Books like 'The Selfish Gene'
Readers who enjoyed The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary psychological 20th century evolution religion classics outdoors medical animals personal-growth
-
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsSome inhabitants of a peaceful kingdom cannot tolerate the act of cruelty that underlies its happiness.The story "Omelas" was first published in New Dimensions 3, a hard-cover science fiction anthology edited by Robert Silverberg, in October 1973, and the following year it won Le Guin the prestigious Hugo Award for best short story...Categorized as:
classics philosophical politics university 20th-century anthologies audiobook contemporary -
![The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran]()
The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 71 ratingsKahlil Gibran’s masterpiece, The Prophet, is one of the most beloved classics of our time. Published in 1923, it has been translated into more than twenty languages, and the American editions alone have sold more than nine million copies.The Prophet is a collection of poetic essays that are philosophical, spiritual, and, above all, inspirational...Categorized as:
classics personal-growth philosophical politics religion spirituality university 20th-century -
![Buddha's Little Finger by Victor Pelevin]()
Buddha's Little Finger by Victor Pelevin
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsRussian novelist Victor Pelevin is rapidly establishing himself as one of the most brilliant young writers at work today. His comic inventiveness and mind-bending talent prompted Time magazine to proclaim him a "psychedelic Nabokov for the cyber-age... -
![Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach]()
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsIn the cloud-washed airspace between the cornfields of Illinois and blue infinity, a man puts his faith in the propeller of his biplane. For disillusioned writer and itinerant barnstormer Richard Bach, belief is as real as a full tank of gas and sparks firing in the cylinders..Categorized as:
classics personal-growth philosophical religion spirituality 20th-century action-adventure adult -
-
![Brave New World / Brave New World Revisited by Aldous Huxley, Christopher Hitchens]()
Brave New World / Brave New World Revisited by Aldous Huxley, Christopher Hitchens
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 66 ratingsThe astonishing novel Brave New World, originally published in 1932, presents Aldous Huxley's vision of the future--of a world utterly transformed. Through the most efficient scientific and psychological engineering, people are genetically designed to be passive and therefore consistently useful to the ruling class... -
![What's Bred in the Bone by Robertson Davies]()
What's Bred in the Bone by Robertson Davies
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsFrancis Cornish was always good at keeping secrets. From the well-hidden family secret of his childhood to his mysterious encounters with a small-town embalmer, an expert art restorer, a Bavarian countess, and various masters of espionage, the events in Francis's life were not always what they seemed... -
![Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse]()
Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 66 ratingsSteppenwolf is a poetical self-portrait of a man who felt himself to be half-human and half-wolf. This Faust-like and magical story is evidence of Hesse's searching philosophy and extraordinary sense of humanity as he tells of the humanization of a middle-aged misanthrope...Categorized as:
classics philosophical religion spirituality university 20th-century action-adventure adult -
![Demian by Hermann Hesse]()
Demian by Hermann Hesse
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 61 ratingsEmil Sinclair is a young boy raised in a bourgeois home, amidst what is described as a Scheinwelt, a play on words that means "world of light" as well as "world of illusion". Emil's entire existence can be summarized as a struggle between two worlds: the show world of illusion (related to the Hindu concept of maya) and the real world, the world of spiritual truth...Categorized as:
classics philosophical religion spirituality 20th-century audiobook bildungsroman book -
![Blow-Up and Other Stories by Julio Cortázar]()
Blow-Up and Other Stories by Julio Cortázar
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsA young girl spends her summer vacation in a country house where a tiger roams . . . A man reading a mystery finds out too late that he is the murderer's victim . .Categorized as:
classics philosophical university 20th-century adult anthologies contemporary fiction -
![The Story of B: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit by Daniel Quinn]()
The Story of B: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit by Daniel Quinn
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsAn Adventure of the Mind and SpiritFather Jared Osborne has received an extraordinary assignment from his superiors: Investigate an itinerant preacher stirring up deep trouble in central Europe. His followers all him B, but his enemies say he’s something else: the Antichrist...Categorized as:
classics outdoors personal-growth philosophical politics religion spirituality university -
![The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse, Theodore Ziolkowski]()
The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse, Theodore Ziolkowski
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsThe final novel of Hermann Hesse, The Glass Bead Game is a fascinating tale of the complexity of modern life as well as a classic of modern literature.Set in the twenty-third century, The Glass Bead Game is the story of Joseph Knecht, who has been raised in Castalia, the remote place his society has provided for the intellectual elite to grow and flourish...Categorized as:
