The Selfish Genius as brilliantly identifying how Dawkins' views sit within the latest theories on evolution. The Selfish Genius The Selfish Genius: How Richard Dawkins Rewrote Darwin's Legacy is a 2009 book by Fern Elsdon-Baker about the history of evolutionary theory, published to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species". The book provides an overview of the historical and philosophical debates that have continued throughout the history of evolutionary theory, and carry on to this day in debates surrounding the merits of gene-centric selection and group selection models. The book is particularly critical of
Evolution of the eye of their owners. They vary in their visual acuity, the range of wavelengths they can detect, their sensitivity in low light, their ability to detect motion or to resolve objects, and whether they can discriminate colours. In 1802, philosopher William Paley called it a miracle of "design". Charles Darwin himself wrote in his "Origin of Species", that the evolution of the eye by natural selection seemed at first glance "absurd in the highest possible degree". However, he went on that despite the difficulty in imagining it, its evolution was perfectly feasible: ...if numerous gradations from a simple and imperfect eye