During the summer of 2011, I began to develop a passionate interest in science. My love for the subject was wholly consuming, for a time. I spent the majority of the summer watching lectures on Physics and Biology on Youtube, purchasing non-fiction literature, and even researching the cost of textbooks, as I intended to do some independent study. This was a very important point in my life, and during this time, I discovered Richard Dawkins.
I was first introduced - as it were - to Dawkins in the form of a lecture to UC Berkely about his newest book, 'The Greatest Show on Earth'. I was immediately intrigued by the subject matter... I had never outwardly expressed any interest in the field of Evolutionary Biology, but I knew that I had to learn more. The subject alone was worthy of much deeper inquiry, and I knew that it would be a privilege to learn from such a powerful writer. There is no doubt that I was also drawn to his considerable disdain for religion, a topic I also harbor reasonable distaste for, but this matters little in this particular book. It was a masterpiece, cover to cover, and I emerged from its pages with new-found knowledge of and respect for science.
It is very unfortunate, though, that I haven't finished any of his other novels. Since I completed his aforementioned work, I have begun to read several others, including 'The God Delusion', 'Climbing Mount Improbable', and 'The Magic of Reality', but I have not yet finished any of them. This is largely my own fault, but it is an issue compounded by the large workload I now have in my senior year. It is my goal, however, to restart each of these and read them in their entirety over the course of the year. Each one will provide a phenomenally enjoyable experience, and I only hope that I am given enough time to appropriately meditate on their contents.
I have several more of Dawkins' books on the way, so I should probably start reading!
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