[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-40744-en":3,"doc-seo-40744-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":90},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":11,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},40744,687197207057,"Sage","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_29158cc5080c5b710cf443261637dec0",2,"Literature","Richard Dawkins Unweaving The Rainbow","Richard Dawkins defends science as a powerful source of wonder and imagination against claims that scientific explanation destroys the poetry of the rainbow. Drawing on the debate between Keats and Newton, the preface argues that science removes false cosmic sentimentality without extinguishing personal hope. It highlights how developments such as spectroscopy and modern astronomy deepen our understanding of the universe, while a “delusion” section addresses superstition, mystery, and the desire for ghosts and similar beliefs.","RICHARD DAWKINS-UNWEAVING THE  \nRAINBOW  \nSCIENCE, DELUSION AND THE APPETITE  \nFOR WONDER.  \n'The product of a beguiling and fascinating mind and one generous enough to attempt to include all willing readers in its brilliantly informed enthusiasm'  \nMELVYN BRAGG, OBSERVER  \nKeats accused Newton of destroying the poetry of the rainbow by explaining the origin of its colours, thus dispelling its mystery. In this illuminating and provocative book, Richard Dawkins argues that Keats could not have been more mistaken and shows how an understanding of science inspires the human imagination and enhances our wonder of the world.  \n'A brilliant assertion of the wonder and excitement of real, tough, grownup science'  \nA. S. BYATT, DAILY TELEGRAPH, BOOKS OF THE YEAR  \n'The way Dawkins writes about science is not just a brain-tonic.  \nIt is more like an extended stay on a brain health-farm ... You come out feeling lean, tuned and enormously more intelligent'  \nJOHN CAREY, SUNDAY TIMES  \n'For Dawkins there is more poetry, not less, in the rainbow-because of Newton  \n, .. Warming to his theme, he weaves rainbows of wonder from other provinces of science ... and then unleashes his fury on those who accuse scientists like him of being unimaginative for not believing in horoscopes, telepathy, ghosts and gods'  \nMATT RIDLEY, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH  \n'Beautifully written and full of interesting, original ideas. Essential reading, for those who care about science'  \nLEWIS WOLPERT, THE TIMES  \nPREFACE  \nA foreign publisher of my first book confessed that he could not sleep for three nights after reading it, so troubled was he by what he saw as its cold, bleak message. Others have asked me how I can bear to get up in the mornings. A teacher from a distant country wrote to me reproachfully that a pupil had come to him in tears after reading the same book, because it had persuaded her that life was empty and purposeless. He advised her not to show the book to any of her friends, for fear of contaminating them with the same nihilistic pessimism. Similar accusations of barren desolation, of promoting an arid and joyless message, are frequently flung at science in general, and it is easy for scientists to play up to them. My colleague Peter Atkins begins his book The Second Law (1984) in this vein:  \nWe are the children of chaos, and the deep structure of change is decay. At root, there is only corruption, and the unstemmable tide of chaos. Gone is purpose; all that is left is direction. this is the bleakness we have to accept as we peer deeply and dispassionately into the heart of the Universe.  \nBut such very proper purging of saccharine false purpose; such laudable tough-mindedness in the debunking of cosmic sentimentality must not be confused with a loss of personal hope. Presumably there is indeed no purpose in the ultimate fate of the cosmos, but do any of us really tie our life's hopes to the ultimate fate of the cosmos anyway? Of course we don't; not if we are sane. Our lives are ruled by all sorts of closer, warmer, human ambitions and perceptions. To accuse science of robbing life of the warmth that makes it worth living is so preposterously mistaken, so diametrically opposite to my own feelings and those of most working  \nscientists, I am almost driven to the despair of which I am wrongly suspected. But in this book I shall try a more positive response, appealing to the sense of wonder in science because it is so sad to think what these complainers and naysayers are missing. This is one of the things that the late Carl Sagan did so well, and for which he is sadly missed. The feeling of awed wonder that science can give us is one of the highest experiences of which the human psyche is capable. It is a deep aesthetic passion to rank with the finest that music and poetry can deliver. It is truly one of the things that makes life worth living and it does so, if anything, more effectively if it convinces us that the time we have for living it is finite. ","cbCaieHxGz1fT3fG","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaieHxGz1fT3fG","pdf",687856,1,232,"English","en",105,"# Preface\n## Misconceptions about science and bleakness\n## Wonder as an aesthetic passion\n## Keats, Newton, and the rainbow\n## From spectroscopy to modern science\n## The delusion and superstition section","[{\"question\":\"Why does Dawkins discuss Keats and Newton in the opening?