Richard Dawkins speaking at Old Cabell Hall, UVa, October 4, 2011.

Evolutionary biologist and iconoclast Richard Dawkins has a new book out, The Magic of Reality. He spoke about it yesterday to a packed house at UVa. Previous works in this line that we recall fondly include The Selfish Gene and The God Delusion. .

To Dawkins, the world as explained by science is as glittering and magical a place as the world explained by religion or myth, with the added benefit of a basis in demonstrable truth.

(Dave Sagarin, October 5, 2011).