Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, simply excellent. Buy it. Read it. Recommend it.
Review: I must say this book is excellent. The concepts are explained in a way that makes them very easy to grasp. The metaphors are truly illuminating. Dawkins may be the best science writer I have ever read.The people who gave him one star must have serious problems in comprehending simple logic. I read one review where the guy was criticizing Dawkin's for titling the book "The Selfish Gene". His argument was that genes being molecules could not be selfish. WELL NO DUH!!! The genes are not selfish in an anthropomorphic sense they just behave as though they were only interested in their own replication. And this behaviour arises because they descended from succesful ancestors that had the same behaviour. Even the word "behaviour" is not absolutely the best fit here. We could say the genes operate to maximize their replication. But all that rewording is only necessary for people who cannot bring themselves to accept the stark true logic of Dawkin's book. To the rest of us once Dawkins has illuminated the concept its logical appeal is self evident. Nitpicking the semantics is pretty lame.
Rating:
Summary: Essential Reading for EVERYBODY
Review: 'The Selfish Gene' is, in my opinion, one of the most important books ever written. Dawkins takes up the mantle of Darwin and expounds brilliantly on the work of Watson and Crick. The result is a book that will change the way you think and give you a whole new outlook on life on this planet
Rating:
Summary: A coup de grace to all superstitions and religious beliefs
Review: Richard Dawkins, in Selfish Gene, launches the coup de grace to all dogmatic beliefs and superstitions. He shows how intelligent can nature and how complex can spiritualism be without a genius designer.
Rating:
Summary: Disturbing but impelling
Review: "The Selfish Gene" is not an heart tugging book, it is one of those writings based on logic and reasoning. Each step in the discussion is a delight as we are moved from being the protagonist in our ego centric life to that of a mere bit player in a bigger picture and then back again to center stage. The serious reader will find the thesis will tend to change one's perspective on life and the wondrous events we see around us. Beware, you may find the percpectives pointed out by Dawkins somewhat unnerving, but definately worthy of examination. Your time and money will be well spent on this brain tickler.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, but at times I wish I could unread it.
Review: I wish I could rate this book at 5 stars and 0 stars at the same time. It is a fascinating book, very well-written, and it conveys a real sense of how life works on the biological level, how all sorts of diverse factors interact with each other to create an incredibly complex system (the evolution of life, in this case); it also just as vividly conveys a sense of how scientists come to understand these processes. I started it many years ago at the suggestion of a friend, thinking I wouldn't find it very interesting, and not much liking the kind of philosophy of life that (on the basis of my friend's description) seemed to lie behind it. But only a chapter or two in, I was completely hooked, and wanted to read more Dawkins. On one level, I can share in the sense of wonder Dawkins so evidently sees in the workings-out of such complex processes, often made up of quite simple elemental mechanisms, but interacting so complexly to produce the incredibly complex world we live in. But at the same time, I largely blame "The Selfish Gene" for a series of bouts of depression I suffered from for more than a decade, and part of me wants to rate the book at zero stars for its effect on my life. Never sure of my spiritual outlook on life, but trying to find something deeper - trying to believe, but not quite being able to - I found that this book just about blew away any vague ideas I had along these lines, and prevented them from coalescing any further. This created quite a strong personal crisis for me some years ago. The book renders a God or supreme power of any sort quite superfluous for the purpose of accounting for the way the world is, and the way life is. It accounts for the nature of life, and for human nature, only too well, whereas most religions or spiritual outlooks raise problems that have to be got around. It presents an appallingly pessimistic view of human nature, and makes life seem utterly pointless; yet I cannot present any arguments to refute its point of view. I still try to have some kind of spiritual outlook, but it is definitely battered, and I have not yet overcome the effects of this book on me. Richard Dawkins seems to have the idea that religion and spirituality are not only false, but ultimately unable to give a real sense of meaning and purpose in life. Their satisfaction is hollow, empty, and unreal, in his apparent view, and only a scientific understanding of life can give a real, lasting sense of wonder and purpose. I would question this. While I am not sure what (if anything) there is spiritually, I know that a scientific view of life cannot offer the slightest hope of life after death, and since we're all going to die and most of us don't want to, this is a crippling drawback to the kind of scientific vision Dawkins wants us all to have. If there is nothing beyond death, no spiritual dimension to anything, and everything is just a blind dance of atoms, I fail to see how this by itself can give one a real sense of purpose, however fascinating the dance that Dawkins describes - and it *is* fascinating; let there be no mistake about that. Because of this, I have the curious feeling of dichotomy