The Extended Phenotype: The Long Reach of the Gene by Richard Dawkins

Published by Oxford, 1999, softcover, index, 314 pages, condition: new.

People commonly view evolution as a process of competition between individualsknown as survival of the fittestwith 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 phenotypesthe end products of genes, like eye color or leaf shape, which are usually considered to increase the fitness of an individualas serving the evolutionary interests of genes.

Dawkins makes a convincing case that considering ones 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.