The Unselfish Gene of the novel is a nod to Richard Dawkins' 1976 book, "The Selfish Gene". Among the concepts developed in Dawkins' book is a theory of how natural selection may favor self-sacrifice and other forms of altruism. The themes of altruism and small gene sets play an important role in plot and character development in The Unselfish Gene. The Unselfish Gene is what might be termed "semi-hard" science fiction. The technology described in the book is well within the limits of early 21st century technology. Some of it, such as "The Anita", an atomic-bomb powered heavy lifter space ship, was actually
Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation amateurish deficiencies. The ideas in the book were favoured by Radicals, but its presentation remained popular with a much wider public. Prince Albert read it aloud to Queen Victoria in 1845. "Vestiges" caused a shift in popular opinion which – Charles Darwin believed – prepared the public mind for the scientific theories of evolution by natural selection which followed from the publication of "On the Origin of Species" in 1859. For decades there was speculation about its authorship. The 12th edition, published in 1884, revealed officially that the author was Robert Chambers, a Scottish journalist, who had written the book