The Magic of Reality

  ‘accident prone’, 226

  Adam (and Eve), 35–7, 58, 59, 220

  agriculture, 46

  aliens: abduction by, 182–6; fictional, 181, 193–4; life on other planets, 14–15, 186–93; myths and legends, 180–1, 185–6; vision, 194–8

  allergies, 233–4

  amphibians, 50

  ancestors, 38–43, 46–50, 52–3, 70

  Andersen, Hans Christian, 19

  Anguilla, 66–7, 68

  ant lion, 227–8

  apes, 48–9, 60, 72

  aphelion, 115–16, 118, 120

  Applewhite, Marshall, 181

  Arctic tern, 107

  Asclepius, 218

  asteroids, 136–7

  astrology, 219

  Atlas, 163

  atomic number, 92, 171

  atoms: compounds, 79–80; crystals, 80–3, 88; elements, 79; inside the atom, 85–91; knowledge of, 15, 79; mass, 91–2, 93; models, 86–8; nucleus, 87–9, 91–3; radioactive isotopes, 44; splitting, 86

  Australian aborigines, 100–2

  Aztec religion, 124–6

  Babel, Tower of, 56, 61–2

  bacteria, 12–13, 65, 96, 140, 230–1, 235

  bad things, 216–17, 220–3, 226–7

  Barotse tribe, 124

  bats, 157, 197

  Beagle, HMS, 67

  big bang model, 164–5, 177

  birds, 50, 57, 107, 140, 197

  Blackmore, Sue, 185

  Bohr, Niels, 87

  Boshongo myth, 162

  Brahma, 163

  breeding: between different species, 42, 59, 65, 68–9; gene pools, 73–5; horses and donkeys, 42, 59, 65; interbreeding, 47, 49, 71; Mendel’s experiments, 16–17; natural selection, 30–1; selective, 28–9

  Brown, Derren, 20

  Buckyballs and Buckytubes, 94–5

  cancers, 234–5

  carbon, 79, 80–1, 88, 92–3, 94–5

  carbon-14, 46, 93

  cards, shuffling and dealing, 25–6, 251–2

  carnivores, 72, 139–40, 142

  Cassini space probe, 116

  chameleon, 217

  chance, 23–6, 220–1, 223–5

  chimpanzees, 18, 48, 51, 52–3, 72

  Chinese myths, 162–3

  chlorine ions, 82

  chromosomes, 17, 51

  Chumash people, 148–9

  Clancy, Susan, 182

  Clarke, Arthur C., 256

  clocks and watches, 243–4

  clouds, 141–2

  coaches, 19, 23–4, 26, 31, 238–9, 253

  coal, 141–2, 192

  Coatlicue, 125–6

  coin tossing, 222, 224–6

  coincidence, 238, 241–3, 251

  colours, 90, 151–8, 169–72, 176

  comets, 115–17, 181

  Conan Doyle, Sir Arthur, 246–7

  conjurors, 20–1, 252

  continental drift, 208, 210

  continents, 205–9, 210, 212

  convection currents, 211–12, 213

  Crick, Francis, 17–18

  cricket, 224–6

  crystals, 80–3, 84, 88, 90

  Darwin, Charles: on evolution, 27, 29–30; Galapagos visit, 67–8; on natural selection, 29–30, 74, 227, 229; tree picture, 60–1, 64

  dates, 45–6, 93

  day–night cycle, 100–2, 106–7

  death, 217

  Demeter, 102–3

  Democritus, 79

  Devil, 220, 247

  dialects, 62, 64, 71

  diamond, 80–1, 82, 88

  dinosaurs, 12, 13, 14, 50, 137

  disease, 217–20, 231–5

  distance, measuring, 166–8

  diversity, 57–8

  DNA, 16–18, 50–3, 64–5, 67, 70, 73

  Dogon tribe, 217

  dogs, 18, 59, 156, 217, 233

  dolphins, 72, 149, 197

  Doppler, Christian, 175–6

  Doppler shift, 173, 175–6, 188

  dreams, 184, 241–3

  Dreamtime, 100

  duck-billed platypus, 49, 198

  dust mites, 96

  Earth: axis, 104–5, 111, 118–20; centre, 85, 212; convection currents, 212, 213; orbit, 103, 108–9, 115, 118–19, 134, 166–7, 191; sea-floor spreading, 210–12; spinning, 103–5; tectonic plates, 209–14, 223

  earthquakes: causes, 208, 213–14, 223; diseases, 219; experiences of, 200–1; myths, 202–5

