Who recommended The Extended Phenotype?

3 people have recommended The Extended Phenotype in the interviews, articles and reading lists we track, including Geoffrey Miller and Steve StewartWilliams. Each name links to their full reading list.

Is The Extended Phenotype worth reading?

3 people we track recommend it. It is best for: a graduate student in evolutionary biology prepping a seminar paper on units of selection — because the book supplies concentrated definitions and counterarguments you'll want to cite and respond to now; an undergraduate philosophy-of-biology student writing a term essay on adaptation versus drift — because it gives concrete vocabulary and thought experiments that clarify causal claims; a science educator designing a lecture comparing gene-centered and organism-focused accounts — because it offers clear examples and argumentative structure you can unpack for students. It may not suit: you'll likely put it down when long chains of abstract argument and repeated defense of the central thesis pile up; the midbook stretches are where readers commonly stop; annoying if you prefer narrative natural history or vivid species stories — the emphasis is conceptual analysis rather than field anecdote; not for readers seeking hands-on exercises or an up-to-the-minute empirical survey — no exercises provided, and some empirical discussion reads like a focused conceptual polemic rather than a modern synthesis.

What books are like The Extended Phenotype?

Readers of The Extended Phenotype also turn to A Crack in Creation, The Blind Watchmaker and The Code Breaker, based on the lists and recommenders these books share.

The Extended Phenotype: Recommended by 3 People

Name: The Extended Phenotype
Author: Richard Dawkins

In The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins crystallized the gene's eye view of evolution developed by W.D. Hamilton and others. The book provoked widespread and heated debate. Written in part as a response, The Extended Phenotype gave a deeper clarification of the central concept of the gene as the unit of selection; but it did much more besides. In it, ...