Adaptation and Natural Selection

Categories: Notable publications in evolutionary biology | 1966 books

Adaptation and Natural Selection: A Critique of Some Current Evolutionary Thought is a 1966 book by the American George C. Williams on evolutionary biology. In it, Williams outlines a gene-centric view of evolution, disparaging group selection and progress. This viewpoint was subsequently adopted by the scientific community in the Williams revolution.

The book takes its title from a lecture by George Gaylord Simpson in January 1947 at the University of Princeton.

The concepts were popularised amongst the general public by Richard Dawkins 1976 book The Selfish Gene.

Contents

• • Preface

1. Introduction 3
2. Natural Selection, Adaptation, and Progress 20
3. Natural Selection, Ecology and Morphogenesis 56
4. Group Selection 92
5. Adaptations of the Genetic System 125
6. Reproductive Physiology and Behavior 158
7. Social Adaptations 193
8. Other Supposedly Group-Related Adaptations 221
9. The Scientific Study of Adaptation 251

• • Literature Cited 275
  • Index 291

References

• 1996 edition ISBN 0-691-02615-7

External links

• http://pup.princeton.edu/titles/558.html
• http://cogweb.ucla.edu/Abstracts/Williams_66.html