Group selection accustomed to group selection thinking that he did not realize his views "contravened orthodox Darwinian theory". The ethologist Niko Tinbergen praised Lorenz for his interest in the survival value of behavior, and naturalists enjoyed Lorenz's writings for the same reason. In 1962, group selection was used as a popular explanation for adaptation by the zoologist V. C. Wynne-Edwards. In 1976, Richard Dawkins wrote a well-known book on the importance of evolution at the level of the gene or the individual, "The Selfish Gene". From the mid 1960s, evolutionary biologists argued that natural selection acted primarily at the level of the
The Selfish Gene own valuable contributions to the field, the book has also stimulated research on human inclusive fitness. In the foreword to the book's 30th-anniversary edition, Dawkins said he "can readily see that [the book's title] might give an inadequate impression of its contents" and in retrospect thinks he should have taken Tom Maschler's advice and called the book "The Immortal Gene". In July 2017, "The Selfish Gene" was listed as the most influential science book of all time in a poll to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Royal Society science book prize. Dawkins builds upon George C. Williams's book "Adaptation