  Eden, 36

  Egyptian religion, 127

  electrons, 87–9, 91–3, 171

  elements, 78, 79, 92–3, 133–4, 170–2

  ellipses, 113–15, 117

  emotions, 18

  energy, 138–43

  Eta Carinae, 130, 133–4

  Europa, 190, 191

  evaporation, 141

  evolution: auto-immune diseases, 235; Galapagos islands, 67–71; gene pools, 74–5; gradual, 26–7; languages, 57, 63–5, 66, 68, 71; natural selection, 30–1, 68, 70, 75, 227–9; pregnancies, 233; selective breeding, 28–9; tree picture, 61

  eyes, 194–7

  faces, seeing, 240

  fairies, photographs of, 245–6

  fairy godmother, 23–4

  false memory syndrome, 183, 185

  Fatima, miracle of, 247–9

  Feynman, Richard, 243

  fish, 40–1, 43, 48, 50, 66, 198

  fossils, 13, 43–5, 60, 93

  Franklin, Rosalind, 18

  frogs, 23, 26, 27–31, 50, 52, 66

  fungi, 140, 230

  Galapagos islands, 67–71

  galaxies, 13, 14, 165–8, 172–3, 176–7

  gas giants, 190

  gases, 79, 83, 85, 89

  gene: flow, 64, 66, 73; pool, 73–5

  genes, 16–17, 29–30, 51–3, 68, 71, 73–5

  genus, 59–60

  ghost stories, 240–1

  Gilgamesh, 146–8, 149

  Gliese 581, 191–2

  gold, 79, 81, 82, 192

  Goldilocks zone, 191–3

  Gondwana, 206

  gravity, 109, 111–12, 115–16, 129–32, 141, 192

  Greek: medicine, 218–19; myths, 102, 127, 163

  Griffiths, Frances, 245–6

  Grimm, the Brothers, 19

  Hades, 102–3

  Haiti, earthquake, 200, 214

  Hale–Bopp comet, 181

  Halley’s Comet, 117

  hallucinations, 184, 249, 250–1

  health, 219

  Heaven’s Gate cult, 181

  Hebrew myths, see Jewish myths

  Helios, 116, 127, 131

  helium, 131, 132, 133

  herbivores, 139–40, 142

  heredity, 16

  hibernation, 108

  Himalayas, formation, 207, 213

  Hippocrates, 218–19

  Homo erectus, 42–3, 60

  Homo sapiens, 42–3, 59–60

  Hopi people, 57

  Hubble, Edwin, 173

  Hubble shift, 173

  Hubble telescope, 14, 173

  Huitzilopochtli, 125–6

  Hume, David, 244–5, 246, 248, 250–2

  humours, four, 219

  hunter-gatherers, 46–7

  hydrogen: atom, 92; element, 79; octane, 94; stars, 129, 131–2, 133

  iguanas, 66–70

  immune system, 231–5

  Inca religion, 124, 126

  incubus, 185–6

  Indian myths, 163

  insects, 57, 69, 157, 195

  ions, 82

  iron, 79, 81, 82, 85, 88, 133–4, 192

  islands, 65–71

  isotopes, 44–5, 93

  Jackson, Michael, 240, 241

  Japan: earthquake and tsunami, 200–1; earthquake myths, 204

  Jericho, walls of, 202–3

  Jesus, 239, 252, 253–4

  Jewish myths: Adam and Eve, 35–6, 58, 220; creation, 58, 127; naming the animals, 59; Noah’s Ark, 147–8; Sodom and Gomorrah, 202; Tower of Babel, 56

  Jupiter, 129, 135, 136, 188, 190


  Kepler, Johannes, 113, 134

  lakes, 66, 69, 71

  languages, 56–7, 61–5, 66, 71, 74

  ‘Law of Averages’, 224–5

  lead, 79, 81, 86, 88, 92, 134

  lead-206, 45

  Lear, Edward, 78

  leaves, 138–9, 141, 143

  lemurs, 49, 60

  light: beams, 90; spectrum, 151–3, 154–9, 168–73; speed of, 14; wavelength, 156–8, 169, 171, 196–7; waves, 176

  liquids, 83–4, 89

  Lourdes, 218

  Lowell, Percival, 191

  luck, 223–6

  lunar cycles, 121

  magic: poetic, 19, 21; stage, 19, 20; supernatural, 19, 20, 25, 238

  Magic Circle, 20

  mammals, 49–50, 51–3, 60, 72, 107–8, 233

  Maori myths, 204

  Mars, 129, 136, 190

  mass, 91–2

  Maya religion, 124, 126

  Mayr, Ernst, 57

  memories, false, 183, 185

  Mendel, Gregor, 16–17, 18

  mercury, 79, 85

  metals, 79

  meteors, 136–7

  methane, 85

  Mexican Wave, 174

  mice, 51, 52, 71

  microscopes, 18, 86, 95, 96, 230

  migration, 107–8

  Milky Way, 14, 35, 148–9, 165–6, 172

  miracles: definition, 244; examples, 244–5, 251–5; Fatima, 247–9; Jesus’s, 239, 252–4; playing cards, 25, 251–2; photographs of fairies, 245–6; rumours and traditions, 239–41; supernatural magic, 19, 238; technology and, 255–7; witch trials, 247

