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List Price: CDN$ 17.95Amazon.ca's Price: CDN$ 13.10 You Save: CDN$4.85 (27%)Prices subject to change.
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 576.5
EAN: 9780199291151
Edition: 1
ISBN: 0199291152
Label: Oxford University Press
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press
Number Of Pages: 384
Publication Date: April 15, 2006
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Studio: Oxford University Press
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Editorial Review:
From Amazon.com:
Inheriting the mantle of revolutionary biologist from Darwin, Watson, and Crick, Richard Dawkins forced an enormous change in the way we see ourselves and the world with the publication of The Selfish Gene. Suppose, instead of thinking about organisms using genes to reproduce themselves, as we had since Mendel's work was rediscovered, we turn it around and imagine that "our" genes build and maintain us in order to make more genes. That simple reversal seems to answer many puzzlers which had stumped scientists for years, and we haven't thought of evolution in the same way since.
Why are there miles and miles of "unused" DNA within each of our bodies? Why should a bee give up its own chance to reproduce to help raise her sisters and brothers? With a prophet's clarity, Dawkins told us the answers from the perspective of molecules competing for limited space and resources to produce more of their own kind. Drawing fascinating examples from every field of biology, he paved the way for a serious re-evaluation of evolution. He also introduced the concept of self-reproducing ideas, or memes, which (seemingly) use humans exclusively for their propagation. If we are puppets, he says, at least we can try to understand our strings. --Rob Lightner
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
Prior to reading Dawkins, I had no real experience with evolutionary theories aside from the little bits I'd been exposed to in various psychology courses. Not only have I learned an immense amount from this book, but the author has successfully sparked an interest in further speculations of this nature. Dawkins writes in a thorough and expressive manner, confident in his theories and unafraid to put less sensible (but all too popular) theories in their places. He introduces "memes" as replicating ideas on the same level of biological genes, a notion that fascinated me deeply. This author is a true scientific mind, and a must for anyone interested in evolutionary theory.
Rating:  -
Richard Dawkins is an evolutionary theorist and holds the Charles Simonyi Chair in the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. He is also a best seller author of science books, and quite easy to read. His most recent book is The God Delusion, but previously he wrote mainly about evolution. For example, his prior book is The Ancestors' Tale, a brief history of life on earth.
The Selfish Gene is explains the basics of evolution in simple and readable language. There is a good reason why this book has a 30th Anniversary edition: it is truly a classic, and will be read for many, many years to come.
Rating: -
Reading this book today, one can easily forget how revolutionary it was. Many of the new, controversial ideas inside are now accepted scientific dogma; memes now have their own entire field of study.
Enlightening and exciting for both the layperson and expert, if you haven't read it yet, you're missing out!
Rating: -
Richard Dawkins is one of the best natural science writers of our time. This is a must read for anyone trying to familiarize with Dawkin's ideas; a really great representative book of his thought. Dawkins is no traditional evolution thinker, he is continually trying to visualize nature as a hole, trying not to loose perspective and seeing the big picture. He surely is an excellent system observer and analyzer. Is he right? Honestly, I don't know. What I know is that his view of nature is clarifying and aids you to understand things otherwise would be kind of intricated in essence.
I really recommend this book to anyone interested in evolution, specially in an unorthodox view of evolution.
Rating: -
There are plenty of reviews here written about this book that well describe it's genius in ways that allow me to focus the amazon review reader to some rare review humor. Some apparently find the idea of evolution or more accurately it's implications less than appealing. While you will find some of the most entertaining reviews on this website among Mr. Dawkins readers, mainly in the "blind watchmaker" review section, allow me to highlight those readers who apparently thought Mr. Dawkins work was so outrageous they some how decided to read many of his works and review them on amazon. These can be found by clicking the "see all customer reviews" link at the bottom of the main page of each book and selecting view by 1 star reviews. With that said, this is nothing less than a five star book. I might point out that Mr. Dawkins is a scientist, a fact a biology graduate friend of mine from Cal Tech recently pointed out, not a writer of science such as Matt Ridley, who has some excellent ... Read More
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