The Selfish Gene

By: Richard Dawkins

Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward

Length: 16 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

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)

Good

It often needs concentrated listening. But it's worth it. The book is good. I will get some of his other books too eventually.

Amazing

The Selfish Gene is an amazing book, I highly recommend to anyone regardless of their scientific background.

Excellent reading of a fascinating book

I generally like to listen to fiction - the kind of book that makes you want to keep listening, so that I don’t mind doing my exercise because I get to find out what happens next. This book is not like that. It is fascinating non-fiction, and hearing about the behaviors of various species in detail with explanations of what drives those behaviors is worth listening to. Dawkins and Ward are superb readers. I was delighted by how pleasant it is to listen to Dawkins. I’ve had my share of brilliant but boring professors in university, you know, those who mumble to the blackboard, to know that it is a true gift to be brilliant and also to be able to explain and present your material well. I also enjoyed the occasional social diatribes, such as on humans and birth control and the welfare state. I wouldn’t have minded a few more such diversions, but, of course, it is not the point of the book. This is an updated version of his original, and another fascinating aspect of the book is to hear about how his own understanding of certain phenomena has changed, and about the disputes with other scientists. It’s a taste of how science itself evolves, how we constantly improve our understanding of life, not from a philosophical point of view (don’t look for that in Dawkins’ work!) but from a biological point of view.

Valuable content, but lacks structure.

The book is fantastic in the sense that the information conveyed is very valuable. My only negative critique is that I felt Dawkins was circumventing the point he's trying to make for very long and never quite gets there. You are left to make up your own mind about the implications of his theory, which isn't inherently bad, a little unexpected from such a thorough work. Great read nonetheless and narration keeps it entertaining!

Just not that interesting

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Borderline. I didn't find the subject matter anywhere near as interesting as I expected to.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Most interesting was that some of the key ideas presented are disputed by other respected experts in the field.

What about Richard Dawkins and Lalla Ward ’s performance did you like?

Their collective performance was excellent

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No!

Any additional comments?

Richard Dawkins is a personal hero but this book just didn't get me excited. It was a slog with the odd interesting morsel thrown in a long the way.

as Complex as the Animal species known as Man.

the ability to express knowledge of evolution
in it's most complex field of genome.

thank you
Dr. Dawkins

Thick content but interesting

Very interesting but does get a little dry for my taste at parts. I did go all the way through the book so it definitely didn’t drag *that* much to prevent me from finishing.

Increíble libro

Da una perspectiva diferente a la formación de la sociedad y el crecimiento de la naturaleza desde el punto de vista genetico asociado a comportamientos sociales, jerárquicos, y éticos.

cool stuff

The 2 narrators was kind of confusing but barring that it was interesting and, surprising to me, funny!

Old book, but fresh ideas

While this book is out of date, it's charmingly so. Highly recommend, this will change the way you look at biology, evolution, and life.

Btw, this is the book that coined the word 'meme'. I think the way the word has evolved since it's inception here perfectly demonstrates the point he makes with it.