IF you're of a nervous disposition and believe in God, you might be advised to steer clear of Richard Dawkins. The famously abrasive evolutionary biologist is scathing in his contempt for those who suffer from the 'infection of the mind' that is religion.

In his latest book, he's at it again. One chapter, entitled Viruses of the Mind, goes so far as to suggest that religion is a kind of mind parasite, similar to computer viruses. "To describe religions as mind viruses is sometimes interpreted as contemptuous or even hostile," he writes brusquely. "It is both." Organised religion merits outright hostility, he adds, because it is "powerful, influential, tax exempt and systematically passed on to children too young to defend themselves".

Strong stuff. But there is plenty in this book that is bracing, inspiring and intellectually challenging, too. Dawkins, author of The Selfish Gene, is one of the greatest living Darwinists, and the title of this book comes from Darwin himself. "What a book a Devil's Chaplain might write on the clumsy, wasteful, blundering, low and horridly cruel works of nature," Darwin wrote to a friend in 1856.

Blundering and cruel nature may be, but Dawkins the evolutionist writes about it with passion and flair. "Mostly science is, for me, a source of living joy," he writes in an author's note. "I hope it comes through in these pages."

It does.

Updated: 08:47 Wednesday, April 09, 2003