New Mexico 375–7, 384–5, 388
New Scientist 262
New Statesman 25, 267–8
New York Times 299
Newsnight 173, 257–8
Newton, Isaac 149, 307
Nice Guys Finish First (TV documentary) 147, 188–94
niche construction 335–6
Nicollier, Claude 102
nightingales 329
Noah’s Ark 180–1
Nobel Prize 249, 263, 295, 302
Norton, W. W. 152, 314
Nova see Horizon
Nullifidian 255
Nurse, Paul 282, 302, 304
Obama, President 246
Observer 255
Odone, Cristina 153
Ogasawara archipelago 127–31, 133
O’Hanlon, Belinda 5, 6, 89
O’Hanlon, Redmond 5–6, 89
Oklahoma 422
Oppenheimer, Robert 284, 375–6
order effects 27
organisms as vehicles 331–3
origami embryology 401
Orwell, George 379–80
O’Shea, Steve 130, 131
Oundle School 3, 432, 434
Owen, Richard 344
Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing 179
Oxford Development Office 274, 275
Oxford Playhouse 283, 301
Oxford Surveys in Evolutionary Biology (journal) 22
Oxford Union 241, 243–4
Oxford University
Charles Simonyi Lectures 282–4, 288, 292, 293, 296, 298, 301–7
Charles Simonyi Professorship of Public Understanding of Science 274–307
Encaenia Garden Party 157
final exams 22–7, 162
New College 12–37, 62–3, 170, 273–4
undergraduate admission 13–21
Zoology Department 11–12, 25, 27, 64–9, 179, 280, 281, 380
Oxford University Museum of Natural History 164
Oxford University Press 22, 141–2, 147, 167, 179, 408
30th anniversary of The Selfish Gene 182
Packard, Norman 376
Paine, Thomas 268
Palin, Michael 161
Paluxy river, Texas 195
Panama Canal 41, 42, 43–9
Panama City 43
paranormal 201
parasites 327–8, 331–2, 338
Parker, Geoffrey 404–5
Partridge, Linda 22
Pascal 363, 393
Paxman, Jeremy 173, 256
Payne, Roger 19–20
peacocks and peahens 326
Peierls, Sir Rudolf 283–4
Pell, Cardinal George 250–2, 255
Penguin 141, 146, 152, 161, 363
Penn and Teller 201, 202, 268
Penrose, Sir Roger 283
personification, in biology 53–4
Peters Fraser & Dunlop 147–8, 149
Pettersen, Betty 98
phenotypes 314, 319–20
extending the phenotype 321–38
Philip, Prince 108
philosophy, and The Extended Phenotype 333–4
Pinker, Steven 7
Charles Simonyi Lecture 282, 285, 292, 293
genome sequencing 292–3
‘iceberging’ 24
mutual tutorial with RD 257–8, 260, 264
Richard Dawkins Award 268, 293–4
Seven Wonders of the World 207
pleiotropy 317
Pomiankowski, Andrew 21
ponerine ants 48
Popper, Sir Karl 69, 86
Porco, Carolyn 261, 282, 298–302
Port Meadow, Oxford 190, 191–2, 304
Potter, Stephen 156
‘A prayer for my daughter’ 168
preformationist embryology 401–2
Prescod, Adam 222
prosopagnosia 415
Public Understanding of Science 160, 162, 262, 274–307
publishers 141–83
Pullman, Philip 5, 183
purpose 305
Pusey, Harold 24–5, 151, 162
Pybus, Oliver 281
Radford, Tim 257
Raikes, Simon 192, 199
rainbow fish 132
Raja Ampat 131–2
Randi, James 201, 202, 268
Randolph Macon Women’s College, Virginia 421–2
Random House 141, 172
Rare Enemy Effect 341
Raup, David 368, 369, 371
Raven, Peter 126
Rechenberg, Ingo 197
Rechten, Catie 21
recursive subroutines 381–2
red kites 135
Redmon, Hilary 180, 181
redundancy 355, 357
Rees, Martin 282, 294, 296, 304
Reeve, E. C. R. 90
Reil, Torsten 388
Rennes 91, 92
replicators 313–14, 318, 320, 331, 405
Richard Dawkins Award (Atheist Alliance of America) 268–70, 293–4
Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (RDFRS) 258, 261
RichardDawkins.net 174, 202, 433–4
Richard Dimbleby Lecture (1996) 160, 305
Richards, O. W. 90
Ridley, Mark 7, 21–2, 164, 342
Dawkins Festschrift 182
Oxford Surveys in Evolutionary Biology 22
Ridley, Matt 7, 22, 182, 209
River Out of Eden 153, 163–4, 297, 357–8
Roberts, Gwen 288, 389
Roberts, ‘Pastor’ Keenan 220–1
Robinson, Michael 41–2
Robinson, Pamela 235
Rockefeller University, New York 304
Rodgers, Michael 141–2, 144, 146, 147–8, 181
Root of All Evil? 217, 218–22, 224, 417–18
Rosse, Earl of 102
Rothschild, Miriam 207–10, 343
Roughgarden, Joan 261–2
Rowland, Ian 200, 201
Royal Institution (RI) Christmas Lectures 107–17, 352, 415
in Japan 121–3
Royal Society 27–8, 90, 287
1979 conference 339–42, 344
presidents of 166, 294, 302, 304
RD debates at 246–7
Royte, Elizabeth 46
Rubinoff, Ira 41, 45
Ruse, Michael 97, 215
Rushdie, Salman 6, 178, 425
Rushton, W. A. H. 353
Russell, Bertrand 174, 175, 234, 268
Saatchi & Saatchi 99–101
Sacks, Chief Rabbi Jonathan 249–50
Sagan, Carl 7, 107, 233, 261
Carolyn Porco 299, 300–1
St Andrews University 157, 171, 348
Ste Croix, Geoffrey de 30
Salisbury 3
San Francisco 161
San Gabriel Mountains 102
Sautoy, Marcus du 306
Schleidt, Wolfgang 91
Science 349
‘Science, delusion and the appetite for wonder’ lecture 160
science, and literary culture 4–5
Science Daily 337
Science Masters series 152–3, 297
Scientific American 259
scientific papers, structure of 70–1
Scott, Eugenie 268
Scott Turner, J. 334–5
Scruton, Roger 264, 266
Seattle 275–6
Second Life 388, 394
Segerstråle, Ullica 96
segmentation 377–9, 384, 389, 391–2
Seidel, Roland 156
Seldon, Anthony 31
selfies 104
The Selfish Gene 3, 7, 59, 62, 78
agents 148
cooperative gene 395–6, 405
cover design 363
criticism of 312–15
ESS theory 95–6
genes’ success 359
German edition 142
‘Green Beard Effect’ 317
and Hamilton, W. D. 319
in The Mind’s I 284–5
1989 edition 147
publication 408
similar paragraph in François Jacob’s book 265
Splurgeweed and Bottlewrack 331
30th anniversary 141–2, 182
universal Darwinism 404, 405
writing 85
The Selfish Gene (TV documentary) 188
Seligmann, Peter 131–2
Sendai 121–3
sensory adaptation 355
Seven Wonders of the World (TV documentary) 206–7
Sex, Death and the Meaning of Life (TV documentary) 223–4
Shakespeare, William 196, 437
Sheehy, Jeremy 35
Sheldonian Theatre 209, 248, 257, 314–15
shells 368–72
Sheppard, Philip 343, 345
Shermer, Michael 102
Shoemaker, Eugene 301, 302
Siddall, Angela 276
Sieczynski, Rudolf 99
Sieff, Daniela 193, 243
Sieff, Lord 193
signals, animal 328–9
Signoret, Simone 234
Silverberg, James 95
Simon & Schuster 179
Simonyi, Charles 133, 162
Charles Simonyi Professorship 274–82, 284, 305–7
see also Charles Simonyi Lectures
Sitwell, Edith 234
Skegg, Peter 156
Skeptic 214
Smith, David C. 332
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) 41, 42, 43–9
Smoot, George 102, 153
snails 325–6, 328, 331, 345, 368–9
snakes 378
Snow, C. P. 4, 5, 7, 46, 148
sociobiology controversy 95–6
SOFAR Channel 19–20
Somerscales, Gillian 256n
sonar 350–1
Sound Channel 19–20
Sousa Ferreira, Karin 142–3
South Park 432
Southwood, Sir Richard 22, 274
Sphex ichneumoneus 56–9, 61–2, 63–75
Concorde Fallacy 79–82
