The Selfish Gene "On the Origin of Species" and Isaac Newton’s "Principia Mathematica". The Selfish Gene The Selfish Gene is a 1976 book on evolution by Richard Dawkins, in which the author builds upon the principal theory of George C. Williams's "Adaptation and Natural Selection" (1966). Dawkins uses the term "selfish gene" as a way of expressing the gene-centred view of evolution as opposed to the views focused on the organism and the group, popularising ideas developed during the 1960s by W. D. Hamilton and others. From the gene-centred view, it follows that the more two individuals are genetically related, the more sense
Group Selection (book) of Sex" (pp 163–175), containing ideas on evolution of sex later developed by Maynard Smith; see especially his 1978 book "The Evolution of Sex". Group Selection (book) Group Selection is a 1971 book edited by George C. Williams, containing papers written by biologists arguing against the view of group selection as a major force in evolution. The group of biologists writing on a single unified (if somewhat broad) theme contrasts with Williams' earlier seminal 1966 book "Adaptation and Natural Selection", whose arguments Williams suspected to be his alone. In particular it contains a reprint, with an erratum, of W.D. Hamilton's