The Extended Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

Merits: Richard Dawkins is a Fellow of both the Royal Society and the Royal Society of Literature. He is a British evolutionary biologist and author of numerous bestselling books. He retired from his position as the inaugural holder of the Charles Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University in 2008 and remains a Fellow of New College. He is also the recipient of numerous honours and awards, including the Royal Society of Literature Award (1987), the Shakespeare Prize (2005), the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science (2006), and the Nierenberg Prize for Science and the Public Interest (2009), etc.

Material: This book explores what has become popularly known as the ‘selfish gene theory’ and introduced said theory to a wider audience. Dawkins explored the gene’s eye view of life and the arguments presented thereof which have had far reaching implications for our understanding of biology and evolution. In this later edition, two chapters from The Extended Phenotype are included as well which was written years later as both a rebuttal to the critiques that resulted and a refinement of his development of these concepts.

Grade: Oppenheimer. Think you’re in control? Perhaps. Regardless, the gene centered view of evolution may leave you feeling like a big ol’ meat puppet, or rather, a survival machine whose soul purpose is to perpetuate the true masterminds, genes.