Thinking books · Scientific thinking · Richard Dawkins, 1976

The Selfish Gene — the big ideas

Evolution explained from the gene’s perspective rather than the organism’s.

Free — no account needed to read

The big ideas

Changing the unit of analysis changes what is explicable — behaviours that look irrational for an animal make sense for a gene. That move transfers far beyond biology.

It introduced the idea of ideas themselves spreading and being selected, which is how the word meme entered the language.

Its title is routinely misread as a claim about how people should behave. The book argues the opposite, and says so.

Practise it — no need to have read it

Take a behaviour in your organisation that seems irrational. Ask what unit it IS rational for — a team, a career, a metric.

A hint: Almost nothing is irrational from every level at once.

Where it shows up in real life

• Understanding organisational behaviour
• Why ideas spread
• Incentive design

Described in our own words with the source named — never quoted, and not a substitute for reading the book.