In “Richard Dawkins’s Latest Attempt to Produce Young, Angry, New Atheist Clones” (Evolution News & Views, December 13, 2011 ), Casey Luskin reviews Dawkins’s The Magic of Reality:
With a remarkable rapidity, The Magic of Reality switches back and forth between solid, well-accepted science and new atheist propaganda. Dawkins’s evident hope is that kids who read the book won’t be able to tell the difference.
One odd aspect of the book is its apparent obsession with occult-style images. A friend and I went through The Magic of Reality and together we counted over a dozen pages with pictures of demons, devils, and the like. The one above is pretty tame compared to other stuff in the book. These aren’t cute cartoony-devils — they’re probably enough to give the average kid nightmares. And I say this as someone who loves sci-fi / fantasy media and has a pretty strong stomach for this sort of thing.
Depending on your ideological leanings, right now you might be thinking either “Sweet!,” or “Uh, that’s a little weird.” As much as I enjoy science fiction and fantasy, I’m definitely leaning toward the latter end of the spectrum. After all, if you wanted to give your kid a fun book about science, why would you want it to be full of creepy pictures of demons and devils? I’m also left wondering: Why is Dawkins apparently so obsessed with occult topics and iconography?
UD News staff tend to run for available doors and windows when any of that stuff gets lots of air time. Maybe demons, maybe not. But people acting crazy? For SURE!
It’ll be interesting if public school boards assign the book in the interests of diversity. Watch for that.
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