Narrow Roads Of Gene Land Volume 1 Evolution Of Social Behaviour

Why is `blood thicker than water'? Are we innately violent or pacific? Why are plants and animals sexual? Why do we grow old and die? Such questions have motivated the life-work of W.D. Hamilton, widely acknowledged as the most important theoretical biologist of the 20th century. His papers continue to exert an enormous influence and they are now being republished for the first time. This first volume contains all of Hamilton's publications prior to 1981, a set especially relevant to social behavior, kinship theory, sociobiology, and the notion of `selfish genes'. Each paper is introduced by an autobiographical essay written especially for this collection. Accessible to non-specialists, this fascinating volume features several of the most read and famous papers of modern biology.

Why is 'blood thicker than water'? Are we innately violent or pacific? What is the best sex ratio? Why are plants and animals sexual? Why do we grow old and die? Over what do our chromosomes quarrel? Such questions have motivated the life-work of W. D. Hamilton, widely acknowledged as the most important theoretical biologist of the 20th century. His papers continue to exert an enormous influence and they are now being republished for the first time. Each one is introduced by an autobiographical essay written especially for this collection. This first volume contains all of Hamilton's publications prior to 1981, a set especially relevant to social behaviour, kinship theory, sociobiology, and the notion of 'selfish genes'. It includes several of the most read and famous papers of modern biology. A forthcoming volume will be devoted to the second half of Hamilton's life's work, on sex and sexual selection. Narrow Roads of Gene Land will be welcomed by professionals, graduate students, and undergraduates from a variety of disciplines, including evolution, population genetics, animal behaviour, genetics, anthropology, and ecology. The essays are accessible to non-specialists and will fascinate and entertain general readers with an interest in evolution and behaviour.

The second volume of the collected papers of W D Hamilton, the most important theoretical biologist of the 20th century. Volume 1, The Evolution of Social Behaviour (OUP, still in print), was devoted to the first half of Hamilton's life's work; Volume 2 is devoted to the other half, on sex and sexual selection. Each paper is accompanied by a specially-written autobiographical introduction.

W.D. Hamilton is considered by many the most important theoretical biologist of the 20th century. He has made major discoveries in evolutionary biology, genetics, and social behavior, and his essays continue to exert tremendous influence throughout the discipline. This second volume of his collected papers focuses on his groundbreaking work on sex and sexual selection. It contains the 18 papers he published between 1980 and 1991, many of them examining the role of parasites and disease in promoting genetic diversity. For each paper, Hamilton has written an accessible introduction describing why the work was done, how the paper came to be written, and its eventual fate. An invaluable collection for biologists, this book also provides general readers with deep insights into the sometimes surprising mechanics of evolutionary processes.

From an evolutionary perspective, individuals have a vi- tal interest in the reproduction of their genes. Yet this interest is overlooked by social and political theory at a time when we need to steer an adaptive course through the unnatural modern world of uneven population growth and decline, global mobility, and loss of family and communal ties. In modern Darwinian theory, bearing children is only one way to reproduce. Since we share genes with our families, ethnic groups, and the species as a whole, ethnocentrism and humanism can be adaptive. They can also be hazardous when taken to extremes. On Genetic Interests canvasses strategies and ethics for conserving our genetic interests in an environmentally sustainable manner sensitive to the interests of others.

"W.D. Hamilton is considered by many the most important theoretical biologist of the 20th century. He has made major discoveries in evolutionary biology, genetics, and social behavior, and his essays continue to exert tremendous influence throughout the discipline. This second volume of his collected papers focuses on his groundbreaking work on sex and sexual selection. It contains the 18 papers he published between 1980 and 1991, many of them examining the role of parasites and disease in promoting genetic diversity. For each paper, Hamilton has written an accessible introduction describing why the work was done, how the paper came to be written, and its eventual fate. An invaluable collection for biologists, this book also provides general readers with deep insights into the sometimes surprising mechanics of evolutionary processes." -- Amazon.com description.

The third volume of the collected papers of W.D. Hamilton continues his work on sex, and particularly its relation to parasitic disease, also including the Gaia theory, the colours of autumn leaves, and the controversial hypothesis that the AIDS pandemic accidentally originated in a polio vaccination campaign in Africa.