Richard Dawkins. Caricature of the British ethnologist, evolutionary biologist and controversial author Richard Dawkins (born 1941) holding one of his books. Dawkins is best known for his 1976 book 'The Selfish Gene' which popularised the gene-centred view of evolution. He is an atheist, Vice President of the British Humanist Association and is well known for his criticism of creationism and intelligent design theories. In his 2006 book 'The God Delusion' Dawkins proposed that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that religious faith is a delusion.