解析彩虹 – Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder by Richard Dawkins

写给所有人的科普散文

牛顿用三棱镜把光线分解成光谱，揭开了彩虹的奥秘，但诗人济慈却批评牛顿，让彩虹诗意全无。我们不禁要问——科学与美，可以共存吗？

道金斯给出了肯定的回答：不仅是彩虹的美，自然界中所有的美都不会因此而消失，而且科学像诗一样美；科学，令人感受到的惊人奇妙，是人类心灵能够胜任驾驭的最高体验。他以一流科学家的修为、高超的文学笔法，写就了这部史诗般的科普佳作，呼吁人们理解科学的奇妙，打破科学的樊篱。

Did Newton “unweave the rainbow” by reducing it to its prismatic colors, as Keats contended? Did he, in other words, diminish beauty? Far from it, says acclaimed scientist Richard Dawkins; Newton’s unweaving is the key to much of modern astronomy and to the breathtaking poetry of modern cosmology. Mysteries don’t lose their poetry because they are solved: the solution often is more beautiful than the puzzle, uncovering deeper mysteries. With the wit, insight, and spellbinding prose that have made him a best-selling author, Dawkins takes up the most important and compelling topics in modern science, from astronomy and genetics to language and virtual reality, combining them in a landmark statement of the human appetite for wonder.

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