The Selfish Gene
1976
- evolution (biology)
- genetics
- sociobiology
- behavior genetics
- genetica
- etologia animal
- genetics. 0
- long now manual for civilization
- natural selection
- sociobiologie
The story
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.
What it’s like
Clean, lucid prose that reads like a patient lecturer at a chalkboard, with the occasional flash of wit and a taste for vivid analogy: genes as cooks, bodies as vehicles, a river of DNA running through generations. The voice is confident and conversational without being chatty, built from short declarative sentences and carefully staged arguments that turn one familiar idea over until it looks strange. Mostly it is a book of thought experiments and clear diagrams in the mind rather than sensory description; the landscapes are the fields of animal behaviour, the sea of competing replicators, the bustle of colonies and nests, all sketched briefly and precisely. The mood is intellectually bright and curious, faintly bracing, with a sense of wonder at how much hidden logic lies under ordinary creatures. Pacing is steady and chapter-by-chapter, each one building on the last, so it suits a slow unhurried read over several evenings, a long train journey, or a quiet afternoon with a notebook nearby. Intensity is low: there is some discussion of predation, competition, and the cruelties of nature described in cool, scientific terms, but no graphic violence, sexual content, or fear. It is for readers who enjoy ideas that rearrange their sense of the familiar, especially those curious about why living things behave as they do.
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