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Books

Look for knowledge not in books but in things themselves.
- William Gilbert

Here is a list of the books that I've read recently, that I consider to be required reading for people attempting to understand the world we live in:

The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins

Dawkins has written a few other books, all of which are quite good.
Criteria for successful replicator:
1. Fidelity - Must be able to be copied accurately.
2. Fecundity - Many copies must be made.
3. Longevity - The copies must last a long time.
The Meme Machine, Susan Blackmore

This book expands defines the meme which was originally defined by Dawkins. Basically a meme is the software version of a gene. It uses humans as a host.
She also explains the symbiotic relationship between genes and memes.
The reason for the success of memes is the evolution pressures caused by human evolution (Pages 76-78):
1. Selection for imitation.
2. Selection for imitating imitators.
3. Selection for mating with imitators.
4. Sexual selection for imitation.
Blackmore argues that memes have turbo charged our genes and have accelerated our evolution and in some cases even replaced genes in determining our basic bahavoir.
Make sure you read Dawkins first as Blackmore bases some of her arguments on material explained by him.
Guns, Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond

Why is it that the western culture is overwhelming that of primitive peoples all over the world and not the other way around? So begins Diamond's book on the history of, well, everything. He explains why western culture has advanced to the point of overwhemng all other others. He argues that the luck of geography and not racial or biological reasons are why.
Diamond has written some other interesting books including 'Why is Sex Fun'
The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, John Landis

A history of the world presenting the thesis that success or failure derives from the values held by the culture. He presents chapters of history exploying the success and failure of many countries, ethnic groups and attempts to draws general lessons from them.