Biology Book Review: The Selfish Gene
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins is one of my foundational pillars of biological knowledge. In this book, Richard Dawkins explains the fundamental forces that drive living beings to behave in specific ways. This book discusses the story of life from its origins to the rise of complex civilization. Richard Dawkins articulates the forces of natural selection by using logical arguments backed up by examples. The use of statistics allows The Selfish Gene to provide convincing evidence for certain arguments the book addresses.
Richard Dawkins uses a variety of analogies to get his point across. The fundamental point that is argued in this book is that DNA is a self replicating molecule which constructs a biological machine to carry it. This is the driving force of evolution, from brain development to the physical characteristics of organisms. The proposal is backed up by countless examples and logical arguments, addressing everything from the forces of entropy to the value of energy in living systems.
This book has influenced much of my perception of biology as a science. It opened my mind by teaching me to see into living beings as complex machines. With this approach, I am able to break down the most challenging of concepts into small pieces that must follow the laws of the universe. After all, if we can discover the way fundamental forces affect living beings, we are on the path to understanding life as a whole.
The writing style of this book is very easy to follow. It was written with the intent to read as a science fiction novel. Many parts of the book live up to this goal but some parts do not read quite as easily. The reason some of the chapters in this book require more focus is due to their emphasis on mathematical concepts. Although occasionally dry, these chapters are necessary if one is to understand why life has developed the way it has.
I will conclude this book review by saying this: If you have followed my posts this far, and do not mind thinking mathematically about things, I would highly recommend this book. The occasional dry chapter is more than made up for by the density of knowledge contained in its pages. This book is easily a 8.5/10.
Here is an Amazon link (Audible/Hardcopy) to the book if you are interested in learning more.