River Out of Eden - Richard Dawkins

Enlightening and brilliantly written as always. It got a bit technical in places and I had some trouble understanding bit of it, but as usual the emphasis is on principles and concepts, not details and numbers. He's a master of making science exciting and  inspirational; one or two early passages about how we're all descended from the tiny minority of the most successful ancestors really affected me. One thing I can't understand is how he hasn't devoted a book to the evolution of the human brain, and thus of ideals and values and ways of transcending the pitiless dumb indifference of natural selection (something he talks about a lot). This strikes me as almost as momentous an event as the origin of life itself.

Leviathan - Paul Auster

To be honest, a bit disappointing compared to his others. A bit of a slog. The intricacy and complexity of the story is impressive, but another word for "intricate and complex" would be "convoluted". Excellent characters though, and some interesting ideas. Also, the entire story, almost, is told in "wide angle" mode - summaries covering lots of time rather than moment-by-moment scenes. Despite the book's other faults, this works perfectly well. Auster is yet another great writer you have to denounce if you believe totally in the "show don't tell" rule.