classics philosophical religion spirituality 20th-century adult audiobook bildungsroman -
![Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives by Dan Millman]()
Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives by Dan Millman
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 48 ratingsTold with drama and insight, this novel begins when Dan, a world champion gymnast, meets his powerful 96-year-old mentor Socrates, an all-night gas station attendant. Guided by this wise old mentor, Dan learns new ways to see the world and live life to its fullest...Categorized as:
classics personal-growth philosophical politics religion spirituality 20th-century action-adventure -
![A Clean Well Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway]()
A Clean Well Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratings"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" is a short story by American author Ernest Hemingway, first published in Scribner's Magazine in 1933; it was also included in his collection Winner Take Nothing (1933).James Joyce once remarked: "He [Hemingway] has reduced the veil between literature and life, which is what every writer strives to do. Have you read 'A Clean Well-Lighted Place'?... It is masterly... -
![Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson]()
Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsA collection of linked stories narrated by a recovering alcoholic and heroin addict, Jesus' Son is a disturbing portrayal of loneliness and hope. He travels through an American underworld of burnt-out sports stars, hospital waiting rooms, doomed relationships and senseless violence... -
-
![The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin]()
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 71 ratingsA groundbreaking work of science fiction, The Left Hand of Darkness tells the story of a lone human emissary to Winter, an alien world whose inhabitants can choose - and change - their gender. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization...Categorized as:
classics philosophical politics religion spirituality university 20th-century action-adventure -
![The Fall by Albert Camus]()
The Fall by Albert Camus
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsElegantly styled, Camus' profoundly disturbing novel of a Parisian lawyer's confessions is a searing study of modern amorality...Categorized as:
classics philosophical religion spirituality university 20th-century absurdism adult -
![Crave by Sarah Kane]()
Crave by Sarah Kane
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSet in an unnamed city from which voices and images spring, Crave charts the disintegration of a human mind under the pressures of love, loss and desire.Produced by Paines Plough and Bright Ltd (Guy Chapman and Paul Spyker), Crave premiered at the Traverse Theatre for the 1998 Edinburgh Festival. It received its English premiere at the Royal Court Theatre, London in September 1998... -
![The Knot of Vipers by François Mauriac, David Lodge]()
The Knot of Vipers by François Mauriac, David Lodge
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe masterpiece of one of the greatest modern Catholic writersthe divine grace that remains available to each of us until the very moment of our deaths. It is the unforgettable tale of the battle for one man's soul... -
![The Woman Destroyed by Simone de Beauvoir]()
The Woman Destroyed by Simone de Beauvoir
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThree long stories that draw the reader into the lives of three women, all past their first youth, all facing unexpected crises...Categorized as:
classics philosophical politics university 20th-century adult anthologies contemporary -
![Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi]()
Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsFrom her prison cell, Firdaus, sentenced to die for having killed a pimp in a Cairo street, tells of her life from village childhood to city prostitute. Society's retribution for her act of defiance - death - she welcomes as the only way she can finally be free... -
![Solaris by Stanisław Lem]()
Solaris by Stanisław Lem
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsA classic work of science fiction by renowned Polish novelist and satirist Stanislaw Lem.When Kris Kelvin arrives at the planet Solaris to study the ocean that covers its surface, he finds a painful, hitherto unconscious memory embodied in the living physical likeness of a long-dead lover...Categorized as:
classics philosophical religion spirituality university 20th-century action-adventure adult -
![No Exit and Three Other Plays by Jean-Paul Sartre]()
No Exit and Three Other Plays by Jean-Paul Sartre
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsIn these four plays, Jean-Paul Sartre, the great existentialist novelist and philosopher, displays his mastery of drama. NO EXIT is an unforgettable portrayal of hell. THE FLIES is a modern reworking of the Electra-Orestes story. DIRTY HANDS is about a young intellectual torn between theory and praxis. THE RESPECTFUL PROSTITUTE is an attack on American racism... -
![Auto-da-Fé by Elias Canetti]()
Auto-da-Fé by Elias Canetti
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratings"Auto-da-Fé" is the story of Peter Kien, a distinguished, reclusive sinologist living in Vienna between the wars. With masterly precision, Canetti reveals Kien's character, displaying the flawed personal relationships which ultimately lead to his destruction... -
![The Lonely Passion Of Judith Hearne by Brian Moore]()
The Lonely Passion Of Judith Hearne by Brian Moore
