Recommendations you can check.
by Richard Dawkins, 2006
Who uses, recommends or left The Selfish Gene, in their own words: each a verbatim quote with a link to where it was said.
4 people
Having an interest in genetics and molecular biology, I was completely enchanted by the narrative.
Marked “Great book!” on his public bookshelf.
2026-08-16·rakhim.org ↗
At one extreme, something you read can change your whole way of thinking. The Selfish Gene did this to me. It was like suddenly seeing the other interpretation of an ambiguous image: you can treat genes rather than organisms as the protagonists, and evolution becomes easier to understand when you do.
'The Shape of the Essay Field' (dated June 2025, no day given), on degrees of surprise in writing; he offers this book as the extreme case.
2025-06-01·paulgraham.com ↗
Foundation, The Lessons of History, Unqualified Reservations, A Short History of Nearly Everything, The Selfish Gene, Albion's Seed, War and Peace and War, Stalin's War, Energy and Civilization, Who We Are and How We Got Here, The Ancient City, The Fourth Turning, The Grey Lady Winked
The draft reading list for his Network School, in the “Macrohistory” section.
2025-02-02·balajis.com ↗
I really picked this book because for me, and I think for lots of people, it was an entry point into thinking about applying evolutionary principles to human behaviour. In a very user-friendly way, it gives you some of the basic tools you can use to start thinking about it.
Five Books interview on cultural evolution
2016-10-13·fivebooks.com ↗
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The verdict is what they actually said: loved and liked are explicit; recommended means they told others to get it; uses means they only say they use it; read is a book on their public shelf with no verdict; mixed and disliked are kept too.
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