The Selfish Gene: 40th Anniversary Edition (Oxford Landmark Science) 4th Edition
by Richard Dawkins (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars 3,374 ratings
As influential today as when it was first published, The Selfish Gene has become a classic exposition of evolutionary thought. Professor Dawkins articulates a gene's eye view of evolution - a view giving centre stage to these persistent units of information, and in which organisms can be seen as vehicles for their replication. This imaginative, powerful, and stylistically brilliant work not only brought the insights of Neo-Darwinism to a wide audience, but galvanized the biology community, generating much debate and stimulating whole new areas of research. Forty years later, its insights remain as relevant today as on the day it was published.
This 40th anniversary edition includes a new epilogue from the author discussing the continuing relevance of these ideas in evolutionary biology today, as well as the original prefaces and foreword, and extracts from early reviews.
Oxford Landmark Science books are 'must-read' classics of modern science writing which have crystallized big ideas, and shaped the way we think.
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Editorial Reviews
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Reviews for 30th Anniversary Edition:
"Dawkins first book, The Selfish Gene, was a smash hit. Best of all, Dawkins laid out this biology-some of it truly subtle-in stunningly lucid prose. (It is, in my view, the best work of popular science ever written.)" --New York Review of Books
"This important book could hardly be more exciting." --The Economist
"The sort of popular science writing that makes the reader feel like a genius." --New York Times
"Who should read this book? Everyone interested in the universe and their place in it." --Jeffrey R. Baylis, Animal Behavior
"This book should be read, can be read, by almost everyone. It describes with great skill a new face of the theory of evolution."--W. D. Hamilton, Science
"The presentations are remarkable for their clarity and simplicity, intelligible to any schoolchild, yet so little condescending as to be a pleasure to the professional." --American Scientist
About the Author
Richard Dawkins, Emeritus Fellow of New College, Oxford, is one of the most influential science writers and communicators of our generation. He was the first holder of the Charles Simonyi Chair of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford, a position he held from 1995 until 2008, and is Emeritus Fellow of New College, Oxford. His bestselling books include The Extended Phenotype (1982) and its sequel The Blind Watchmaker (1986), River Out of Eden (1995), Climbing Mount Improbable (1996), Unweaving the Rainbow (1998), A Devil's Chaplain (2004), The Ancestor's Tale (2004), and The God Delusion (2007). He has won many literary and scientific awards, including the 1987 Royal Society of Literature Award, the 1990 Michael Faraday Award of the Royal Society, the 1994 Nakayama Prize for Human Science, the 1997 International Cosmos Prize, and the Nierenberg Prize for Science in the Public Interest in 2009.
Product details
Publisher : Oxford University Press; 4th edition (August 1, 2016)
Language : English
Paperback : 544 pages
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Biography
Richard Dawkins taught zoology at the University of California at Berkeley and at Oxford University and is now the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford, a position he has held since 1995. Among his previous books are The Ancestor's Tale, The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, Climbing Mount Improbable, Unweaving the Rainbow, and A Devil's Chaplain. Dawkins lives in Oxford with his wife, the actress and artist Lalla Ward.
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Cogitus
5.0 out of 5 stars Much More Than Advertised
Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2017
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My Copy: Oxford Univ. Press: 30th Anniversary Edition (Hardbound)
There is much more to "The Selfish Gene" than is advertised, even in the most glowing of its reviews. In fact, I (not a biologist, but fascinated by evolution ever since "dinosaurs" and the first high school biology course) have been vaguely aware of this book since its initial wave of rave reviews many years ago, but never bothered to read it because as it was advertised its theme(s) always seemed pretty obvious. But something recently piqued my curiosity again, not sure what that was now, and after reading the prefatory material online I finally decided to take a look.
After reading quickly through the first 3 chapters, it became apparent that there was a great deal more underlying the book than was overtly presented, that it was not just an over-extended, over-simplified, over-popularized, metaphorical presentation .... but rather that its metaphorical treatment is painstakingly faithful to an elaborate, closely-reasoned, even rigorous, scientific underpinning. At which point, I stopped reading and began again from the beginning, first the prefatory material, then from page 1, this time more slowly and more carefully, taking care to appreciate and reflect on all the markers of the underlying basis and their implications.
This is a wonderful book, even beautiful in many respects, from its initial beginning (at the "beginning") with the purely chemical/physics "evolution" of the primordial soup (cast suggestively in the form of biological evolution); to the consequent continuity with the creation of "replicators", elementary "survival" cells, genes, and the beginnings of life forms; to the important distinction between genes and individuals, as genes and their "survival vehicles" (the first cells and "us", for example); to the nicely extended notion of "gene" itself, required by underlying scientific reality; to a clear presentation of the conflict between Darwinian and "group" selection and evolution; to the nature of evolution, operating (in distinct ways) in terms of both genes and individuals, aka both genes and "their" survival vehicles, aka both chemical/physics and biological evolution; to genetic kinship and its very special selective and social implications; ... ; to the delicious End Notes to the 1st eleven chapters, which provide much supporting and fascinating material.
