The Selfish Gene 30th Anniversary Edition--with a new Introduction by the Author

by Dawkins, Richard

• ISBN13: 9780199291151
• ISBN10: 0199291152
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-05-25
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The Selfish Gene caused a wave of excitement among biologists and the general public when it was first published in 1976. Its vivid rendering of a gene's eye view of life, in lucid prose, gathered together the strands of thought about the nature of natural selection into a conceptual framework with far-reaching implications for our understanding of evolution. Time has confirmed its significance. Intellectually rigorous, yet written in non-technical language, The Selfish Gene is widely regarded as a masterpiece of science writing, and its insights remain as relevant today as on the day it was published. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Richard Dawkins is the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University, a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Royal Society of Literature, and an international lecturer. His acclaimed books include The Extended Phenotype, a more technical sequel to The Selfish Gene, and The Blind Watchmaker, which won the Royal Society of Literature Award and the Los Angeles Times Prize, both in 1987. His other bestsellers include River out of Eden, Climbing Mount Impossible, Unweaving the Rainbow, and the A Devil's Chaplain. His most recent book is The Ancestor's Tale.
Professor Dawkins is the recipient of many prizes and honors, including the Shakespeare Prize, the Silver Medal of the Zoological Society of London, the Royal Society's Michael Faraday Award, the Nakayama Prize for Achievement in Human Science, The International Cosmos Prize, and the Kistler Prize.

Table of Contents

Introduction to 30th anniversary edition	vii
Preface to second edition	xv
Foreword to first edition	xix
Preface to first edition	xxi
1. Why are people?	1	(11)
2. The replicators	12	(9)
3. Immortal coils	21	(25)
4. The gene machine	46	(20)
5. Aggression: stability and the selfish machine	66	(22)
6. Genesmanship	88	(21)
7. Family planning	109	(14)
8. Battle of the generations	123	(17)
9. Battle of the sexes	140	(26)
10. You scratch my back, I'll ride on yours	166	(23)
11. Memes: the new replicators	189	(13)
12. Nice guys finish first	202	(32)
13. The long reach of the gene	234	(33)
Endnotes	267	(66)
Updated bibliography	333	(12)
Index and key to bibliography	345	(8)
Extracts from reviews	353