I’ve just finished reading this 1986 book (from Penguin Books) by Richard Dawkins. Although the book is more than 20 years old, some of the information in it was new to me (Well I need to say that I’m a regular science reader and documentary watcher just like any other geek). The book expresses the importance of the “natural selection” theory and suggests (with lots of solid examples as well as deep theoretical discussions) that it’s the only theory so far that explains the adaptive complexity of the living organisms on the Earth (and possible somewhere else). Although the “natural selection” theory has been the most plausible explanation for me, after reading this book, I’ve realized that I had been giving the chance factor (aka mutations) too much credit. Dawkins gives solid numbers and calculations which persuaded me that random events have less affect in evolution than I was thinking.
Dawkins is a natural teacher, he knows how to explain things and like all good teachers he knows the pitfalls the reader may fall into and pulls them up at the exact moment they are about to fall into those. He’s quite aware of the misunderstandings his sentences may cause and immediately clarify those in the next paragraph or so. So you can follow him quite easily without getting lost in your “but what if….” like train of thoughts. He is a good mental guide 
The book is, thus, quite easy to follow and quite educating… well, until the last few chapters where Dawkins switches from the education mode to the argument mode. To tell the truth, I get bored while reading those chapters since I get the feeling that Dawkins is not talking to us but argues with his colleagues who has opposing theories. Those chapters are educative too but the smooth information and idea flow that’s present in the previous chapters are unfortunately no longer there.
In sum; I’ve found this book quite educative and fun to read. He gives lots of analogies between biology and computers which made the discussion extra interesting for me.
After searching internet a bit, I found an applet which is quite similar to BioMorph program that Dawkings wrote and used to create examples in this book. While looking for the BioMorph software, I came across with another neat java applet: Ant Viewer. It’s an interactive applet with parametric ant colonies and resources where ants wander randomly and use pheromones (and sun location) to mark the path between resource (food) and the nest. Try it, it’s fun to play.
