FLIGHTS OF FANCY

Sub-titled 'Defying Gravity by Design and Evolution', this big beautifully produced volume is illustrated by Jana Lenzova in rich colour full page plates including a dirigible fish balloon airship, a front view showing how planes and birds face the same rules of physics, a stunning blue flying fish, a four-winged dinosaur, a tiger beetle, and a giraffe meets a quetzalcoatlus, although separated by the perhaps 70 million years. The Oxford University zoology professor and bestselling author has always been a persuasive thinker. Here is a 'masterly investigation of all aspects of flight, human and animal' and how both have learned to overcome the pull of gravity and take to the skies. From the mythical Icarus to the sadly extinct but spectacular bird Argentavis magnificens, from the Wright Flyer and the 747 airplane, to the Tinkerbella Fairyfly and the Peregrine Falcon, Dawkins also explores flights of fantasy and escaping the everyday - through science, ideas and imagination. A superb combination of a leading scientist and talented artist, this is one fascinating and beautifully illustrated publication. 294pp, 16.5 x 24cm.