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratings'The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne' launched Brian Moore's distinguished literary career and also – because of his sensitive portrayal of her – enshrined Judith Hearne in the gallery of literature's unforgettable women. A penetrating, comic, tragic tale of a plain woman, it is a novel that occasionally sings with the lilt of the Irish greats... -
-
![In the Heart of the Heart of the Country and Other Stories by William H. Gass]()
In the Heart of the Heart of the Country and Other Stories by William H. Gass
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIN THIS SUITE of five short pieces -- one of the unqualified literary masterpieces of the American 1960s -- William Gass finds five beautiful forms in which to explore the signature theme of his fiction: the solitary soul’s poignant, conflicted, and doomed pursuit of love and community... -
![The Heartbreaker by Susan Howatch]()
The Heartbreaker by Susan Howatch
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsDeftly combining the sacred and the profane—the unmistakable hallmark of her fiction over the past decade—Susan Howatch gives us a spellbinding, suspenseful and psychologically intense new novel. The financial heart of London—the City—is an adrenaline-charged square mile deep in recession in the 1990s, a place where sex is just another commodity to be bought and sold in the marketplace... -
![Ishmael by Daniel Quinn]()
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
Rated: 3.99 of 5 stars · 67 ratingsWinner of the 1992 Turner Tomorrow Fellowship, "Ishmael" is a unique and captivating novel that has earned a large and passionate following among readers and critics worldwide...Categorized as:
animals classics outdoors personal-growth philosophical politics religion spirituality -
![The Clown by Heinrich Böll]()
The Clown by Heinrich Böll
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsAcclaimed entertainer Hans Schnier collapses when his beloved Marie leaves him because he won’t marry her within the Catholic Church. The desertion triggers a searing re-examination of his life—the loss of his sister during the war, the demands of his millionaire father and the hypocrisies of his mother, who first fought to “save” Germany from the Jews, then worked for “reconciliation” afterwards... -
![On Love by Alain de Botton]()
On Love by Alain de Botton
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 26 ratings"The longing for a destiny is nowhere stronger than in our romantic life" we are told at the outset of Alain de Botton's On Love, a hip, charming, and devastatingly witty rumination on the thrills and pitfalls of romantic love. The narrator is smitten by Chloe on a Paris-London flight, and by the time they've reached the luggage carousel, he knows he is in love...Categorized as:
classics personal-growth philosophical 20th-century adult audiobook book contemporary -
![The Floating Opera and The End of the Road by John Barth]()
The Floating Opera and The End of the Road by John Barth
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe Floating Opera and The End Of The Road are John Barth's first two novels. Their relationship to each other is evident not only in their ribald subject matter but in the eccentric characters and bitterly humorous tone of the narratives. Both concern strange, consuming love triangles and the destructive effect of an overactive intellect on the emotions... -
![The Real Life of Sebastian Knight by Vladimir Nabokov]()
The Real Life of Sebastian Knight by Vladimir Nabokov
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe Real Life of Sebastian Knight is a perversely magical literary detective story - subtle, intricate, leading to a tantalizing climax - about the mysterious life of a famous writer... -
![The Diary of a Country Priest by Georges Bernanos]()
The Diary of a Country Priest by Georges Bernanos
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn this classic Catholic novel, Bernanos movingly recounts the life of a young French country priest who grows to understand his provincial parish while learning spiritual humility himself. Awarded the Grand Prix for Literature by the Academie Francaise, The Diary of a Country Priest was adapted into an acclaimed film by Robert Bresson. "A book of the utmost sensitiveness and compassion.. -
![Death with Interruptions by José Saramago]()
Death with Interruptions by José Saramago
Rated: 3.98 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsNobel Prize-winner Jose Saramago's brilliant new novel poses the question what happens when the grim reaper decides there will be no more death?On the first day of the new year, no one dies. This, of course, causes consternation among politicians, religious leaders, morticians, and doctors. Among the general public, on the other hand, there is initially mass celebration... -
![Turtle Diary by Russell Hoban]()
Turtle Diary by Russell Hoban
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe turtles in London Zoo become the mutual obsession of two lonely strangers who dream of setting free the turtles and themselves. Detail by detail their diaries record a world in which thought leads to action and action brings William G. and Neaera H. to their own open sea... -
-
![The Second Coming by Walker Percy]()
The Second Coming by Walker Percy
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWill Barrett (also the hero of Percy's The Last Gentleman) is a lonely widower suffering from a depression so severe that he decides he doesn't want to continue living. But then he meets Allison, a mental hospital escapee making a new life for herself in a greenhouse... -
![A Fairly Honourable Defeat by Iris Murdoch, Peter Reed]()
A Fairly Honourable Defeat by Iris Murdoch, Peter Reed
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn a dark comedy of errors, Iris Murdoch portrays the mischief wrought by Julius, a cynical intellectual who decides to demonstrate through a Machiavellian experiment how easily loving couples, caring friends, and devoted siblings can betray their loyalties... -
![Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy by Jostein Gaarder]()
Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy by Jostein Gaarder
Rated: 3.95 of 5 stars · 70 ratingsA page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Sophie's World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, with more than twenty million copies in print...Categorized as:
classics philosophical religion spirituality university 20th-century action-adventure audiobook -
![The Map and the Territory by Michel Houellebecq]()
The Map and the Territory by Michel Houellebecq
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsHaving made his name with an exhibition of photographs of Michelin roadmaps – beautiful works that won praise from every corner of the art world – Jed Martin is now emerging from a ten-year hiatus. And he has had some good news... -
![Thank You for Smoking by Christopher Buckley]()
Thank You for Smoking by Christopher Buckley
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsNick Naylor likes his job. In the neo-puritanical nineties, it's a challenge to defend the rights of smokers and a privilege to promote their liberty. Sure, it hurts a little when you're compared to Nazi war criminals, but Nick says he's just doing what it takes to pay the mortgage and put his son through Washington's elite private school St. Euthanasius... -
![Letter to a Child Never Born by Oriana Fallaci]()
Letter to a Child Never Born by Oriana Fallaci
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsPublished by Rizzoli in 1975, Letter to a Child Never Born was quickly translated and sold in twenty-seven countries, becoming an extraordinary world success. It is the tragic monologue of a woman speaking with the child she carries in her womb... -
![Second Skin by John Hawkes, Jeffrey Eugenides]()
Second Skin by John Hawkes, Jeffrey Eugenides
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratings"John Hawkes is an extraordinary writer. I have always admired his books. They should be more widely read...Categorized as:
classics philosophical fiction literary-fiction contemporary 20th-century postmodernism nautical -
![La coscienza di Zeno. Senilità. Una vita by Italo Svevo]()
-
![The Pawnbroker by Edward Lewis Wallant]()
The Pawnbroker by Edward Lewis Wallant
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFor most of us, remembering the Holocaust requires effort; we listen to stories, watch films, read histories. But the people who came to be called “survivors” could not avoid their memories. Sol Nazerman, protagonist of Edward Lewis Wallant’s The Pawnbroker, is one such sufferer.At 45, Nazerman, who survived Bergen-Belsen although his wife and children did not, runs a Harlem pawnshop... -
![The Bell by Iris Murdoch]()
The Bell by Iris Murdoch
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA lay community of thoroughly mixed-up people is encamped outside Imber Abbey, home of an enclosed order of nuns. A new bell, legendary symbol of religion and magic, is rediscovered. Dora Greenfield, erring wife, returns to her husband... -
-
![The Nice and the Good by Iris Murdoch]()
The Nice and the Good by Iris Murdoch
Rated: 3.86 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIris Murdoch's richly peopled novel revolves round a happily married couple, Kate and Octavian, and the friends of all ages attached to their household in Dorset. The novel deals with love in its two aspects, the self-gratifying and the impersonal; - The Nice And The Good - as they are embodied in a fascinating array of paired characters...Categorized as:
classics philosophical religion spirituality 20th-century adult anthologies british-isles -
![Equus by Peter Shaffer]()
Equus by Peter Shaffer
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThis volume is part of a series of novels, plays and stories intended for use at A Level. The complete, original text is accompanied by an introduction, activities for before, during and after study, as well as notes... -
![The Assistant by Bernard Malamud]()
The Assistant by Bernard Malamud
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsBernard Malamud’s second novel, originally published in 1957, is the story of Morris Bober, a grocer in postwar Brooklyn, who “wants better” for himself and his family. First two robbers appear and hold him up; then things take a turn for the better when broken-nosed Frank Alpine becomes his assistant... -
![Desolation Angels by Jack Kerouac]()
Desolation Angels by Jack Kerouac
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsDesolation Angels, published in 1965, yet written years earlier around the time On the Road was in the process of publication, is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac, which makes up part of his Duluoz Legend... -
![The Good Apprentice by Iris Murdoch]()
The Good Apprentice by Iris Murdoch
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA sly, witty, and beautifully orchestrated tale about the difficulty of being good Edward Baltram is overwhelmed with guilt. His nasty little prank has gone horribly wrong: he has fed his closest friend a sandwich laced with a hallucinogenic drug and the young man has fallen out of a window to his death. Consumed with guilt, Edward experiences a debilitating crisis of conscience... -
![Henry and Cato by Iris Murdoch, Jonathan Cowley]()
Henry and Cato by Iris Murdoch, Jonathan Cowley
Rated: 3.80 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWhen old friends Henry and Cato reunite after years apart, they quickly become embroiled in the drama of each other’s lives. Henry, who has just returned to England as the sole heir to his recently deceased brother’s estate, quickly begins to uncover secrets buried long ago...
Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.
