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The cover of The Selfish Gene

The Selfish Gene

Richard Dawkins, 1976

A gene's eye view of evolution: bodies as survival machines for genes, explaining kin altruism, family conflict, cooperation through reciprocity, and culture's own replicator, the meme.

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16 parts, about 33 minutes to read.

Why read it

  • Shows why natural selection is best seen as acting on genes, with bodies as the survival machines that carry them
  • Explains how kin selection, parental care and reciprocity can make selfish genes produce altruistic behavior
  • Introduces the meme, a cultural replicator, and the extended phenotype, genes reaching beyond the body

Who it is for

  • Readers curious how evolution explains animal and human behavior
  • Students of biology who want the gene's eye view stated plainly
  • Readers interested in cooperation, game theory and the evolution of culture

What the summary covers

  1. Introductions and prefaces2 min
  2. Why are people?2 min
  3. The replicators2 min
  4. Immortal coils3 min
  5. The gene machine2 min
  6. Aggression and stable strategies3 min
  7. Genesmanship2 min
  8. Family planning1 min
  9. Battle of the generations2 min
  10. Battle of the sexes2 min
  11. You scratch my back, I'll ride on yours2 min
  12. Memes: the new replicators2 min
  13. Nice guys finish first3 min
  14. The long reach of the gene2 min
  15. Epilogue to the 40th anniversary edition1 min
  16. Later corrections2 min

Recommended by

  • Matt RidleyBritish science writer
    From the moment of its publication 40 years ago, it has been a sparkling best-seller and a scientific game-changer.

About the author

  • Richard DawkinsFormer Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford
    • Born in Kenya in 1941
    • Childhood in colonial Africa, boarding school in England, zoology at Oxford
    • Zoology at Balliol College, Oxford; DPhil by 1966
    • First book The Selfish Gene, 1976
    • Simonyi Professor at Oxford 1995 to 2008
    • Relation to the book's subject: founded a foundation for atheism and science in 2006 (the book's year)

Read it alongside

  • Pushes backThe Righteous Mind

    Dawkins argues that individual selection decisively beats group selection and that children must be taught altruism; Haidt argues that groups of altruists beat groups of selfish individuals, shaping human groupishness.

  • Goes deeperBorn to Rebel: Birth Order, Family Dynamics, and Creative Lives

    Dawkins describes genetic conflict over parental investment. Sulloway proposes that this conflict may encourage siblings to seek different family roles, while treating that explanation as a hypothesis.

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