Unweaving the Rainbow

Title: Unweaving the Rainbow

Author: Richard Dawkins

Publisher: Penguin 2006 (First published 1998)

ISBN: 978-0-141-02618-3

Pages: 334

The master is at it again. One of the great popularizers of science of our times has come out with one more elegantly written piece to illuminate some of the lesser known, or lesser understood, rather aspects of science. This book is a collection of essays on how and why science must make good poetry and why poets should look to science for captivating ideas which they can weave on to the magic they produce in literature. The famous poet, Keats once accused Newton of taking away the sense of mystery around a rainbow by dispersing a beam of light through a prism and explaining how it was produced. Dawkins’ main argument is that the mystery, or aura of beauty surrounding a rainbow is still intact even after its mechanism of origination lay unwoven before the people. He lists out several recent concepts in science which can be woven into superb pieces of literature if only gifted poets and authors turn their attention to science.

The general populace and some influential literatteurs too display a skewed orientation to science, often feigning ignorance of even well established facts. They adopt a distant attitude to it, safe in the assumption that they won’t be taken to task for this. Such attitudes to science is unwarranted. It is so useful and wonderful that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. DNA, the fingerprint of life in this vast universe is so intriguing, yet so exciting! Artists and poets should be more versed in science which will only make their works more appealing.

Dawkins goes on to sketch a detailed mechanism of how the rainbow is formed, in part to do justification to his selection of the title. Electromagnetic spectrum and fraunhofer lines are discussed, but one gets the impression that he is walking on a tight-rope as physics is not his forte. Exactly how the splitting of the spectrum into its component parts in the human brain brings out the truth behind the perceived differences between various parts of the spectrum. Genetic analysis using DNA leading to spinoffs in forensic science are also introduced.

An enlightening deliberation on superstition and paranormal beliefs follow. While condemning most of the modern junk, he cautions against being a dogmatic sceptic, citing examples of Lord Kelvin who thought that radio waves would soon be useless, at the end of the 19^th century. Excellent advice on the usual pitfalls of soothsayers and miracle workers are given, by providing a fine discussion on statistical significance tests. The author asserts that our minds are even now calibrated to small village communities where miracles based on statistical averages are rather rare and people readily believe what their acquaintances claim. Our present age, in which the entire globe is just one village, presents statistical possibilities which occur rather frequently, considering the huge populations involved. We should be vary of readily falling into the traps such a large sample provides.

Scientists can, sometimes resort to bad poetry to emphasize their points, with one prominent example of Stephen Jay Gould, as claimed by Dawkins. His arguments about independent origin of many species in the cambrian era invites ire from the author. Several proofs and supporters are arrayed against Gould, but one is led to suspicion by such tirade that the author’s real intention is to tarnish Gould’s works as bad science, rather than bad poetry! Overdependence on the concept of gaia, first put forward by James Lovelock also gets a beating. Coevolution and coadaptation can explain most of the symbiotic appearances of gaia. The running speeds of prey like antelopes and predators like cheetah is a good case of coevolution. There seems to be a biological arms race going between these two totally unrelated species. When the running speed of antelopes goes up, an equivalent increase in pace of the hunter also seem to happen in the real world.

The author puts forward the view that the world we perceive through our eyes is really a simulated picture made out by the brain, based on inputs from retina. By citing several illusions where our eyes are tricked into seeing differenct objects, the argument is strongly established. This also makes the sightings of apparitions, angels and divine beings as plausible in the cases of people who were suffering from illnesses, brain damage, psychological problems, or fasting. The veneer of many a poet stands exposed from this illuminating chapter.

There are very few points which goes against the quality of the work. What this book is a general discussion of current scientific philosophy and not enough justification of the title is achieved. To make the link with the literary world substantial, he resorts to extensive quotations from many works. Another drawback may be the promotion of the author’s concept of the ‘selfish gene’, put forward through a book bearing that name. Dawkins sometimes appear to be unduly harsh to his critics.

The book is eminently recommended.

Rating: 3 Star