ScienceBook · 1976
The Selfish Gene
Richard Dawkins
Dawkins argues that organisms are best understood as vehicles built by genes to copy themselves, which makes altruism between relatives a matter of shared copies rather than sentiment. The final chapter coins meme, a unit of cultural imitation named to rhyme with gene. First published by Oxford University Press in 1976; the edition linked here is the fortieth anniversary text.
Why you should read this
Come to this for Dawkins's case for viewing evolution from the gene's-eye view, where genes are the unit selection acts on and organisms are their survival vehicles. It coined the term meme along the way and remains a common entry point into evolutionary biology for general readers.
- Field
- Science
- Form
- Non-fiction
- Published
- 1976
- Themes
- EvolutionScience
