From the Bookshelf of Bio-Nerds…

The Selfish Gene

Richard Dawkins

Start date: June 21, 2015

Finish date: September 22, 2015

Discussion: Group Reads

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Jan 19, 2013 Charlene rated it did not like it

Shelves: philosophy, evolution, biology

I have no choice but to update my review of this, once progressive, book. This was the 30th anniversary addition. Dawkins had a real chance here to help usher the theory of evolution into the 21st century but chose not to. There is no excuse for that. He is far more harmful to the progression of science now than he was every helpful in the past. He and all the other fossils need to have their theories in the rocks where they belong.

Just this week, the Royal Society *finally* met to talk about u I have no choice but to update my review of this, once progressive, book. This was the 30th anniversary addition. Dawkins had a real chance here to help usher the theory of evolution into the 21st century but chose not to. There is no excuse for that. He is far more harmful to the progression of science now than he was every helpful in the past. He and all the other fossils need to have their theories in the rocks where they belong.

Just this week, the Royal Society *finally* met to talk about updating the modern synthesis of evolution. Progress in this area has been so very slow, it's as if the neo-Darwinists are actually neo-creationists. They sound an awful lot like the creationists they fight against. Dawkins throws a tantrum anytime epigenetics is mentioned. It's not like we should let new evidence govern our decisions or anything..... Let's just stick with one book, no matter how old or outdated it might be. No I am not talking about the bible, I am talking about the Selfish Gene and the legacy of stubbornness and bullying it continues to leave in its wake. It's time to stop anchoring ourselves to such a narrow theory of evolution, and by extension evolutionary behavior, when myriad new and *solid* evidence keeps bombarding us. It's time to allow more progressive and more knowledgeable scientists to take the reigns. Instead, Dawkins spends his time bullying them, trying to ruin their careers by discrediting them, and continually seeking fame above truth. I have read every word of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species and autobiography. It seems very clear to me that Darwin would not simply dislike Dawkins, he would hold particular disdain for him. If Dawkins happened to be teaching a course Darwin was taking, Darwin would undoubtedly refuse to attend. He would protest Dawkins' outdated lectures and do everything he could to avoid such a dinosaur. He would instead sneak over to an epigenetics course, in which he was not enrolled, and take particular delight in the new ideas born out of the robust and exciting evidence that has been accumulated over the past 50 years.

My original review:

Dawkins is brilliant. No question. I would recommend this book, most because I think the theory is excellent and Dawkins explanation of so many things is spectacular. However, he is often far too self-congratulatory. Even worse, in the 30th anniversary edition he failed to take into account the new evidence from epigenetics (that actually does not necessarily have to destroy the selfish gene theory.) He is stuck in an outdated paradigm, which is a shame because he truly is a brilliant passionate, and insightful scientist. ...more

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Apr 09, 2011 Jonas rated it liked it

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Mar 21, 2013 DrosoPHila rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction, biology, memetics, genetics, richard-dawkins, evolution, science, author-fellow-royal-society, author-born-in-africa, popular-science