Darwinian Fairytales: Selfish Genes, Errors of Heredity, and Other Fables of Evolution Book

The book is witty and has interesting insights about teleological language and sociobiology. I must warn, however, that David Stove misrepresents the position of several people. For example, he says that Darwin claimed that eighty percent of all offspring dies of hunger and pestilence (he never said such thing), or that some biologists commit "intellectual mischief" by saying that genes can *literally* replicate themselves (rather than making *copies* of themselves) which is something I have never heard anyone saying it. He commits several biological blunders, for example, the first paragraph in the book misunderstands completely what "survival of the fittest," means. He also uses heated rhetoric, such as accusing Richard Dawkins of belonging to a religion that posits genes as gods.


Still it is a good accessible book for people that are interested on *philosophy of science* and evolution in particular. He emphasizes evolutionary puzzles that show that the theory still has room for improvement; such as the fact that humans act in selfless ways or act in ways that harm themselves, even though natural selection shouldn't allow such behavior to happen. The sections on sociobiology are worth the price of the book alone, just be warned that you won't get accurate science in the process.