The Poetry of Reality with Richard Dawkins

About The Poetry of Reality with Richard Dawkins

The Poetry of Reality is hosted by world renowned truth-teller, evolutionary biologist and best-selling author, Professor Richard Dawkins. He has been celebrated globally for his honest critique of religion and tradition and his push for critical thinking. His books include The Ancestor’s Tale, The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, Climbing Mount Improbable, Unweaving the Rainbow, A Devil’s Chaplain, The God Delusion, The Greatest Show on Earth, The Magic of Reality, his two-part autobiography An Appetite for Wonder and A Brief Candle in the Dark, and Outgrowing God: A Beginner’s Guide. Dawkins has long been known for his uncompromising passion for science, calling out for the pressing need in modern societies for scientific literacy and rational thinking, especially in the education of young minds. His relentless pursuit of truth, and his recognition of the beauty of life on earth, will feature in this podcast, as he charts his way through scientific and existential inquiries like ‘What are we doing here?’ and ‘When did life begin?’

Publisher

Richard Dawkins

Category

education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

14 Jun 2023

Latest episode

16 Oct 2025

Latest episodes

91 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   16 Oct 2025

   If God designed it, why is it so badly built?

   In this episode, Richard Dawkins revisits a 2012 conversation from the Great Minds program, produced by the Educational Broadcasting System in South Korea. He examines why life looks designed yet is full of flaws, showing how imperfections in nature reveal the true workings of evolution and expose the limits of intelligent design.

2. 

   30 Sept 2025

   Why Ants Tear Off Their Own Wings

   In this episode, Richard Dawkins revisits a 2012 conversation from the Great Minds program, produced by the Educational Broadcasting System in South Korea. Drawing on themes from his book Flights of Fancy, Dawkins explores humanity’s ancient dream of flight, the physics that govern it, and the evolutionary paths that enabled some creatures to soar while others lost their wings.

3. 

   20 Sept 2025

   Why Ideas Spread Like Viruses

   In this episode of The Poetry of Reality, Richard joins a live audience in Edinburgh to discuss his latest book, The Genetic Book of the Dead. In this wide-ranging conversation, he reflects on how DNA preserves the story of evolution, describing organisms as “living books” that record the environments of their ancestors. He explores camouflage, whale ancestry, convergent evolution, and the hidden logic of genes, while breaking down ideas like genomes as cooperatives of viruses. He also reflects on memes, the extended phenotype, and the surprising ways evolution shapes both biology and culture.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

12,317,955

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.8 / 5

89 ratings

Spotify

4.7 / 5

580 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 80 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

84

Social presence

0

YouTube

93

Engagement

96

Contact The Poetry of Reality with Richard Dawkins

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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