Tough choice between books or telescopes?

If you have not already, I would encourage you to read some of Carl Sagan's books, or even watch his Cosmos tv series (It's all on Hulu). Watching that and reading some of his books, Pale Blue Dot especially, really got me intrigued about the universe and our place in it. I would watch Cosmos and then invest in a good telescope. I'm in just the opposite situation myself; I've recently wanted to delve deeper into philosophy, maybe read some of the classics you mentioned. But yes, Richard Dawkins is great too. He's a biologist, but he has a lot of great books about evolution, religion, and lots of interesting things. But for astronomy, I would strongly suggest Dr. Sagan and a telescope to get you started.