The Selfish Gene

By: Richard Dawkins

Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward

Richard Dawkins' brilliant reformulation of the theory of natural selection has the rare distinction of having provoked as much excitement and interest outside the scientific community as within it. His theories have helped change the whole nature of the study of social biology, and have forced thousands to rethink their beliefs about life.

In his internationally best-selling, now classic, volume, The Selfish Gene, Dawkins explains how the selfish gene can also be a subtle gene. The world of the selfish gene revolves around savage competition, ruthless exploitation, and deceit, and yet, Dawkins argues, acts of apparent altruism do exist in nature. Bees, for example, will commit suicide when they sting to protect the hive, and birds will risk their lives to warn the flock of an approaching hawk.

©1989 Richard Dawkins (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Dawkins first book, The Selfish Gene, was a smash hit.... Best of all, Dawkins laid out this biology - some of it truly subtle - in stunningly lucid prose. (It is, in my view, the best work of popular science ever written.)" (H. Allen Orr, Professor of Biology, University of Rochester, in The New York Review of Books)

Non-biologist just curious about other things....

Holy cow. I struggled with this one. I listen to books on everything, call it a general curiosity of life. I’m grateful there are folks genuinely interested in the minutia of biology, because I’m clearly not. If you want an uber-detailed book that uses the word “phenotype” and “replicator” 4,725,398 times, this book will make you feel sooooo smart! If you just want to learn a little about new understandings in biology, and don’t give a rats arse re the evolution of changes of ideas/thoughts re said biology, this book is NOT for you. This author prob has other books that get the point across without making it a boring HS science class, but this ain’t it. Having said that, I was too stubborn with my hard-earned money not to finish. I did. All 3,000 hours of it. I did learn tho. For that, I’m grateful. Just...less talk, more to the point is my style. So, if you want a Great Courses type book that you can brag to your friends you’ve slaved through, go for it! As for me, I’m going to balance out my brain with a rock star-autobiography type book next so I don’t fall asleep driving. Thanks!

Great book

Where does The Selfish Gene rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

One of the best for anyone wanting to learn about the origins of life and who else better to convey the message than Richard Dawkins.

best book on dating I've ever read.

When I have kids I'm going to give them this book to learn about courtship.

Fascinating

They say a good textbook should provoke more questions than it solves, but I feel this one was meant instead to type things up neatly, and for me it certainly has.

Well, aside from Dawkins musings on religious memes. Those I think he should ask Jordan Peterson about.

Simple understanding of complex evolution

Selfish Gene did change my view about genes. In retrospect, I knew that genes have enormous effect on living organisms, but never realised perspective of genes. Common and obvious general knowledge is genes are these awesome reproduction units every animal and tree have. Selfish Gene explains that living organisms are these awesome machines genes have. Brilliant!

Mindblowing/Mindbuilding

Prepare to expand your understanding of everything, ever, at a blistering speed...this is the one, absolutely crucial book for any creature with the capacity to understand language to indulge in. So far, that means you...

Its good.

my first time really listening to an audio book all the way through. they executed it well... I think it is more so the content that got mundane for me, but I'm about to listen to another audiobook, so we'll see how that goes.

Extremely enlightening and entertaining

Great book to learn about evolution that uses a huge set of examples that helps clarify each concept in a simple but effective way.

informative, memorable and accesible

I only wish The Extended Phenotype was also an audio book. I found a PDF online.

Next level evolution made easy.

If you could sum up The Selfish Gene in three words, what would they be?

Fascinating, magnificent, solid

What did you like best about this story?

The general message; let go of thinking of the world as inhabited by individuals (men or animals). Instead we are machines, used by our genes to stay alive indefinitely.
Alright, sounds creepy, but explains so much more from the world around us.

Which character – as performed by Richard Dawkins and Lalla Ward – was your favorite?

n/a

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Just fascination, and great to be able to grasp the theory of evolution on a deeper level than I was taught in school.