The Selfish Gene: 30th Anniversary Edition--with a new Introduction by the Author | 
| Author: Richard Dawkins
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  283 reviews
Sales Rank: 628
Media: Paperback
Edition: 3
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.1 x 1
ISBN: 0199291152
Dewey Decimal Number: 576.5
EAN: 9780199291151
ASIN: 0199291152
Publication Date: May 25, 2006
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Amazon.com
Inheriting the mantle of revolutionary biologist from Darwin, Watson, and Crick, Richard Dawkins forced an enormous change in the way we see ourselves and the world with the publication of The Selfish Gene. Suppose, instead of thinking about organisms using genes to reproduce themselves, as we had since Mendel's work was rediscovered, we turn it around and imagine that "our" genes build and maintain us in order to make more genes. That simple 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 within each of our bodies? Why should a bee give up its own chance to reproduce to help raise her sisters and brothers? With a prophet's clarity, Dawkins told us the answers from the perspective of molecules competing for limited space and resources to produce more of their own kind. Drawing fascinating examples from every field of biology, he paved the way for a serious re-evaluation of evolution. He also 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 understand our strings. --Rob Lightner
Product Description
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 of readers to rethink their beliefs about life.
In his internationally bestselling, 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.
This 30th anniversary edition of Dawkins' fascinating book retains all original material, including the two enlightening chapters added in the second edition. In a new Introduction the author presents his thoughts thirty years after the publication of his first and most famous book, while the inclusion of the two-page original Foreword by brilliant American scientist Robert Trivers shows the enthusiastic reaction of the scientific community at that time. This edition is a celebration of a remarkable exposition of evolutionary thought, a work that has been widely hailed for its stylistic brilliance and deep scientific insights, and that continues to stimulate whole new areas of research today.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 278 more reviews...
 We have a genetic predisposition to act self interestedly? Who woulda thunk it? July 22, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Perhaps when this book first dropped 30 years ago as the blueprint for evolution it was considered radical. Today it's taken as a given that the primary motivating force for behavior has a genetic basis. This shift in attitude may be a direct result of the widespread influence of The Selfish Gene, but I wouldn't know. I wasn't around then. But this is a fine work to help everyone understand the core essence of human nature, and how we can use our superior capacity for reason to create a society of compassion that compliments our biological imperative.
With the existence of such formidable works as this, it remains positively astounding that any debate should remain on the matter of Creationism, Intelligent Design or whatever transparent euphemism is currently fashionable amongst the fundamentalists so populous in rural regions.
Of particularly acute interest to those seeking a slight edge in the competition of the fit should be chapter 9. This is something I most certainly will be passing on to those with whose success I have a genetic interest. Most, however, will never find their way to it, which suits me just fine. The less you know, the better it is for me. Hahahahaha!
 Shockingly Good July 22, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Very well written book. Anyone with no background in Biology will be able to understand this book without any trouble. Richard Dawkins also provides good evidences and detailed explanations throughout the book. If you are a religious person, beware that this book might shock you in several ways.
The Selfish Gene July 13, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
A mind blowing book. I read it 30 years ago and just re-read the slightly enhanced newer edition. Chapter 2, which introduces the idea that genes, not organisms, are the focus of evolution always gives me a feeling of awe, the closest I can come to a religious experience -- but, of course, Dawkins would not approve of that.
Some of the chapters could be heavy going to a casual reader, demanding quite a bit of thought to follow the arguments. Along the way there are some nice descriptions of weird animal behavior.
One of the additional chapters discusses the extended phenotype, and made me want to read Dawkins' book of that title.
Some people never get it. July 7, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
After reading this book a while back, I really did not get the impression from it that many people got. Some became depressed because of it?! It just does not make any sense.
This book does not tell us that we are no more than automatons, or that we are no more than our genes, or that we live a purposeless life, doomed to live out whatever was programmed into us by our genetic code. Sure, there are some spectacular statements that Dawkins makes for effect, but if one reads the entire book, one can understand that he is much of the time using metaphors to get a message across.
What is the general message? That we are survival machines for our genetic code. Our DNA contains code that works for its own survival, and why not? Who will really argue that we have no instincts? Instincts are something assigned only to "animals" by those of an anti-science mentality; instincts do not apply to "humans" as separate beings from the natural world. No, we are above all of that, the anti-science crowd will tell you.
However, remove things such as food, shelter, sex, loved ones, etc, and see how this human behaves. We are not set apart from the natural world, and we have drives and instincts that are hard-wired, just like all the other animals. These drives are for our own protection and for the protection of the ones closest to us, and if threatened by danger, we see who comes first in our eyes.
 Blind theorizing June 27, 2008
3 out of 11 found this review helpful
Dawkins writes that "the argument of this book is that we, and all other animals, are machines created by our genes" (p.xxi) and that "We are survival machines - robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes" (p.xxi). Yet, according to him, this book "is not science fiction; it is science" (p.xxi)!
Dawkins contrives to overlook the twin discoveries that:
1.the observable traits of organisms are mostly conditioned by the interactions of many genes;
2.most genes have multiple effects on many of these traits.
Dawkins transfers characteristics with which he is familiar from human behaviour on the macro-level to the inanimate components, "genes", of which we are physically constructed. He then proceeds to argue that these impersonal entities, which he imagines to possess characteristically human traits, infallibly generate the same unpleasant traits in human behaviour on the macro-level. So he writes: "The gene is the basic unit of selfishness" (p.36).
The absurdity is evident in that genes or other nonconscious entities cannot be either selfish or unselfish. They cannot "compete" against anything or "choose" anything.
If Dawkins were right, what would be the point of declaring, as he does: "Let us try to *teach* generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish" (p.3)? For if we really were machines, as he believes, even these very concepts would be meaningless to us. And certainly his oratory could have no effect whatever on our actual behaviour.
In fact genes do not force us to behave in any particular way. Neither can they possess the ability to direct or to comprehend all that is required to adopt a course of either heartless selfishness or heartfelt, sacrificial compassion.
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