Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
Relatively well-written text regarding evolution and the origin of life. Good for dispelling our concepts of innate altruism, while marveling that it exists all the same.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
informative
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
informative
medium-paced
The message is clear and well presented. It's challenging for the non-science brain but not too complicated that it can't be followed and understood. I don't understand the reviews that mention God because there's only a fleeting mention to God in this book and it's completely non-judgmental so it's best to ignore those.
Comprehensive and easy to read. Nicely updated from the original 1976 edition.
informative
slow-paced
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins (5/5)
I have read one of Richard Dawkins Books about 15 years ago (The God Delusion) and it was nothing short of life-changing to me. Since then I never picked up another book of his - until now. I was a bit nervous, fearing I could be disappointed.
Gladly I can report: The Selfish Gene is absolutely fascinating and gave me a new perspective on life yet again.
Dawkins explains how life could have emerged on this planet and why living beings are the way they are. And it's not only the already known 'how does evolution work'-story, it's far more than that and now it feels as though I understand so much more of what 'life' means and how it really works. (Fun Fact: The word 'Meme' originated from this book. There's a chapter called "Memes, The new replicators.")
Mr. Dawkins remains a superstar to me, he fights for science and the truth and to me he's one of the most inspiring voices of our time.
P.S.: I think you'll need to be interested in biology though to fully enjoy this book. This is the case for me, but might not be for everyone.
I have read one of Richard Dawkins Books about 15 years ago (The God Delusion) and it was nothing short of life-changing to me. Since then I never picked up another book of his - until now. I was a bit nervous, fearing I could be disappointed.
Gladly I can report: The Selfish Gene is absolutely fascinating and gave me a new perspective on life yet again.
Dawkins explains how life could have emerged on this planet and why living beings are the way they are. And it's not only the already known 'how does evolution work'-story, it's far more than that and now it feels as though I understand so much more of what 'life' means and how it really works. (Fun Fact: The word 'Meme' originated from this book. There's a chapter called "Memes, The new replicators.")
Mr. Dawkins remains a superstar to me, he fights for science and the truth and to me he's one of the most inspiring voices of our time.
P.S.: I think you'll need to be interested in biology though to fully enjoy this book. This is the case for me, but might not be for everyone.
I loved this book! Informative, easy to read and surprisingly up-to-date and current despite having been written more than 30 years ago.
The purpose and interest of a gene is to progress to the next generation. The genes that are succesfully passed on proliferate and the ones which do not disappear. This does influence animal and human instinct. Although the influence of genes on human nature isn't mentioned, it's in the message. This is not to say that human beings are without choice or free will, it just means that we are predisposed to react in certain ways. Anyway, this philosophical discussion is nothing Dawkins dwells on and anyone particularly interested should seek out Steven Pinker's "the blank slate instead.
The most fascinatin tidbit of facts is ants - belonging to a group called Hymenoptera which also includes bees and wasps - and their strange relationship to each other. The "queen" is an egglaying machine, distributing sperm she collected once to her eggs. The eggs that are not fertilized with sperm are born as males and contain only a single set of chromosomes and no father! Fascinating, I spent half an hour of bedtime gushing over this fact to my fiancé who did not really find this half as interesting as I did. At any rate, this means that the female descendants of one queen, all sisters, share not 1/5 of each other's genes but 3/4's as the male chromosome set is always the same. This also means that these sister workers are extremely interested in keeping the queen breeding more sisters which contain much of the same genes as they do - more genes in fact than offspring would share.
So yes, although the general content of this book is now generally known, it is still extremely well worth reading to anyone with least bit of interest in evolution and biology. The beauty is in the details. A glorious achievement!
The purpose and interest of a gene is to progress to the next generation. The genes that are succesfully passed on proliferate and the ones which do not disappear. This does influence animal and human instinct. Although the influence of genes on human nature isn't mentioned, it's in the message. This is not to say that human beings are without choice or free will, it just means that we are predisposed to react in certain ways. Anyway, this philosophical discussion is nothing Dawkins dwells on and anyone particularly interested should seek out Steven Pinker's "the blank slate instead.
The most fascinatin tidbit of facts is ants - belonging to a group called Hymenoptera which also includes bees and wasps - and their strange relationship to each other. The "queen" is an egglaying machine, distributing sperm she collected once to her eggs. The eggs that are not fertilized with sperm are born as males and contain only a single set of chromosomes and no father! Fascinating, I spent half an hour of bedtime gushing over this fact to my fiancé who did not really find this half as interesting as I did. At any rate, this means that the female descendants of one queen, all sisters, share not 1/5 of each other's genes but 3/4's as the male chromosome set is always the same. This also means that these sister workers are extremely interested in keeping the queen breeding more sisters which contain much of the same genes as they do - more genes in fact than offspring would share.
So yes, although the general content of this book is now generally known, it is still extremely well worth reading to anyone with least bit of interest in evolution and biology. The beauty is in the details. A glorious achievement!