The selfish gene / / Richard Dawkins

• Autore: Dawkins Richard
• Pubblicazione: Oxford, England : , : Oxford University Press, , 2016; ©2016
• Edizione: 40th anniversary edition.
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (497 p.)
• Disciplina: 155.7
• Soggetto topico: Behavior genetics; Genetics; Evolution (Biology)
• Soggetto genere / forma: Electronic books.
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Cover ; THE SELFISH GENE; Copyright; Contents; INTRODUCTION TO 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION ; PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION ; FOREWORD TO FIRST EDITION; PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION ; 1. WHY ARE PEOPLE? ; 2. THE REPLICATORS ; 3. IMMORTAL COILS ; 4. THE GENE MACHINE ; 5. AGGRESSION ; 6. GENESMANSHIP ; 7. FAMILY PLANNING ; 8. BATTLE OF THE GENERATIONS ; 9. BATTLE OF THE SEXES ; 10. YOU SCRATCH MY BACK, I'LL RIDE ON YOURS ; 11. MEMES ; 12. NICE GUYS FINISH FIRST ; 13. THE LONG REACH OF THE GENE ; EPILOGUE TO 40TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION ; ENDNOTES; CHAPTER 1: Why are people? ; p. 1 . . . all attempts to answer that question before 1859 are worthless . . .p. 3 I am not advocating a morality based on evolution.; p. 7 . . . it is possible that the female improves the male's sexual performanceby eating his head.; p. 14 . . . the fundamental unit of selection is not the species, nor the group, nor even, strictly, the individual. It is the gene . . .; CHAPTER 2: The replicators; p. 18 The simplified account I shall give [of the origin of life] is probably not too far from the truth.; p. 21 'Behold a virgin shall conceive . . . ' ; p. 25 Now they swarm in huge colonies, safe inside gigantic lumbering robots . . .CHAPTER 3: Immortal coils; p. 30 . . . impossible to disentangle the contribution of one gene from that of another.; p. 36 The definition I want to use comes from G. C. Williams.; p. 43 . . . the individual is too large and too temporary a genetic unit . . .; p. 51 Another theory, due to Sir Peter Medawar . . .; p. 55 What is the good of sex?; p. 57 . . . the surplus DNA is . . . a parasite, or at best a harmless but useless passenger . . . (see also p. 237); CHAPTER 4: The gene machine ; p. 63 Brains may be regarded as analogous in function to computers.p. 68 There is a civilization 200 light-years away, in the constellation of Andromeda.; p. 71 . . . strategies and tricks of the living trade . . .; p. 76 Perhaps consciousness arises when the brain's simulation of the world becomes so complete that it must include a model of itself.; p. 78 A gene for altruistic behaviour . . .; p. 79 Hygienic bees; p. 81 This is the behaviour that can be broadly labelled communication.; CHAPTER 5: Aggression: stability and the selfish machine; p. 90 . . . evolutionarily stable strategy . . . ; p. 97 . . . retaliator emerges as evolutionarily stable.p. 98 Unfortunately, we know too little at present to assign realistic numbers to the costs and benefits of various outcomes in nature.; p. 104 The neatest demonstration I know of this form of behavioural asymmetry . . .; p. 106 Paradoxical ESS; p. 106 . . . a kind of dominance hierarchy [in crickets] . . .; p. 109 . . . the ESS concept as one of the most important advances inevolutionary theory since Darwin. ; p. 113 Progressive evolution may be not so much a steady upward climb as a series of discrete steps from stable plateau to stable plateau.
• Sommario/riassunto: The million copy international bestseller, critically acclaimed and translated into over 25 languages.As influential today as when it was first published, The Selfish Gene has become a classic exposition of evolutionary thought. Professor Dawkins articulates a gene's eye view of evolution - a view giving centre stage to these persistent units of information, and in which organisms can be seen as vehicles for their replication. This imaginative, powerful, and stylistically brilliant work not only brought the insights of Neo-Darwinism to a wide audience, but galvanized the biologycommunity, generating much debate and stimulating whole new areas of research. Forty years later, its insights remain as relevant today as on the day it was published.This 40th anniversary edition includes a new epilogue from the author discussing the continuing relevance of these ideas in evolutionary biology today, as well as the original prefaces and foreword, and extracts from early reviews.Oxford Landmark Science books are 'must-read' classics of modern science writing which have crystallized big ideas, and shaped the way we think.
• Titolo autorizzato: Selfish gene
• ISBN: 0-19-109306-8
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Record Nr.: 9910465719203321
• Lo trovi qui: Univ. Federico II
• Serie: Oxford Landmark Science.