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The Selfish Gene

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The Selfish Gene

Written by: Richard Dawkins
Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward
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Richard Dawkins' brilliant reformulation of the theory of natural selection has the rare distinction of having provoked as much excitement and interest outside the scientific community as within it. His theories have helped change the whole nature of the study of social biology, and have forced thousands to rethink their beliefs about life.

In his internationally best-selling, now classic, volume, The Selfish Gene, Dawkins explains how the selfish gene can also be a subtle gene. The world of the selfish gene revolves around savage competition, ruthless exploitation, and deceit, and yet, Dawkins argues, acts of apparent altruism do exist in nature. Bees, for example, will commit suicide when they sting to protect the hive, and birds will risk their lives to warn the flock of an approaching hawk.

©1989 Richard Dawkins (P)2011 Audible, Inc. Biological Sciences Science Inspiring Mathematics
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What the critics say

"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.)" (H. Allen Orr, Professor of Biology, University of Rochester, in The New York Review of Books)
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Dawkins tackles the questions: "Why are Genes preserved and passed on to Descendents? How does that work?"
He presents an exploration of the packaging of Chromosomes ("Replicators") into Organisms ("Vehicles"), presented in a way that's convincing. He presents a brilliant argument that Altruism is eminently rational without using Group Selection theory. He breaks down concepts like 'Evolutionarily Stable Strategies' into basic easily understood models.
This treatment is, in my opinion, much better than his dicussions of atheist principles. Dawkins sticks to Nuts & Bolts in this one, including 'End Notes' added throughout the text where he responds to criticisms and points out where newer research/theory added to (and sometimes countered) his thesis.

The tandem of readers (Dawkins himself and Lalla Ward) trade off description frequently - a nice format for a book like this (where a single voice could easily become difficult to concentrate on). Neither are particularly engrossing and despite the frequent novelty I lost interest at points.

This most informative exploration is worth 8.5 out of 10 stars

The Definitive Discussion: Evolution Mechanistics

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Thought provoking and easy to follow, with fascinating examples and a great flow which has found a very good tradeoff between scientific accuracy and its appeal to general audiences

A great intro to neo-darwinism

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This edition is very well structured, saying the endnotes when needed gives a very good flow. Dawkins comments on his critics are really funny.

Great version

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If you can keep up with this brilliant mind... It's well worth the hours spent.

Monumental

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I am a casual reader and I found many fascinating points and discussions. Happy to have read it!

Learned a lot

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