\",\"answer\":\"Dawkins uses Keats’s accusation that Newton destroyed the poetry of the rainbow as the starting point, then argues Keats is mistaken and that science can actually inspire wonder and imagination.\"},{\"question\":\"What concern does the preface address about science’s impact on hope?\",\"answer\":\"The preface responds to critics who claim science delivers a cold, empty, joyless message. Dawkins argues that this is a misunderstanding: even if ultimate cosmic purpose may be absent, human hope is grounded in closer, human ambitions rather than the universe’s fate.\"},{\"question\":\"What scientific developments does Dawkins connect to the rainbow theme?\",\"answer\":\"He explains that Newton’s “unweaving” led to spectroscopy, which helps reveal much about the cosmos, using the idea of Fraunhofer lines and shifts along the spectrum to connect to astronomy and other scientific domains.\"}]",1783314743,357,{"code":4,"msg":30,"data":31},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":32,"title":13,"keywords":33,"description":14,"schema_data":34,"social_meta":85,"head_meta":87,"extra_data":89,"updated_unix":27},"richard-dawkins-unweaving-the-rainbow","",{"@graph":35,"@context":84},[36,52,67],{"@type":37,"itemListElement":38},"BreadcrumbList",[39,43,46,49],{"item":40,"name":41,"@type":42,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":44,"name":45,"@type":42,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",{"item":47,"name":12,"@type":42,"position":48},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":50,"name":13,"@type":42,"position":51},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/richard-dawkins-unweaving-the-rainbow/40744/",4,{"url":50,"name":13,"@type":53,"author":54,"headline":13,"publisher":56,"fileFormat":59,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":60,"datePublished":61,"encodingFormat":59,"isAccessibleForFree":62,"interactionStatistic":63},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":55},"Person",{"url":40,"name":57,"@type":58},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-13","2026-07-06",true,{"@type":64,"interactionType":65,"userInteractionCount":11},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":66},"ViewAction",{"@type":68,"mainEntity":69},"FAQPage",[70,76,80],{"name":71,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":73},"Why does Dawkins discuss Keats and Newton in the opening?","Question",{"text":74,"@type":75},"Dawkins uses Keats’s accusation that Newton destroyed the poetry of the rainbow as the starting point, then argues Keats is mistaken and that science can actually inspire wonder and imagination.","Answer",{"name":77,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":78},"What concern does the preface address about science’s impact on hope?",{"text":79,"@type":75},"The preface responds to critics who claim science delivers a cold, empty, joyless message. Dawkins argues that this is a misunderstanding: even if ultimate cosmic purpose may be absent, human hope is grounded in closer, human ambitions rather than the universe’s fate.",{"name":81,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":82},"What scientific developments does Dawkins connect to the rainbow theme?",{"text":83,"@type":75},"He explains that Newton’s “unweaving” led to spectroscopy, which helps reveal much about the cosmos, using the idea of Fraunhofer lines and shifts along the spectrum to connect to astronomy and other scientific domains.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":50,"og:type":86,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":57,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":88,"canonical":50},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":91},[92,96,99,103,108,113,118,123,128,131,135],{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":98},80,"literature",{"id":51,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":100,"show_sort_weight":101,"slug":102},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":104,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":105,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":107},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":109,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":110,"show_sort_weight":111,"slug":112},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":114,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":115,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":117},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":119,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":127},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":126,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":130},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":132,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":133,"show_sort_weight":132,"slug":134},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":136,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":137,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":138},19,"General","general"]