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The Selfish Gene : 30th Anniversary edition
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Description
The million copy international bestseller, critically acclaimed and translated into over 25 languages. This 30th anniversary edition consists of a new introduction from the author as well as the original prefaces and foreword, and extracts from early reviews. As important and 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, great, and stylistically brilliant work not only delivered the insights of Neo-Darwinism to a wide audience, but galvanized the biology community, generating much debate and stimulating whole new areas of research.
Inheriting the mantle of revolutionary biologist from Darwin, Watson, and Crick, Richard Dawkins forced an enormous modify in the way we see ourselves and the world together with the publication of The Selfish Gene. Suppose, instead of thinking concerning organisms utilizing genes to reproduce themselves, as we had since Mendel's work was rediscovered, we turn it all-around and imagine this "our" genes build and preserve us in order to do extra genes. This neat reversal seems to answer many puzzlers which had stumped scientists for years, and we haven't thought of evolution in the same way since.

Why are there miles and miles of "unused" DNA inside every of our bodies? Why should a bee provide up its own chance to reproduce to help raise her sisters and brothers? Together with a prophet's clarity, Dawkins told us the answers from the perspective of molecules competing for limited space and resources to produce extra of their own kind. Drawing fascinating examples from each field of biology, he paved the way for a serious re-evaluation of evolution. He in addition introduced the concept of self-reproducing ideas, or memes, which (seemingly) use humans exclusively for their propagation. If we are puppets, he says, at least we can try to comprehend our strings. --Rob Lightner

Customer Reviews
Customer rating is 5 of 5  Popular Science at its best   2010-08-14
By TyMD
Here Professor Dawkins explains evolutionary theory in a way that is at once informative and engaging.
Customer rating is 4 of 5  Not nearly as bleak as the title implies   2010-08-03
By M. E. Llorens (Miami FL)
Anyone approaching this book with a superficial knowledge of evolutionary biology sees this title and thinks it will be a drawn-out exposition of Darwin's war of all against all for survival. This feature of Darwinism is, of course, present in the book, but the ideas discussed in it are far more complex than a quick judgment based on the cover would imply. Note the title: it does not refer to "selfish humans": the stress is rather on the noun, the gene. The gene is the protagonist. And, of course, the title is also figurative. The gene is not selfish in the same sense as a human being is: it is only designed to replicate itself. And this all-powerful tendency is what, according to Dawkins, is (or should be) the foundation of our understanding of animal behavior.

Anyone put off by the title should be advised that it contains pronouncements such as the following sentence, which is startling to find in a book by a biologist: "We, alone on earth, can rebel against the tyranny of the selfish replicators" (p. 201) And if you are still in doubt, begin by reading the next-to-last chapter ("Nice guys finish first"), in which Dawkins takes a lengthy detour through game theory and the prisoner's dilemma to demonstrate how selfishness or vindictiveness at the level of the individual is not necessarily the most successful strategy for replicating your genes.

All in all, a fascinating book.
Customer rating is 5 of 5  Genes are forever   2010-07-31
By Luc REYNAERT (Beernem, Belgium)
The great biologist G.C. Williams said that `natural selection, albeit stupid, is a story of unending arms races, slaughter and suffering. Its immorality has to be accepted and, at least, to be thought about'. R. Dawkins did think about it. His provocative scientific analysis changed (should change) our vision on mankind. In superb endnotes he puts some points on the i's of former editions.

Genes
In a Darwinian world without design or purpose the fundamental unit of selection is the gene (a portion of chromosome material). The predominant quality of a successful and potentially immortal gene is ruthless selfishness.

Replicators and Vehicles
Genes compose replicators and use discrete vehicles (organisms with specializing cells) for the propagation of their replicators. The qualities of a good replicator are longevity, fecundity and copying fidelity. The master-replicator is DNA. It supervises the manufacture of proteins, which in turn control chemical processes in the cell. A particular gene is all the replicas of a particular portion of DNA distributed throughout the world.
Individual bodies (organisms), not species, are the sole vehicles in the evolutionary process. The essential quality of an effective gene vehicle is the possession of an impartial exit channel into the future for all genes inside it (fertilized egg). Genes exert ultimate power over the vehicles through the nervous system and use the vehicle's brain as executive (in a completely unconscious manner).
Gene differences emerge only in the phenotypic effects on bodies and the world.

Gene pools, altruism and battles
Genes live in gene pools, evolutionary stable sets of genes, which are only occasionally invaded by a new gene (= evolution).
Kin altruism, like parental care, can be explained by the fact that close relatives have a greater than average chance of sharing genes. Reciprocal altruism is a win-win solution for all gene participants. In their struggle for domination (survival) genes generate unconscious amoral behaviour in generation and gender conflicts (of interest).

Memes
In the soup of human culture the meme is the unit of (un)successful imitation, the new (cultural) replicator.
Memes and genes can reinforce each other, but can also be staunch enemies.

Very serious warning
Even if we assume that individuals are fundamentally selfish, their conscious foresight could (should) save us from the worst excesses of the blind replicators. One of these excesses is a demographic explosion. It the population growth continues at the actual rate, the world is not so far away from the point where its human population, jacked in standing position, will form a solid human carpet all over our planet.

In a clear, easily understandable vocabulary with brilliant metaphors (book, boat, (non)zero sum games, gambling, dilemmas), Richard Dawkins simply destroyed scientifically the utmost selfish Right and Left Moral Majority, wherefore eternal thanks.

N.B. I encountered one typing error: (p.7 before last sentence) IF, not IT.
Customer rating is 2 of 5  A Waste of Time   2010-07-03
By Roy Dakota
Nothing new - freely taken from George C. Williams's 1966 work "Adaptation and Natural Selection." I feel you are much better off reading Williams's origin paper and then reading Stephen Jay Gould's "The Structure of Evolutionary Theory" - at least the section on Dawkins - pages 614-656 where Gould discusses why and how "Dawkins's argument collapses for many reasons..."
Customer rating is 5 of 5  The Selfish Gene   2010-05-22
By Earl H. Bryson (Farmingdale, NY United States)
Excellent ... A real eye opener. The most plausible explanation of life on earth that I have ever read. And it's not based on a hunch from an ancient philosopher but from a modern scientist conducting real scientific research.



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