The Genial Gene: Deconstructing Darwinian Selfishness
Written by Joan Roughgarden
Narrated by Carrington MacDuffie
5/5
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About this audiobook
Are selfishness and individuality - rather than kindness and cooperation - basic to biological nature? Does a "selfish gene" create universial sexual conflict? In The Genial Gene, Joan Roughgarden forcefully rejects these and other ideas that have come to dominate the study of animal evolution.
Building on her brilliant and innovative book Evolution's Rainbow, in which she challenged accepted wisdom about gender identity and sexual orientation, Roughgarden upends the notion of the selfish gene and the theory of sexual selection and develops a compelling and controversial alternative theory called social selection. This scientifically rigorous, model-based challenge to an important tenet of new-Darwinian theory emphasizes cooperation, elucidates the factors that contribute to evolutionary success in a gene pool or animal social system, and vigorously demonstrates that to identify Darwinism with selfishness and individuality misrepresents the facts of life as we now know them.
Joan Roughgarden
Joan Roughgarden is Professor of Biology Emerita at Stanford University. She is the author of several books, including Evolution and Christian Faith: Reflections of an Evolutionary Biologist and The Genial Gene: Deconstructing Darwinian Selfishness (UC Press).
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Reviews for The Genial Gene
1 rating1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Brilliant. Truly. I have always doubted sexual selection theory given it’s super sexist assumptions. This book masterfully explains why they are bunk and provides compelling evidence for what seems to be a far superior theory - social evolution theory.