Richard Dawkins, author of The Selfish Gene, explains why fish gallop and hummingbirds glow, from his new book 42 Tales from Life.
Richard Dawkins, author of The Selfish Gene, talks about his new book 42 Tales from Life at the Dominion Theatre in the West End on Sunday 7 March 2027.
Dawkins was born in Nairobi in 1941 and studied zoology at Balliol College, Oxford, where he later taught.
The Selfish Gene, published in 1976, coined the word meme and made his gene-centred view of evolution famous. The Blind Watchmaker and The God Delusion followed, and he is a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Royal Society of Literature.
42 Tales from Life uses Darwin to explain animal behaviour that looks impossible. It answers why fish gallop, why evolution gave the rhinoceros its horn and why hummingbirds glow in such bright colours.
The evening is illustrated with drawings by the 19th-century naturalist Ernst Haeckel. His plates of plants and sea creatures have fascinated Dawkins all his life.
How To Academy presents the evening in conversation, and every place includes a copy of the book. Dawkins lives in Oxford.