The Penguin Podcast is back! Listen Now
The Magic of Reality

The Magic of Reality

Illustrated Children's Edition

Summary

What are things made of?
What is the sun?
Is there really life on other planets?
Why do bad things happen?

Throughout history, people have invented fascinating stories to explain the world we live in. Have you heard the tale of how the sun hatched out of an emu’s egg? Or what about the great catfish that carries the world on its back? Has anyone ever told you that earthquakes are caused by a sneezing giant? These fantastical myths are fun – but what are the real answers to such questions?

Professor Richard Dawkins has teamed up with renowned illustrator Dave McKean to take you on an amazing journey from atoms to animals, pollination to paranoia, the big bang to the bigger picture. See the wonder of science come alive in this beautifully illustrated guide to the greatest questions on earth – and some of the answers to them.

Reviews

  • It's the clearest and most beautifully written introduction to science I've ever read . . . Explanations I thought I knew were clarified; things I never understood were made clear for the first time.
    Philip Pullman

About the author

Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins is author of The Selfish Gene, voted The Royal Society's Most Inspiring Science Book of All Time, and also the bestsellers The Blind Watchmaker, Climbing Mount Improbable, The Ancestor's Tale, The God Delusion, and two volumes of autobiography, An Appetite for Wonder and Brief Candle in the Dark. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford and a fellow of both the Royal Society and the Royal Society of Literature. In 2013, Dawkins was voted the world’s top thinker in Prospect magazine’s poll of 10,000 readers from over 100 countries.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more