The Selfish Gene

Richard Dawkins

Rating 4.15/5

This is one book every person should read! Dawkins makes one question accepted norms and seeds thought-lings of bizzare possibilities . Have you ever wondered why a human fetus has more rights than an adult chimpanzee that can speak one or more human languages? Why do we think cannibalism is gross? We often consider ourselves as a nation, or a species, why not as a genus or as mammals or simply as animals and work for the collective good of say, the mammalian community!

The lucidity with which he breaks down complex concepts amazes me. It was thought provoking to read about various types strategies in play around us(Dove-Hawk, Grudger-Sucker-Cheat, Coy-Fast), their simplified versions and mutual equilibria and how these strategies direct our decision making to make the world behave how it does now.

But nothing beats the peculiarity of genetic relations in an ant colony. Did you know that male ant workers do not have a father? Did you know that ants have their own cattle to milk tree-sap from? Did you know ants has spiraling fungi farms and they constantly weeded it?

Read and find out!