This might indeed be so, were it not that “gene” in this book is used in a special sense, tailored to evolution rather than embryology. So many exciting things are fast happening in the world of genomics, it would seem almost inevitable-even tantalizing-that a book with the word “gene” in the title would, forty years on, need drastic revision if not outright discarding. In some ways I would quite like to find ways to recant the central message of The Selfish Gene.

I have never heard of a scientist being maligned as a flip-flopper. A politician who changes his mind is accused of “flip-flopping.” Tony Blair boasted that he had “not got a reverse gear.” Scientists on the whole prefer to see their ideas vindicated, but an occasional reversal gains respect, especially when graciously acknowledged. Scientists, unlike politicians, can take pleasure in being wrong.

Reprinted by permission of Richard Dawkins and OUP. Containing a wealth of remarkable new insights into the biological world, the second edition once again drives home the fact that truth is stranger than fiction.This article is the epilogue to The Extended Selfish Gene and the fortieth anniversary edition of The Selfish Gene, both published in 2016 by Oxford University Press. The other new chapter, entitled 'The Long Reach of the Gene,' which reflects the arguments presented in Dawkins' The Extended Phenotype, clarifies the startling view that genes may reach outside the bodies in which they dwell and manipulate other individuals and even the world at large. One, entitled 'Nice Guys Finish First,' demonstrates how cooperation can evolve even in a basically selfish world. This revised edition of Dawkins' fascinating book contains two new chapters. Bees, for example, will commit suicide when they sting to protect the hive, and birds will risk their lives to warn the flock of an approaching hawk. The world of the selfish gene revolves around savage competition, ruthless exploitation, and deceit, and yet, Dawkins argues, acts of apparent altruism do exist in nature. In his internationally bestselling, now classic volume, The Selfish Gene, Dawkins explains how the selfish gene can also be a subtle gene. His theories have helped change the whole nature of the study of social biology, and have forced thousands of readers to rethink their beliefs about life. Richard Dawkins' brilliant reformulation of the theory of natural selection has the rare distinction of having provoked as much excitement and interest outside the scientific community as within it. Evolution - Genetik, Genetics, Population, Genetik - Evolution

The selfish gene by richard dawkins