| |  | Books : The Selfish Gene: 30th Anniversary Edition--with a new Introduction by the Author |  | | | | | | | | | |
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 576.5
EAN: 9780199291151
ISBN: 0199291152
Label: Oxford University Press, USA
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 384
Publication Date: May 25, 2006
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Sales Rank: 726
Studio: Oxford University Press, USA
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Editorial Review:
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.
Amazon.com Review:
Inheriting the mantle of revolutionary biologist from Darwin, Watson, and Crick, Richard Dawkins forced an enormous change in the way we seeourselves and the world with the publication of The SelfishGene. Suppose, instead of thinking about organisms using genes toreproduce themselves, as we had since Mendel's work was rediscovered, weturn it around and imagine that 'our' genes build and maintain us inorder to make more genes. That simple reversal seems to answer manypuzzlers which had stumped scientists for years, and we haven't thoughtof evolution in the same way since.
Why are there miles and miles of 'unused' DNA within each of ourbodies? Why should a bee give up its own chance to reproduce to helpraise her sisters and brothers? With a prophet's clarity, Dawkins toldus the answers from the perspective of molecules competing for limitedspace and resources to produce more of their own kind. Drawingfascinating examples from every field of biology, he paved the way for aserious re-evaluation of evolution. He also introduced the concept ofself-reproducing ideas, or memes, which (seemingly) use humansexclusively for their propagation. If we are puppets, he says, at leastwe can try to understand our strings. --Rob Lightner
Customer Reviews Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Possibly my favorite read of all time
Wow.When I finished this book, I did something I had never done before: I read the same book again.The second time through, I underlined things and scribbled thoughts on the inside covers and in the margins and wrote emails to friends about questions forming in my mind.After that second pass, I bought and read Dawkins's "The Blind Watchmaker" and "The God Delusion" and watched his TED video and several other videos of his on YouTube."The Ancestor's Tale" and "The Extended Phenotype" are on ... Read More
Rating:  - Dissecting "The Selfish Gene"
"The Selfish Gene" is Richard Dawkins masterpiece, and admiration for the scope and detail of his exploration of animal life has been world wide.His gift of analysis and synthesis is like a giant microscope givng an entrance into an area of knowledge never revealed before.
He outdistances Charles Darwin in his penetration into animal life, animal behavior, and the biological mechanisms that influence and sometimes determines behavior.As a scientific study and exposition, it has no ... Read More
Rating: - Life is a watch too complex to create
No, this isn't an Ayn Rand book urging you to be more selfish.
I consider The Selfish Gene to still be one of the cornerstones of Evolutionary Dynamics theory, particularly in its extension of biological dynamics into the non-biological world.Memetics really took general evolutionary theory past a threshold for information and soft sciences.I found its concepts to be invaluable for one of my grad papers on international systems where I made further extrapolations from both biology and ... Read More
Rating: - Un libro indispensable en nuestra biblioteca.
Dado que mi "review" de este libro no es nada original comparado con las que ya se han escrito, la escribo en español. Este libro también se ha traducido en Español, aunque la que yo compré es la edición del trigésimo aniversario en inglés. La edición a la que aquí se hace referencia. El libro de Dawkings escrito hace ya 30 años, es vigente y creo que es un libro indispensable en la biblioteca personal. Un best seller en su lenguaje de origen me parece que es poco conocido en países hispanoparlantes, ... Read More
Rating: - If you read one book on evolution...
If you want to learn about evolution, this is the first book you should read. If you think you know evolution, this is the book you need to read.
The Selfish Gene: 30th Anniversary Edition--with a new Introduction by the Author | | | |
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