about Dawkins' book that it is certainly fascinating on one level, but that I cannot give even qualified emotional commitment to the outlook on life that seems to lie behind it. I would in the end rather have the hope of something wonderful and purposeful that only some spiritual outlook can offer, even though it may be a deluded fantasy, than the certainty of a scientific vision that eliminates any possibility of long-term hope, that condemns us to an empty, eternal death of nothingness in the end. This scientific view may be completely rational; but rationality is not the only important consideration to shape our outlook on life. Anyone who has a narrow religious view of life, who is absolutely sure their religion is completely right, would be best off avoiding this book like the plague - it probably won't change their views, but they will quite likely get very upset and outraged. And anyone with an open-minded spiritual view had better at least be prepared to do a lot of thinking, and perhaps be willing to change some of their views, because this book *will* challenge almost any spiritual or religious viewpoint I can think of - whether it is of the open-minded or dogmatic sort. Some critics of this book have found its reasoning unconvincing, its materialist reductionism too superficial and shallow. But, from my perspective, the problem does not lie here; the problem with the book is that it is *too* convincing, that it is *entirely* convincing. The book makes it very difficult to continue to believe in anything that contradicts its basic premise, but which might be more comforting, and might give a greater sense of hope and inspiration, and provide a real sense of purpose in life. Such have its effects on my life been that, in my more depressed moments, I have desperately wished I could unread the book, and continue life from where I left off. It has been said that each of us has a God-shaped hole inside, and that we spend most of our lives trying to fill it with the wrong things. I firmly believe that God-shaped hole is there, that we have inner longings of a wonderful sort almost impossible to describe in words. Whether a God exists to fill it, I do not yet know. But what I am sure of is that, as wonderful as Dawkins' view of nature and of life may be on its own level, it will not fill that God-shaped hole.
Rating: 
Summary: Convincing but not worked through
Review: This book convinced me of the truth of evolution, but the author has not well worked out the conclusions/applications. HE does not deal with the laws (anti-discrimination, anti-apartheid) that prevent human evolution of continuing and force instead a common breeding. Politicians need to read this book and adapt the laws according to the selection and evolution of the races with the most fitted genes.
Rating: 
Summary: Startlingly new ideas, very good read.
Review: As other readers have pointed out the good parts, let me dwell on some shortcomings. The title "The Selfish Gene" despite the author's attempts to justify it, is somewhat misleading especially to those who are inclined to mistrust Darwinism. The title clearly is not intended to imply that there is a gene for selfishness rather that all genes are selfish. The other drawback is that the notion of a selfish replicator is not elaborated sufficiently perhaps because it falls outside the scope of biology. Nevertheless it may be argued that there is no compelling evidence so far that such a structure could emerge in nature using purely mechanical rather than teleological principles.
Rating:
Summary: MUST READ for alternative views on the meaning of life!
Review: Are genes our slaves or our masters? In the first 10 chapters of "The Selfish Gene", Richard Dawkins discusses the nature of gene replication and the theory that individual entities (such as humans) are "survival machines" built for the survival of the genes. In Chapter 11, -Memes: the new replicators-, Richard's ideas diverge form the central physical replication discussion and enter into the fascinating area of the replication of culture and ideas (basically addressing many issues central to the concepts of theism and Atheism). This books is a MUST READ for anyone seeking to expand their understanding of possible alternatives to the common human-centered points of view developed by our pre-scientific ancestors. Even though some of the writing is steeped in examples of simple math which for me, were rather dry and plodding, the inspired ideas and concepts presented in this book are a treasure to humankind.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent summary of genetic evolution and memetics for all
Review: A very readable overview of genetic evolution especially understandable for the non science reader. The best I've ever seen. The meme and its relation to gene within the framework of genetic biology makes both concepts understandable. I recommend this text to anyone with an interest in either genetics or memetics, but ideal for those interested in both; be it an introduction to either or both concepts, or an in-depth introduction without the formal scientific jargon that looses many of us.
Rating:
Summary: A stimulating read for both layperson and professional alike
Review: Dawkins manages to give an in depth and easy to read review of evolution and the gene's role in it. The author provides analogies and examples to help illustrate his points; however, some of the helpful tools (analogies and examples) he provides may sometimes be confusing to the reader and lead to misinterpretations, but on further analysis they do provide clarity and great insight to the evolutionary and behavioral issues that he addresses. It is a must read if you are interested in the subject!
| 
