理查德•道金斯（Richard Dawkins），1941年3月26日生，英国皇家科学院院士，牛津大学教授，著名科普作家，生物学家。2001年当选为英国皇家学会院士。2005年英国《前景》杂志会同美国《外交政策》杂志网络调查，评选出在世的全球100名最有影响力的公共知识分子之一。他是英国最重要的科学作家，几乎每本书都是畅销书，并经常在各大媒体引起轰动。他的畅销书中，于1976年出版的《自私的基因》为最重要的代表作，他的基因观念，颠覆了我们对自身的幻觉，深刻影响了整整一个时代。

With this tremendous follow-up to his blockbuster The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins takesadvocates of intelligent design by the scruff of the neck and unfolds the evidence for evolution with characteristicpanache.In 2008, a gallup poll showed that 44% of Americans polled believed God had created man in his present form within the last 10,000 years. In a PewForum poll in the same year, 42% of those polled believed that all life on earth has existed in its present form since the beginning of time. In this environment, inwhichCreationism is being taught in schools and educators are being asked to ''teach the controversy'' behind evolution, a delightfully exasperated Dawkins has decided totell us how it all really works. In visceral, crystalline prose, Dawkins sets up each creationist objection to evolutionand takes it to task,bit by bitdestroying the idea that the natural worldneeded an intelligent designer.But this is more than an argument.Thisis a thrilling tourinto our distant past and into the interstices of all life on earth. Taking us through the case for evolution step-by-step, Dawkins looks at DNA, selective breeding, anatomical similarity, molecular family trees, geography, fossils vestiges and imperfections, the stages of human evolution, and theformula for a strong scientific theory -- tearing down the Intelligent Design theory in the process. This will be the last word in the evolution debate, and it will add the legions of God Delusion readersto the already science-hungry audience who bought the latest Steven Pinkeror devoured Bill Bryson’s The History of Nearly Everything. The God Delusion stimulated, even set the terms of, one of the world’s most vigorous public debates: the question of God’sexistence. The Greatest Show on Earth will provide readers with the tools to join this vital debate effectively.And Dawkins’ infectious passion for the world’s beauty will convert all but the most doctrinaire creationists.