slowly dripping out

Mr Dawkins was at the bookfest this evening reading from and discussing his latest book. Following on from The God Delusion's "it's irrational to believe in a supreme being" The Greatest Show on Earth would appear to be "...and here are some specific examples:" which was sort of what Climbing Mount Improbable did though it was written back when he still attempted to prevent Creationists misquoting him and Darwin by adding little explanatory footnotes rather than entire books.

One thing which was quite noticeable today which has always been present in his style of writing but not hitherto his manner of speaking is that he can take a very long time to say something, often going off on little tangents which sometimes take quite some time to turn back in the right direction. There were quite a few lengthy pauses which were only broken just as they became uncomfortable, though he left no sentence incomplete or ungrammatical. Seeing as the unconverted he might be seeking to address who aren't convinced by evolutionary theory and the possibilities of natural selection might be unconvinced due to the vast timescales involved he could perhaps make a point quickly and then go on to explain it in detail rather than going into the detail first before sometimes concluding and sometimes not concluding very conclusively for a few more chapters. It is nevertheless a book I shall be reading, though not until it's out in paperback in another year or so.