Thank You Very Much Richard

I have grown the habit to break down the techniques that authors use, when I like a piece of writing. Fortunately, I didn’t make an exception with Richard Dawkins and his book, The Selfish Gene. One of my greatest obstacles when I’m writing is making sure that the reader doesn’t get bored. I find it fascinating how Dawkins could write an entire book on biology and behavior, without being a school textbook, and catching the readers attention at all times.

His main trick is probably that he talks in first person, and constantly comes back to the reader talking to them. After pages on biology Richard wrote: “To be strict, this book should be called not The Selfish Cistron nor The Selfish Chromosome, but The slightly selfish big bit of chromosome and the even more selfish little bit of chromosome. To say the least this is not a catchy title so, defining a gene as a little bit of choromosome which potentially lasts for many generations, I call the book The Selfish Gene.” (Pg.33) Look at the way he manages to be completely honest, and puts some spark to the theme. Also, while reading, I am not reading. The truth is I am having a conversation with Richard Dawkins and I am finding slowly his humorous and relaxed personality.

I must admit that having to read so much for homework sounded very boring at first. But the truth is, by the time that I finished the first page, I was enjoying my chit chat with Richard about biology and evolution, and the truth is I don’t understand or care about most of what he says, but I still enjoy every single comment. The book has given me some knowledge, made me connect to other themes and gave me the sense of talking to the author, but above all, The Selfish Gene gave me a need to know Richard Dawkins personally, because he sounds like an incredible person.