Folio Archives 489: The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins – 2011/2019
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The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins – 2011/2019
A poll by the Royal Society voted this book to be the most influential science book of all time. That’s a pretty big call, but this fascinating, very easily read and well explained book takes us back to the basics of evolution and could easily be retitled after the heading for the first chapter – “Why are people?”.
This fascinating science book was first published by The Folio Society in 2011 but was originally written in 1976. The text was becoming dated in some areas, but this new 2019 revised edition has a new epilogue that was not included in the original 2011 edition. It is therefore this 2019 edition that potential purchasers should seek out.
Dawkins describes life from its very earliest beginnings in a hot primaeval soup, through every subtle stage of evolution over billions of years to the arrival of modern man about 100,000 years ago. It is easy for a layman to follow and very logical, discussing and explaining many of the fallacies that have crept into the theory of evolution in the almost two centuries since it was first described by Charles Darwin.
Richard Dawkins (b.1941) trained as a biologist and is renown as a science communicator. He is now an emeritus professor at New College, Oxford. His other science books include The Blind Watchmaker, Climbing Mount Improbable and Unweaving the Rainbow. All were published by The Folio Society in similar bindings in 2007, 2008 and 2009 respectively. He is also well known for his atheism and in 2006 wrote The God Delusion.
The Selfish Gene has xxi+377 pages and no less than three prefaces and a foreword by the author, taken from different editions of the book. There are 51 colour plates spread across 24 bound-in glossy pages as well as integrated graphs and tables. There is an index and bibliography at the back of the book. The endpapers and slipcase are plain gold. It is bound in black cloth with a red and gold beehive image blocked and printed on the front cover. The slipcase measures 25.2x16.9cm.
PS: The cover actually made me think of The Life of the Bee, which is reviewed HERE.
Pages from catalogue
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
A poll by the Royal Society voted this book to be the most influential science book of all time. That’s a pretty big call, but this fascinating, very easily read and well explained book takes us back to the basics of evolution and could easily be retitled after the heading for the first chapter – “Why are people?”.
This fascinating science book was first published by The Folio Society in 2011 but was originally written in 1976. The text was becoming dated in some areas, but this new 2019 revised edition has a new epilogue that was not included in the original 2011 edition. It is therefore this 2019 edition that potential purchasers should seek out.
Dawkins describes life from its very earliest beginnings in a hot primaeval soup, through every subtle stage of evolution over billions of years to the arrival of modern man about 100,000 years ago. It is easy for a layman to follow and very logical, discussing and explaining many of the fallacies that have crept into the theory of evolution in the almost two centuries since it was first described by Charles Darwin.
Richard Dawkins (b.1941) trained as a biologist and is renown as a science communicator. He is now an emeritus professor at New College, Oxford. His other science books include The Blind Watchmaker, Climbing Mount Improbable and Unweaving the Rainbow. All were published by The Folio Society in similar bindings in 2007, 2008 and 2009 respectively. He is also well known for his atheism and in 2006 wrote The God Delusion.
The Selfish Gene has xxi+377 pages and no less than three prefaces and a foreword by the author, taken from different editions of the book. There are 51 colour plates spread across 24 bound-in glossy pages as well as integrated graphs and tables. There is an index and bibliography at the back of the book. The endpapers and slipcase are plain gold. It is bound in black cloth with a red and gold beehive image blocked and printed on the front cover. The slipcase measures 25.2x16.9cm.
PS: The cover actually made me think of The Life of the Bee, which is reviewed HERE.
Pages from catalogue
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
