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Summary: A good 'novel' for outsiders
Review: The author is another Darwin follower. Everyone knows what Darwin said, but you cannot guess what this book say. This is a good 'novel' for outsiders. Surely.
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Summary: A brilliant book which will blow your mind (be careful)...
Review: I first read The Selfish Gene about twenty years ago riding on a train from Long Island into Manhattan. The experience was a startling one (as much a mind-altering drug as a book) and it shaped my basic beliefs on human nature for many years. Dawkins writes with astounding power and The Selfish Gene has been crafted to produce the maximum impact, both intellectually and emotionally, on the reader. If you accept the tenets of natural selection, you cannot help but be pulled into Dawkin's graphic and relentless narrative of selfish genes in the first part of this book. But remember, Dawkins is as much a superb salesman as a scientist. Although natural selection offers rational clues as to how adaptive characteristics are preserved and passed on to successive generations, it is a great leap of faith (dare I use the word!) from that model to one which reduces all life and mental processes to automata. As quantum physics has discovered, reductionism fails when the natural laws and mechanisms which allow scientists to adequately model the macroscopic world cannot fully rationalise events on a much smaller or older scale
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Summary: Brilliant work
Review: Mr. Dawkin's book is a vastly interesting book. As a 15-year-old student of genetics and microbiology, this book is a must read. I also enjoyed Howard Bloom's The Lucifer Principal which is largely an extention of this work but more concentrating on the social effects of selfish genes rather than the biology. While some are offended by this book, these are largely those that wish to be comforted in the illusion that humans are "different." If you don't have a problem being told that people are one step above chimps, not one step below angels, I can't imagine why you wouldn't enjoy this book.
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Summary: Heretic, Atheistic, Visionary, but never dull
Review: In many ways Richard Dawkins' personal beliefs are irrelevant. What is relevant is that he presents a view, with outstanding clarity, of an underlying set of rules. His theories, as a tool for modelling and understanding our nature, are difficult to dispute without resorting to mere emotional or personal attacks. Read this book with an open mind and the spirit that it is intended and you will learn something. Look elsewhere if you prefer the comfort of the same old views.
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Summary: Provocative, original. Read it and make up your own mind.
Review: Few books can change the way one looks at nature, but this did for me. While I reserve my personal judgment on Dawson's theories, I find his arguments provocative and challenging. This book does make one think; and that is something to be sought, not feared. (...). Dawson's analogy to the "selfish" gene is merely that -- a way to conceptualize a different view of evolution. It says nothing about how we as humans should behave. Nor does it suggest in any way that genes actually have "desires" or indeed any internal motivations at all. This is a book that looks at evolution from the bottom up, instead of our standard top-down humans-to-cells-to-genes approach. Read it and it will deepen your understanding regardless of whether you agree with the author.
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Summary: this is a note to the review editor
Review: Here is how the review personal grounds. That humans are robots programmed by genes has as its moral that, as the Elvis Presley song puts it, 'you ain't nothin' but a hound dog'. This is meant to be the definitive refutation of belief in the soul. That it may be. But it is assuredly a savage assault on the concept of the person presupposed by the human rights and dignity needed for a decent society. That many believe that Dawkins' corrosive doctrine enjoys the authority of Science should make us uneasy about the future. Look what happened the last time around. Hiram Caton Faculty of Arts Griffith Universit
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Summary: Evolutionary Principles Explaining The Questions We All Have
Review: This book is a must for any person studying biology and/or psychology, as well as anyone interested in the biological roots of behavior. It gives an accurate working definition of evolution and natural selection, and explains how behavior can be molded by evolution. Dawkins writes in ways that anyone can understand. He explains theories in great detail, pulling examples from the natural world. The book outlines ideas and theories that have led to the popularization and growth of evolutionary psychology, which has become one of the fastest growing academic areas. This popularity has caused people to actually test theories systematically and empirically. A really excellent book that will change the ways one looks at human behavior.
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Summary: Excellent Book for anyone remotely interested in Biology
Review: I know very little about biology, but Dawkin's simple, yet sophisticated style makes reading this book fun. I especially enjoyed the chapter about memes and was glad to finally know what the heck the "Prisoner's Dilema" is. I actually feel smarter after reading Mr. Dawkins book. I reccommend this book for anyone from about age 13 on up.
Rating: 
Summary: Good writing, misleading ideas
Review: Dawkins has the ability to write books that people read, and some of his ideas are good. However, there are very misleading ideas in this book. For entity to be selfish/altruistic, it has to make decisions. Genes don't make decisions, so they cannot be selfish or altruistic. Dawkins may claim it is used only metaphorically, but using a loaded word for a metaphor is very misleading, because humans cannot ignore the undertones of the word. The idea that this is a metaphor to is also wrong. Dawkins claims that it is best to analyse evolution in terms of single genes, but the most interesting thing about genes is how they build organisms, and they do this cooperatively. The idea was defended with the claim that we can regard the rest of the genes as 'environment', but that is simply stupid. For something to be 'environment', it has to change more slowly than the evolution of the gene, and the other genes evolve in the same rate. Another fundamental error that dawkins does is completely ignoring neurobiology. The connectivity of neurons in the brain starts mostly stochastic, so very little can be actually wired in. It is fair to say that the stochastic connectivity is 'hidden' by neuroscientists, and they tend always to speak about how precise are the connections in the brain, but a serious researcher should be able to recognize that this 'precision' cannot be coded by the genes, as it is different between individuals in a stochastic way. Dawkins also mishandles cultural transmission. He restrict it to imitation, and constrained to district units ('memes'). There is no reason why cultural transmission should be by imitation only, and and no reason why it should be done in district units (the latter is simply for the aesthetic match with genes). By restricting cultural transmission to imitation and memes, Dawkins cause cultural transmission to look an unlikely mechanism. In summary, while you may enjoy reading this book, you will get quite a lousy view of evolution from reading it. If you really want to understand evolution, take a undergraduate textbook and read it instead.
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Summary: Memes and genes
Review: You read it as a novel, and it open your eyes on essential questions. But what I mosty appreciate is that Dawkings is, in a way, a humanist. While in "The moral animal" Robert Write venture in the tangled woods of the human behaviour, Dawkings restrict his analysis on the only two kind of replicators known: the genes, that yelding other genes create the life, and the memes, that yelding other memes create the culture. And he, after all, admits the freedom of the human beings. Even from genes.
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