The Genial Gene cover art

The Genial Gene

Deconstructing Darwinian Selfishness

 Preview

Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Genial Gene

By: Joan Roughgarden
Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
Try Premium Plus free

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $27.99

Buy Now for $27.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.
Cancel

About this listen

Are selfishness and individuality - rather than kindness and cooperation - basic to biological nature? Does a "selfish gene" create universial sexual conflict? In The Genial Gene, Joan Roughgarden forcefully rejects these and other ideas that have come to dominate the study of animal evolution.

Building on her brilliant and innovative book Evolution's Rainbow, in which she challenged accepted wisdom about gender identity and sexual orientation, Roughgarden upends the notion of the selfish gene and the theory of sexual selection and develops a compelling and controversial alternative theory called social selection. This scientifically rigorous, model-based challenge to an important tenet of new-Darwinian theory emphasizes cooperation, elucidates the factors that contribute to evolutionary success in a gene pool or animal social system, and vigorously demonstrates that to identify Darwinism with selfishness and individuality misrepresents the facts of life as we now know them.

This book is published by University of California Press.

©2009 The Regents of the University of California (P)2010 Redwood Audiobooks Animals Biology Evolution Gender Studies Sociology Inspiring

Critic Reviews

"Roughgarden's new theory is likely to end up an important extension to existing thought." ( New Scientist)
"This may be the most important book, philosophically speaking, on evolutionary theory in a decade. If Roughgarden is right, males and females evolved as allies, not enemies, and evolutionary theory needs a rethink because competition evolves in a cooperative world, not the other way around." (James Griesemer, President of the International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology)

What listeners say about The Genial Gene

Average Customer Ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Audible.com.au reviews

Amazon Reviews
No Reviews are Available
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.