  mirrors, 90

  models, 15–18, 22, 86–8, 164, 177

  molecules: atoms in, 80; Buckyballs and Buckytubes, 94–5; colours, 171; diamond crystal, 80, 88; fossils, 44; immune system, 233; miracles, 253; movement, 83–4; waves, 173–4

  molybdenum, 79

  monkeys, 48–9, 52, 60

  moon, 121, 124, 128, 189, 192–3

  multiverse, 165

  myoglobin, 95

  naphthalene, 94

  natural selection, 30–1, 68, 70, 75, 193, 227–9

  Navajo people, 57

  neutron star, 193

  neutrons, 91–3

  New Guinea, 57, 205

  New Zealand: earthquake myths, 204; earthquakes, 201

  Newton, Sir Isaac, 109, 151–3, 154, 168–9

  newts, 28–30, 31, 50

  Nigerian myths, 124, 163

  Noah’s Ark, 147–8

  Norse myths, 37, 127, 149

  North American myths, 57, 102

  nucleus, nuclei, 87–9, 91–2, 171, 193

  oases, 58, 66, 69, 71

  octane, 94

  orbits: comets, 115–16, 117; Earth’s orbit, 103, 108–9, 115, 118–19, 134, 166–7, 188, 191; ellipses, 113–14, 117; planets, 109–11, 117, 129, 130–1, 134–5, 187–9; satellites, 111; space station in, 106, 111–12

  original sin, 36–7

  ozone, 80

  Pan Gu myths, 162–3

  parallax method, 166–8

  paranoia, 229–30

  parasites, 140, 228, 230–2, 234

  peat, 140–1

  Penn and Teller, 20

  perihelion, 116, 117, 118, 120

  Persephone, 102–3

  photons, 90, 121

  pilgrimage, 218

  Pink Panther, The, 226

  planets: detecting, 187–9; distance from star, 191; extra-solar, 187, 189–90, 191; gravitational pull, 129, 192–3; life on other planets, 186–7, 193–8; mass, 192; orbits, 109–11, 117, 129, 130–1, 134–5, 187–9; size, 129, 192; temperature, 85, 191

  plate tectonics, 205, 208–11, 223

  Pluto, 115, 117, 118, 135

  Pollyanna’s Law, 222, 229

  Pompeii and Herculaneum, 214

  potential energy, 142

  predators, 228–9, 230

  pregnancy, 232–3

  Presley, Elvis, 239, 241

  prisms, 151–3, 154, 168–9

  protons, 91–3, 171

  Proxima Centauri, 14, 128, 130

  Pueblo people, 57

  pyramids, 126–7

  quarks, 93

  Quetzalcoatl, 125

  radar, 197–8

  radio telescope, 13, 15, 158

  radio waves, 13, 158, 196–7; modulated, 197

  radioactive clocks, 45–6

  rainbow: myths, 147–9; real magic, 150–1; spectrum, 152–3, 154–6, 156–9, 168

  raindrops, 153–6

  Randi, James ‘The Amazing’, 20

  red: dwarf, 191; giant, 132; shift, 173, 176, 188

  relative movement, 103–5

  reptiles, 50

  rivers, 141

  rocks: age of, 44–5; hardness, 88–9; igneous, 43–4; opacity, 90; pointy, 223; sedimentary, 43–4, 82; types, 43–4

  Rowling, J. K., 19

  rumours, 239–41, 248

  Rutherford, Ernest, 86, 87

  Salem witch trials, 247

  Salish tribe, 163

  salt, 82–3

  San Andreas Fault, 201–2, 214

  San Francisco earthquake, 201

  sand, 82

  satellites, 111

  Saturn, 85, 116, 136

  scallops, 196

  scavengers, 140

  sea-floor spreading, 210–12

  seasons, 102, 108–9, 118–21

  selective breeding, 28

  Shinto religion, 124

  shooting stars, 136–7

  Siberian myths, 204

  simulation, computer, 16

  sleep paralysis, 183–5

  sodium: ions, 82; light, 170–2

  Sodom and Gomorrah, 202

  Sod’s Law, 221–2, 227, 228–9

  solar wind, 117

  solids, 84–5, 88–9, 90, 175

  sonar, 197

  sound: speed of, 14; wavelength, 156–7, 158, 175–6; waves, 173–6

  space station, 106, 111–13

  species, 42–3, 59–61, 64–72, 73–5

  spectroscope, 168–9, 171, 178, 187, 188

  spectrum, 151–3, 154–9, 168–73, 176

  spiders: jumping, 195; webs, 227–8

  standard candles, 167–8, 176

  stardust, 133–4

  starlight, 138, 168–71

  stars: distances away, 12, 166–7; galaxies, 14, 165–6; gravitational pull, 129; life story of a star, 131–2; neutron, 193; planetary orbits, 134–5; shooting stars, 136–7; size, 129, 130, 131; supernovas, 133–4; temperature, 129–30

