Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, Twenty-fifth Anniversary Edition

Rating:
Summary: An utter disappointment
Review: The 'new' edition of Sociobiology could not be more of a disappointment. The original version (1975) remains a landmark work and it's importance both to biology and to social science can hardly be exaggerated. The theoretical framework and the masterful scholarship contained in the original are nothing short of astonishing. Which makes the silver edition all the more a travesty. For a literary work it would be permissible to republish a work in its original form. This is not the case for a work of science. The original work touches on practically every subject of relevance to biology. And since it's publication advances have been made on every single front. And yet the work has not been updated. The last chapter on humans and their role in the world of sociobiology was at once the most controversial and least well supported of the entire book. Since 1975 the work on human sociobiology has been proceeding at a brisk pace, generating, not only books, research articles and edited tomes but whole journals dedicated to the topic. The inclusion of such research would greatly enhance not only the work itself but also the standing of sociobiology as a viable framework for understanding human behavior. Lamentably, all new research has been wantonly excluded. It is simply scandalous to republish the work, essentially unaltered from the original under the misguided denotation of 'new'. In science 25 years is an eternity. Republishing this work is not like releasing a second edition of The Selfish Gene or The Descent of Man unaltered. It is more like releasing an encyclopedia 25 years later without making any updates whatsoever. What was once a splendid work, now re-released turns out looking, cliched, trite and unforgivably out-dated. As far as I can see, the only reason to publish a work on science is to promote new knowledge and this edition can make no such claim. Interested readers would do just as well to save their money and buy an old edition of Sociobiology for a quarter of the price.

Rating:
Summary: An utter disappointment
Review: The `new' edition of Sociobiology could not be more of a disappointment. The original version (1975) remains a landmark work and it's importance both to biology and to social science can hardly be exaggerated. The theoretical framework and the masterful scholarship contained in the original are nothing short of astonishing. Which makes the silver edition all the more a travesty. For a literary work it would be permissible to republish a work in its original form. This is not the case for a work of science. The original work touches on practically every subject of relevance to biology. And since it's publication advances have been made on every single front. And yet the work has not been updated. The last chapter on humans and their role in the world of sociobiology was at once the most controversial and least well supported of the entire book. Since 1975 the work on human sociobiology has been proceeding at a brisk pace, generating, not only books, research articles and edited tomes but whole journals dedicated to the topic. The inclusion of such research would greatly enhance not only the work itself but also the standing of sociobiology as a viable framework for understanding human behavior. Lamentably, all new research has been wantonly excluded. It is simply scandalous to republish the work, essentially unaltered from the original under the misguided denotation of `new'. In science 25 years is an eternity. Republishing this work is not like releasing a second edition of The Selfish Gene or The Descent of Man unaltered. It is more like releasing an encyclopedia 25 years later without making any updates whatsoever. What was once a splendid work, now re-released turns out looking, cliched, trite and unforgivably out-dated. As far as I can see, the only reason to publish a work on science is to promote new knowledge and this edition can make no such claim. Interested readers would do just as well to save their money and buy an old edition of Sociobiology for a quarter of the price.

Rating:
Summary: A Welcome Return
Review: This is a classic by the most famous "bugman" in the world, a naturalist in the twentieth century who drew conclusions from the observed behaviour of insects. The original hardcover version was quite expensive, and the abridged version in paperback lacked the full text. This is not a short read, but is absorbing and a "must" for the "everyman" who wishes to learn from the thoughts of a master. I have the original hardcover but am glad that the book will be more widely available and is sure to be something that readers of Wilson's popular books will want to have in their libraries. Wilson's Pulitzer Prize winning "On Human Nature" is another book well worth reading for an overview by one of the best American minds of the latter 20th century.