The Selfish Gene
Richard Dawkins's 1976 popular science book on the gene-centred view of evolution.
At a glance
Key ideas
Replicators, Kin selection, Evolutionarily stable strategies …
See all 4The title
The Immortal Gene
Connections
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- The book sets out the gene-centred view of evolution, building on George C.
- Williams and W.
- D.
- Hamilton.
- The "selfish gene" is a metaphor: much of the book explains how altruism evolves.
- It follows that the more genes two individuals share, the more sense it makes for them to co-operate.
- It introduced the word meme for a unit of cultural evolution.
Why it matters
- A 2017 poll for the Royal Society Science Book Prize's 30th anniversary named it the most influential science book of all time.
Key facts
- Author
- Richard Dawkins1
- Published
- 1976, Oxford University Press; foreword by Robert Trivers1
- Second edition
- 1989, with two new chapters and endnotes1
- 30th-anniversary edition
- 2006, restoring the Trivers foreword1
- The Extended Selfish Gene
- 2016, 40th-anniversary edition with a new epilogue1
- Translations
- At least 23 languages1
Key ideas
-
Replicators1
Life began with molecules that copied themselves; bodies evolved as their survival machines.
-
Kin selection1
Close relatives share genes, so helping them can spread a gene even at a cost to the helper.
-
Evolutionarily stable strategies1
Using the hawk-dove game, evolution does not work for the good of the species.
-
Memes1
Culture has its own replicators, which he named memes.
The title
-
The Immortal Gene1
His publisher Tom Maschler suggested this title; Dawkins later said he may have been right, since many read it "by title only".
Connections
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