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The Extended Phenotype: The Long Reach of the Gene

Richard Dawkins

Paperback | Pages: 336 pages

Rating: 4.09 | 7940 Users | 166 Reviews

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Original Title:	The Extended Phenotype: The Gene as the Unit of Selection
ISBN:	0192880519 (ISBN13: 9780192880512)
Edition Language:	English

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People commonly view evolution as a process of competition between individuals—known as “survival of the fittest”—with the individual representing the “unit of selection.” Richard Dawkins offers a controversial reinterpretation of that idea in The Extended Phenotype, now being reissued to coincide with the publication of the second edition of his highly-acclaimed The Selfish Gene. He proposes that we look at evolution as a battle between genes instead of between whole organisms. We can then view changes in phenotypes—the end products of genes, like eye color or leaf shape, which are usually considered to increase the fitness of an individual—as serving the evolutionary interests of genes.

Dawkins makes a convincing case that considering one’s body, personality, and environment as a field of combat in a kind of “arms race” between genes fighting to express themselves on a strand of DNA can clarify and extend the idea of survival of the fittest. This influential and controversial book illuminates the complex world of genetics in an engaging, lively manner.

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Title	:	The Extended Phenotype: The Long Reach of the Gene
Author	:	Richard Dawkins
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	Special Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 336 pages
Published	:	August 5th 1999 by Oxford University Press, USA (first published 1982)
Categories	:	Science. Nonfiction. Biology. Evolution. Genetics

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Ratings: 4.09 From 7940 Users | 166 Reviews

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Richard Dawkins here explains his view that the largest unit on which natural selection can reasonably be said to operate is the gene rather than the organism, and explores this ideas consequences for the standard conceptions of organisms, groups, and selection. The motif he introduces to show this best is a Necker Cube, which is a simple line drawing of all the edges of a cube: when looked at for the first time, it seems to be an overhead view of the cube. But with some visual effort, you can

I have picked up and put this book down a few times over the past 5 years, and it took the better part of a biology degree to finally understand it. But well worth the work! Nearly every page was thought-provoking and brought a deeper understanding of how evolution works.

I'm sure this is great, but I'm not a scientist and as one of Dawkins least accessible books, this one was overkill. It's an expansion of topics covered in The Selfish Gene, which I'd previously enjoyed, but there was too much detail for me to take in. I'll skip back to some of his later books.

Not as approachable as "The Selfish Gene," but it's a very strong follow-up for people who want more and who are willing to do a little work... Because of the rigor and the slightly different tilt of the book, there are many broader implications revealed through this treatment that weren't evident to me from "The Selfish Gene." As a non-biologist, the discussions frequently pushed me to their implications in the non-genetic meme-scape.

An extra read for those who liked "The Selfish Gene". This one was written for biologists but the glossary in the end of the book and Dawkins' illuminating prose make it easy to follow. The first chapters are aimed at precluding any possible misunderstandings of what Dawkins meant in "The Selfish Gene". The last four chapters explain the long-reach-of-the-gene idea and argue that the phenotypical effects are not limited to one organism. With a multitude of examples Dawkins demonstrates that



Convincingly argued thesis for the genocentric viewpoint of Darwinism. EP is aimed at professional biologists, but is readily accessible to a lay reader (like me), who combines some background knowledge with patient attentiveness.