The Selfish Gene

Selfish is doing what is in your Best Interest, not doing what you want at everybody else's expense. Popular use of the word has confused it with Greedy, Foolishly Demanding even Stupid. So doing what is in your best interest is a virtue not a negative. Deciding what is in your best interest is not always easy. But once you have decided, it is the only course to take.
The Gene has a different time frame than us mere humans. The Gene Pool has experimented for many hundreds of millions of years. Genes may try being lazy or stupid or greedy in all that time, but the Genes that are passed on have chosen what is in their best interest or the "Selfish" choice. The Genes that are greedy or lazy find it harder and harder to reproduce and do not continue.
I loved this book. The change of narrator between Richard and Lalla was at appropriate and necessary points. The cadence and tone were good. The book kept me (a layman) interested till the end.
The fact that you have read this far into a review on a book with this title makes me believe you are a thinker. Listen to this book to clarify your thinking.
Enjoy!

it is now the number one book on my desert island list , dawkins gives you a practical window into what genes are and how they do what they do . this book is amazing

I had long heard of this book, it is oft cited and praised in other scientific works for the lay man. Because of all this notoriety, I had high expectations when I began listening. I was not disappointed at all, it managed to exceed my expectations. I finished listening 20 min ago, and as I write this, I am still riding an emotional high that comes from increased insight and understanding. I cannot recommend it highly enough, there is more to be had here than (perhaps) any other book I have ever read.

Yes! There is a lot of content and you can't pick it all up in one go around.

I have listened to "The Blind Watchmaker" and this book is also an excellent source of information. Both were wonderful.

If you are a person who believes or doesn't believe in evolution, and want to be more informed please give this a listen. The when you're done go check out The Blind Watchmaker. Richard Dawkins and his wife Lalla Ward do a great job narrating both books. Nothing is more convincing than when an author reads their own material to you.

Top 10

"Who's driving this bus"

Having the footnotes and extra comments read by Ward was a highly effective way of keeping track of which idea stream we are in. A good idea very effectively implemented.

Get ready for scenarios and probability. Written in the 1970's, this book was certainly ahead of its time and is very much relevant to today. It even profferred a new word /concept - the meme - in use today. There are some updated comments in response to what Richard previously wrote (that are made known as the book progresses) which add to the quality of this thesis / book and often very funny.

This is Richard Dawkins 1976 masterwork on evolutionary biology from the perspective of gene selection. The updated edition is as poignant today as when it was penned. Updates include fascinating studies supporting many of the hypotheses forwarded in the original text.

Dawkins is an excellent writer and uses non-scientific vocabulary and analogies to explain complex biological models in an easy to understand and informative way.

Other areas touched on include game theory models (the prisoners dilemma) as a basis for understanding an ESS (Evolutionarily Stable Strategy), memes (a term he coined) and computer virus.

Dawkins is such a figurehead that to say anything about him seems pointless. While most people of my generation will know him as author of "The God Delusion," that same is to be said for this book for any previous generation. However, this book hits more closely to what Dawkins is actually expert in. (This is not intended to be a slant towards Dawkins understanding of theology or philosophy. What is meant by this is that Dawkins was actually educated as a zoologist. He seems to be well versed in Theology enough to speak intelligibly about it, though his social perspective is profound enough.)

The Selfish Gene presents an evocative formulation of the genetic world. And creates a huge foundation for how genetic life affects the entire world around us. It is an intelligent, persuasive presentation of evolutionary biology. Dawkins also has great respect for his reader. As he explains in his preface, the book is for the general public, but it is not dumbed down so as to not be engaging. I do not think that from reading this I can profess any proficient knowledge in evolutionary biology, but I can engage in the discussion of the Selfish Gene. Being so, I do not find the Selfish Gene entirely convincing, but something fundamental does seem to be present in Dawkins theoretical apparatus.

The narration of this piece is purposefully disjunctive. This is the first audiobook I've encountered that was like this. The foot notes are read in as they occur in the text and the updated text is read by a differing voice. All of this is explained at the beginning of the book (forget now who reads what, but all footnotes are indicated by Dawkins saying "Footnote"). It took me a second to get used to this style, but once acclimated I flowed on pretty smoothly. The only drawback of this is that when the footnote is particularly long it does become hard to recall what prompted the footnote. Having a text nearby, I suppose, would be an easy remedy. Though, any textless listeners, like me, will probably have little trouble with this.

In many respects this book is a gateway to modern-thought. I highly recommend any one to at least be familiar with Dawkins set-up of genetic evolution.

30 years on, and this book may well still be the definitive popular book on gene-centric evolutionary biology. This 3rd edition has new chapters and endnotes giving us Dawkins' reflection on his original ideas with the benefit of a good-deal of hindsight. An absolute must read for anyone wanting to claim modern scientific literacy!

This audiobook is highly educational and has the potential to liberate someone who has been programmed by religious stories about life on earth and human behavior.
However; The truths in this audiobook about the behavior of animals due to their genetic programming via natural selection for continued replication, can feel like a dry eye opener and slap to the face vs the benevolent nature point of view.

Much respect to the author who has taken the responsibility of teaching us the ugliness of nature, while still advocating altruism among beeings as the most logical behavior (win win scenario) in most cases.
We can and should be genuinely good to each other and to nature and still we will be under our naturally selected selfish genetic objectivism. I am at peace with that.