Reviews

The Cooperative Gene: How Mendel's Demon Explains the Evolution of Complex Beings by Mark Ridley

gnome_friend's review

2.0

This was a very interesting book, but seems somewhat incomplete. As a description of the effect of genetics on the ability of populations to evolve "complexity," somewhat circularly defined as number of genes, it does fairly well. The problem of mutation is a very important one for organisms to deal with, especially as they become larger. And the likely benefits of sexual reproduction and anisogamy (unhelpfully called "gender") especially with regards to the effects of mitochondria and meiosis on reproduction, provide useful context in understanding past influences on present reproductive patterns. But this is only about half the book. The remaining half attempts to use this understanding to project future patterns of complex life. And this is where I think defining complexity in terms of genetics is unhelpful. Really complex patterns of behavior found in social organisms must be understood at higher levels in order to make any sense, and such context is not present here. While this has some really important ideas, it isn't organized very well and doesn't really explore the consequences of these ideas.