The dramatic detour taken by the laryngeal nerve in mammals, the convergence between the wings of bats and extinct pterodactyls, the discovery of a whole gallery of human ape fossil 'links', the deciphering of the human genome, the development of the human embryo – they all line up in what would be termed in an American university 'Evolution 101'.

The Galápagos islands were Darwin's natural laboratory, and here they appear once again. The science covered is, it must be said, pretty standard stuff.

Those who have already climbed Mount Improbable with him or contemplated the blind watchmaker will not be disappointed, even though some of the same ground has been re-ploughed for a new crop. He never makes assumptions about prior knowledge when he chooses an analogy it does actually cast light on the thing to be explained (some scientists seem to find this extraordinarily difficult) and occasionally he coins a brilliant phrase. Dawkins's writing demonstrates once again his consummate skill as an explainer. Palaeontology, embryology, anatomy, genetics, artificial breeding and geography are all grist to his evolutionary mill. This latest addition to the Dawkins canon is his summary of the vast array of evidence supporting the science. The greatest story is, of course, the story of evolution. One is reminded of lines by Dawkins's favourite poet, WB Yeats: 'Cast a cold eye / On life, on death. Deluded theists! Wishy-washy agnostics! Welcome to the Fight Club. Natural selection is all futile.' There is something bracing about belonging to this most astringent and clear-sighted set. Anything else is 'Sentimental, human nonsense. Suffering and pain in nature and humanity are merely there to service the genes. Real men (and women) take the toughest line on natural selection. There's a certain glee when he admits to being 'the devil's disciple' or the high priest of 'ultradarwinism', and his admission has an undeniably macho swagger about it. He gets his teeth into an argument, locks on and shakes it until submission is the only option. I f Thomas Henry Huxley was famously 'Darwin's bulldog', then Richard Dawkins is probably best described as 'Darwin's pit bull'.

Evolution the greatest show on earth