Dawkins to write about personal journey to atheism

Atheist and scientist Richard Dawkins has set out to write a new book that will focus on his own evolution towards atheism.

"Dawkins will tell the story of his own intellectual evolution, explaining how his groundbreaking work as a scientist led to his work as an atheist," states Dawkins' new publisher HarperCollins' Ecco.

The book has not yet been given a title, but is expected to be on bookshelves by 2014.

Dawkins has written a number of books that have argued against the existence of God, such as The Selfish Gene and The God Delusion. In late 2011 he even came out with a children's book titled The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True, which focused on evolution and rejects Judeo-Christian beliefs about the creation of the world.

HarperCollins' Ecco representatives said in a statement that they were "truly honoured" to be able to publish Dawkins' books from now on, The New York Times reported.

Earlier this year, Dawkins was a keynote speaker at the Reason Rally in Washington DC, which attracted atheists and free thinkers from around the nation in one of the largest assemblies of its kind.

"There are too many people in this country who have been cowed into fear of coming out as atheists or secularists or agnostics," Dawkins said before those gathered. "We are far more numerous than anybody realizes."

"Mock them, ridicule them in public," he said of believers. "Don't fall for the convention that we're all too polite to talk about religion."