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Chapter Overview
Chapter 1: AudiobookHub Recommendation
Chapter 2: The basic unit of evolution is the gene, because it can exist as many copies and is therefore almost immortal.
Chapter 3: Genes are selfish by nature: their success in surviving comes at the cost of other genes.
Chapter 4: A gene’s phenotype – how its code shows up in its environment – determines whether it survives.
Chapter 5: A gene’s survival success depends on its specific environment – both physical and genetic.
Chapter 6: Organisms are machines assembled by groups of genes that cooperate only because they share reproduction.
Chapter 7: Genes design the brains they create with behavioral strategies that support their survival.
Chapter 8: Competition between strategies produces a stable behavior pattern within a population.
Chapter 9: The selfish drive of genes to survive accounts for seemingly altruistic acts like parental care.
Chapter 10: Mutually altruistic behaviors often succeed because they help the host’s genes more than pure selfishness does.
Chapter 11: Human culture also evolves, and its fundamental unit is the meme.
Chapter 12: Conscious human foresight can enable us to rise above the harms of selfish genes.
Description
The Selfish Gene is a landmark 1976 work in the field of biology: It puts the gene at the center of the process of evolution and explains how, when this is taken into account, genes must be seen as “selfish.” Author Richard Dawkins then uses this theory of gene selfishness to explain the massive variety of animal behavior observable on Earth.
Who Should Listen
- ‘Everyone interested in the universe and their place in it.’
- Any student of biology or anyone with an interest in biology