-encompassing cultural juggernaut” that itnis today, but we now use the word most often to mean something on the internet—usually an image or video, or a type of image ornvideo—that spreads through “liking” and sharing. Images, websites, Facebook pages, and videos that spread far and wide in a short period of time are said to have gone viral. Here some teens discussnsuch internet memes (and not too kindly!).n
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nBynthe way, there is an entire field of study now called memetics,nthe study of memes. More exactly, memetics is a theory of the spreadnof mental content based on the analogy of evolution.
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nAlsonon this date:
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nEncyclopedistnConrad Gesner’s birthday
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nPoetnRobert Frost’s birthday
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