"The Selfish Gene" goes on to clarify not only its expressed subject, the nature and genesis of Selfishness and Altruism, but to make clear the error, scope, and source of various (idealistic, and often political) arguments and ideas centered around group selection fallacies, including the genesis of (ill-conceived) "group-beneficial", cooperative "functions" vs. (individual) evolutionarily stable strategies (ESS) and kinship. It also sheds light on many other commonly-posed questions, among them: the fundamental "reason" for the 50:50 sex ratio (despite the number of different breeding strategies observed for male competitors); the driving source of the natural variability upon which (continuing) evolution depends; the variety and shadings of competing "strategies", which can be both conceived and advantageous, clustered around a given regard (partly on account of environmental inconstancy), one incidental, unintended but important, implication of which is that this is itself an evolutionary driving source of the natural variability upon which (continuing) evolution operates; .... and NOT so commonly posed: that "In its long journey down the generations therefore, an [ANY] average gene will spend approximately half its time sitting in male bodies, and the other half sitting in female bodies", and thus genes will generally contribute positively to both sexes, sometimes in very different ways, and that, indeed, many "purely male / purely female" effects pass (unexpressed) through many bodies of the opposite sex; and much, much more.
Beautifully written and packed with wonderful insights, "The Selfish Gene" is not only well-worth the read, but will amply reward the reader in proportion to the thoughtfulness and reflection with which they read it. In fact, there is so much food for thought in the story-lines and examples (e.g., the fig, "lichenization", and organelle endosymbiosis) provided in "The Selfish Gene", that one must often stop and consider, at length and at leisure, the questions which it provokes or which Dawkins rhetorically poses.
I will, however, amend Dawkins' wonderful characterization of "us" (Preface to the First Edition, p. xxi): “We are survival machines --- robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes. This is a truth which still fills me with astonishment. Though I have known it for years, I never seem to get fully used to it.” ...... by grafting it to my own previous synopsis, with the result:
"We are Conditioned-Reaction Engines [built on Basic Senses + Unconditioned Reflexes (among them innate Kantian "Categories", instincts, emotions, etc.)] built as Gene-Survival "Machines" [genetically "programmed" to serve the "interests" of our genes] = Pavlo-Kantian Conditioned-Reaction, Darwin-Dawkins Gene-Survival Automatons.
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Lucas Rugar
5.0 out of 5 stars One of life's must-reads
Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2019
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This book will completely change the way you see people, animals, and all of their interactions. Dawkins says in this anniversary edition of the book that he regrests naming it The "Selfish" Gene because people go into it believing that the thesis of the book revolves around an inevitability of the most selfish genes, and by asoociation, creatures surviving. But a gene being "selfish" is more about it's survival, and "selfishness" in a gene does not mean that the being, composed of millions of genes, is "selfish".
Anwyays, Dawkins is the greatest scientific writer because he is able to break down extremely intricate topics so that the reader can understand. He's a master of using analogies. For instance; he explains a gene's relationship to chromosomes by comparing them to pages in a book of a library. Once he makes these abstract-like concepts more digestible, you're then able to follow along and delve into what it is he really wants to explain about them.
Some parts you might still have to re-read, but even if only 90% of the book sticks, it's well-worth it.
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TRR Sailboat
5.0 out of 5 stars a population of purely altruistic individuals is not "evolutionarily stable" because a mutant gene for selfishness will spread like wildfire, and vice versa
Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2018
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This book thoroughly convinced me of its central claim--that genes, not organisms, are the self-replicating entities upon which natural selection acts. The evidence the book presents (for evolution) is overwhelming, and left me with the uncomfortable feeling that there is little room left for supernatural explanations.
Animal behaviors, both on an individual level and on a species level, are analyzed in terms of what happens to the genes "for" those behaviors, and various predictions are made that turn out to be correct. For example, a population of purely altruistic individuals is not "evolutionarily stable" because a mutant gene for selfishness will spread like wildfire, and vice versa: a population of purely selfish individuals is vulnerable to mutant genes for cooperation. Therefore some "stable" ratio must exist, where any increase in either selfishness or altruism gets punished by natural selection.
Overall it's pretty readable but I found the mathematics surrounding the relatedness of insects to be very difficult, although the explanation for the existence of sterile worker ants is fascinating.
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dbcopper
2.0 out of 5 stars I would love to give this a higher rating.
Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2019
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This book was meant for smarter readers than I ... the subject fascinates me and this is the guy to know about on this subject. In some other world, a perfect one we do not live in, I would want all this information in a "Readers Digest" version. I guess that will never happen and I guess too that I will never understand all that I read, but the elements which make us who we are comprise a very interesting topic and if you have more patience than I, do give this book a try. I simply ran out of time and concentration. Not the authors fault .... (hmmmm, or is it?) Am I just being selfish???
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Mick Boyce
3.0 out of 5 stars "Selfish Gene" model is not a scientific theory
Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2020
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It is a metaphor that many people, including some scientists, have mistaken for a theory. To be a scientific theory, a theory must make testable predictions, and the idea of "selfish genes" makes no testable predictions. It is empty as a theory. For further explanation of this, see Professor Denis Noble's work, including his book "Dance to the Tune of Life". Noble was a thesis advisor for Dawkins, and Noble was the first scientist to mathematically model the human heart on a computer (tubes and punchcards, this was WAY back in the day, folks!). Noble's work led to the pacemaker. Noble and Dawkins have had an ongoing disagreement about evolution.
Evolutionary theory has moved on since Dawkins wrote this book, but Dawkins has not budged. Nevertheless, I recommend Dawkins book because he is a very good writer and this is a great introduction to the science of DNA and evolution. But don't believe for a moment that Dawkins has the final word! Move on to Denis Noble and Robert Trivers. Trivers is a fascinating guy - most of the ideas in The Selfish Gene are originally his, and his paper on altruism and evolution is freely available and a real stunner.
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J. lee
5.0 out of 5 stars Must read for anyone interested in genetics
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 10, 2019
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As a biologist, I'm surprised it took me until after I'd finished my biology masters to read this. The book explains some quite complex ideas in a way that a non-science background reader should understand, and Dawkin's writing style was, for me, very engaging and interesting (which isn't easy with some of the topics he writes about here). If you're interested in biology or genetics, I'd recommend it, and if not, I think this book could spark that interest
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Amazon Customer
1.0 out of 5 stars Worst copy; best book
Reviewed in India on November 24, 2018
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I don't know who packed this particular copy for me. A leftover.. within two-three readings, all parts will become separate pieces. The person must have saved good ones for shops and this types of copies for fools like me. The book is a very good one, I know. The copy bad one.
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Luke
5.0 out of 5 stars An Easy Listen - Audiobook Recommended Over Paper Book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 20, 2016
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(Note: This review is for the audiobook version)
This book is required reading for my degree at university. As someone who rarely reads and struggles to keep up concentration on a book, I decided (on the recommendation of a lecturer) to buy this audiobook version. I was not at all disappointed. it is read by Dawkins himself and this enables a greater understanding of the text than you could ever get from just reading the book. You can easily tell which elements of his argument make him passionate, and which he felt simply had to be included. Another advantage of this is the placement of footnotes. Having been in discussions with friends about this book, I noted that some found arguments hard to follow because so much of what Dawkins says that is important is contained in footnotes and endnotes. In the audiobook, these are slotted into the text in logical places, preceded by Dawkins saying loudly 'endnote/footnote'.
The only issues with this are it does take a long time (it's well over 16 hours) so you may want to have a good place to sit to listen to it. If you're a heavy commuter this will be perfect for you. The other issue is (for me at least) this cannot be played in a CD player, it has to be played on a computer or other device (e.g. an MP3 player).
In terms of the book and its contents, again, I heartily recommend the selfish gene. Whether an undergraduate, expert in the topic or simply curious about the natural world, this book will be a thrill from start to finish.
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James
5.0 out of 5 stars If this is the standard Richard Dawkins has I will surely read all of his books
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 18, 2015
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This book has added so much light to my view of the world. It has helped build a better picture of the truth about humanity and nature. You will likely find yourself reflecting on the past and becoming more aware in the present and future situations. Really this is a book that builds on the Darwinian theory of evolution. The title most certainly does not fully reflect the content and this is well explained by Richard Dawkins in the book.
While the book as a whole is very interesting and the way which Richard Dawkins writes, the simple and complex logic is beautiful. One of the brilliant examples is when he explains evolutionary stable strategy (ESS) in the human context. Saying that there are 3 kinda of people, the fool, the cheater and the grudger. Really thought provoking and a book worth reading not just once.
If this is the standard Richard Dawkins has I will surely read all of his books.
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Wayne Wilmot
5.0 out of 5 stars Important Work
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 17, 2019
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As a retired scientist/engineer I was enthralled with this ground breaking book. I am embarrassed that I did not read it before but I usually read specialist books or fiction. I was guided to it by the most unlikely source: Love Island UK's Jamie and Camilla's conversation about best non-fiction. Well done you two.
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