The Selfish Gene
Richard Dawkins's The Selfish Gene, first published in 1976, is one of the most influential works of popular science of the twentieth century and a book that fundamentally reframed how we think about evolution. Dawkins's central argument is deceptively simple: natural selection is best understood not at the level of the species, the group, or even the individual organism, but at the level of the gene. Bodies, in this view, are vehicles, elaborate survival machines built by genes to copy themselves into the next generation. From this gene's-eye perspective, behaviors that look mysterious at first, altruism, parental sacrifice, the kindness of social insects, become tractable, even predictable. Dawkins ranges across kin selection, evolutionarily stable strategies, and the famous parable of the prisoner's dilemma to show how cooperation can emerge from competition without invoking any plan or purpose. Along the way he introduces the concept of the meme, the cultural counterpart to the gene, an idea that would shape decades of subsequent thought. Written with clarity, wit, and a startling capacity to make abstract ideas vivid, The Selfish Gene remains a foundational text for anyone interested in biology, behavior, or the philosophy of mind. Decades after its release, its central insights are still being argued, refined, and built upon.
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What you might want to know about The Selfish Gene
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Oxford biologist Richard Dawkins reframes Darwin at the level of the gene rather than the organism, arguing bodies are survival machines built by replicators. Across thirteen chapters he covers altruism, kin selection, evolutionary stable strategy, and a new word, meme, for cultural transmission.
The Selfish Gene argues that the gene, not the individual organism, is the unit of natural selection. Richard Dawkins introduced the term meme in this book to describe culturally transmitted units. The Selfish Gene was hugely influential in popular biology writing.
Yes. Despite being published in 1976, The Selfish Gene remains widely cited in evolutionary biology and popular science writing. A 40th-anniversary edition was published in 2016 with new material.
The Selfish Gene was written by Richard Dawkins, published in 1976 by Oxford University Press.
The Selfish Gene is 496 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Selfish Gene takes most readers 7 to 11 hours to finish.
The Selfish Gene is a standalone novel by Richard Dawkins, not part of a series.
The Selfish Gene is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.