  Star Trek, 181, 183

  steady state model, 164

  steam engines, 141, 142

  subduction, 213

  succubus, 185–6

  sugar, 138–9, 142–3

  Sumerian myths, 146–9

  summer, 100, 102–3, 107–9, 118–21

  sun: day and night, 106–7, 118–20; gravitational pull, 129; importance for life, 137–43; life story of a star, 131–2; myths, 100–3; planetary orbits, 109, 115, 117, 118–19, 134–5, 166; solar wind, 117; star, 128, 130, 131, 165; summer and winter, 103, 107, 118–21; worship, 124–7

  supernovas, 133–4, 135

  Tahltan people, 102

  Tasmanian origin myths, 34–5

  tectonic plates, 208–9, 209–11, 223

  telescopes: curved mirror, 196; detecting reality, 18; Hubble, 173; observing stars, 132, 188; photographs, 158; radio, 13, 158; as time machines, 14–15; X-ray, 13, 158

  Tezcatlipoca, 125

  Thomson, J. J., 87

  time: beginning of, 164–5; measuring, 44–6, 100

  time machine, 14, 46–9, 256

  Tiv tribe, 124

  Tlaloc, 125

  tossing a coin, 222, 224–6

  tradition, 241

  tsunami, 200–1, 223

  universe: alien life forms, 180–1; big bang, 164–5, 177; distances, 166–7; expanding, 177; laws of, 252–3; observable, 164–5; origin myths, 162–4

  uranium, 92, 134

  uranium-23
8, 44–5, 46

  Utnapashtim, 146–8

  vaccination, 232

  Venus, 116, 132

  Vesuvius, eruption, 214

  viruses, 227, 230, 234

  Vishnu, 163

  vision, 194–7

  volcanoes, 43, 67, 69–70, 212, 214

  watches, 243–4

  water on other planets, 190–2

  water wheels, 141–2, 143

  Watson, James, 17–18

  Wegener, Alfred, 208–9, 210

  weightlessness, 111–12

  West African legends, 124, 149, 204–5, 217

  whales, 18, 58, 72, 157, 197

  white dwarf, 133

  Wilde, Oscar, 216

  Wilkins, Maurice, 18

  wind, 90, 173, 213, 229

  winter, 100, 102–3, 107–9, 118–21

  Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 105

  Wright, Elsie, 245–6

  X-rays, 18, 157, 158, 167, 196–7

  Zulu creation myth, 163

  About the Author and Illustrator

  Richard Dawkins was first catapulted to fame with his iconic book The Selfish Gene, which he followed with a string of bestselling books, including the phenomenal The God Delusion. The Magic of Reality is his first book written for a younger, more general readership and it also became an immediate bestseller in its original, colour illustrated hardback edition. Dawkins is a fellow of the Royal Society and the Royal Society of Literature, and has won numerous awards. He was a professor at Oxford University until 2008 and he remains a fellow of New College. He has also written and presented several television documentaries, including The Genius of Charles Darwin in 2008 and Faith School Menace in 2010.

  Dave McKean has illustrated and designed many award-winning books and graphic novels. He has created hundreds of album, comic and book covers, and has designed characters for two of the Harry Potter films. He has also directed two feature films, MirrorMask and Luna.

  Also by Richard Dawkins

  The Selfish Gene

  The Extended Phenotype

  The Blind Watchmaker

  River Out of Eden

  Climbing Mount Improbable

  Unweaving the Rainbow

  A Devil’s Chaplain

  The Ancestor’s Tale

  The God Delusion*

  The Greatest Show on Earth*

  * and published by Black Swan

  TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS

  61–63 Uxbridge Road, London W5 5SA

  A Random House Group Company

  www.transworldbooks.co.uk

  THE MAGIC OF REALITY

  A BLACK SWAN BOOK: 9780552778053

  Version 1.0 Epub ISBN 9781409011415

  First Published in Great Britain

  Black Swan edition published 2012

  Copyright © Richard Dawkins 2011

  Illustrations copyright © Dave McKean 2011

  Richard Dawkins has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.