spider monkeys 47
spiders 350, 352, 354
spire 367–8
Spivey, Nigel 264
squid, giant 126–31
Stanford University 258, 259
Stannard, Russell 246–7
starfish 386
Starmus conference (2011) 101–3, 303
Stenger, Victor 7, 174
Sterelny, Kim 156, 334–5
Stevenson, Adlai 234
Stewart, Martine 284
Stewart, Michael 284
Stiefel, Todd 187
Stone, Oliver 34
Stoppard, Tom 5
strategy 59–69
Strathmore 157
subroutines 381–3
Summers, Larry 131
The Sunday Times 160, 163, 297–8
sunfish 136
sunk cost fallacy 78–82
supernaturalism 202–3
superstition 200
Sweeney, Julia 268
Swiss, Jamy Ian 201
Sykes, Bryan 231–2, 233
Sykes, Christopher 206, 207, 234
symmetry 385–6
syntax 290, 381–3
Szostak, Jack 102
talking heads 234–7
tapirs 47
Tarter, Jill 299
taxonomy 360–1
Taylor, Jeremy 187, 188, 222, 226
The Blind Watchmaker 194–5, 197–8
Nice Guys Finish First 188, 190, 191–2
Taylor, Laurie 234
Taylor, Mark 128–9, 131
television 187–237, 243, 256, 257–8
Templeton Foundation 303
Templeton Prize 295
Tenerife 101–3
Teresa, Mother 295
Texas Freethought Convention 268
theology 171–8
thixotropy 76
Thomas, Dylan 437
Thomas, Sir John Meurig 107, 108
Thomas, Keith 113
Thomas, Lewis 304
Thompson, D’Arcy 90–1, 371–2
Thomsen, Todd 422–3
Thorpe, Jeremy 241
3-D printers 401–2
Times Literary Supplement 89
Tinbergen, Niko 56, 85, 328
International Ethnological Conferences 91–2
students of 41, 81, 260
teaches RD 41, 342, 344
Tokyo 121–4
Tolstoy, Leo 181
Tomalin, Claire 6
Transworld 172, 179, 180, 181
Trivers, Robert 182, 338
truncated icosahedrons 302
Trypoxylon politum 75–6, 322–4, 335
tumours 338, 339
tutoring 273–4
Twitter 315
‘two chairs effect’ 213, 244–6
Tyson, Neil DeGrasse 261–3, 432
The Unbelievers 259–60
undergraduate interviews 13–21
‘Universal Darwinism’ 397–404
University Challenge 14–15
University College London 235
University of Oklahoma 422–3
University of St Andrews 158, 348
University of Sussex 157, 170
Unweaving the Rainbow 5, 126, 152, 281
‘Genetic Book of the Dead’ 358–9, 363
Lalla’s influence on 160
‘Ode to a Nightingale’ 329
promotional tour 161
publication 158, 161, 307
‘Reweaving the world’ 413, 415
superstition and gullibility 200
‘The selfish cooperator’ 395, 396–7
Varley, George 122
vehicles 313–14, 318–21, 324, 331–2, 413
Venter, Craig 292
verm 367–8
Victor, Ed 206
virtual reality 394, 413–15
viruses
biological 316
computer 316, 405
genes as 331, 332
Vollrath, Fritz 43
Vumba Mountains 3
Walden, Brian 241
wasps
Ammophilia campestris 81–2
Sphex ichneumoneus 56–9, 61–2, 63–75, 79–82
Trypoxylon politum 322–4, 335
Watchmaker Suite (computer programs) 394n
Watson, James 71, 178, 211–12, 289, 292, 299, 390
Waugh, Evelyn 94, 234, 250
Wavell, Lord 304–5
weaver birds 335
Weidenfeld & Nicolson 141
Weinberg, Steven 220, 221, 263
Welles, Orson 241
Whitehorn, Katharine 90
Widder, Edith 129, 130, 131
Wigglesworth, V. B. 90
Wilder-Smith, A. E. 243
Williams, Barry 214
Williams, Bernard 285, 293
Williams, George C. 337n
Williams, Penry 145
Williams, Robyn 315
Williams, Rowan 247–8, 250, 257
Williams, Wes 31–2
Willmer, E. N. 90
Wilson, Edward O. 7, 45, 48, 342
‘gene–culture coevolution’ 407
Sociobiology 95, 96
WIMP interface 204, 275
Winfrey, Oprah 187–8
Winston, Robert 158
Wired 174
Wittgenstein, Ludwig 333
Wodehouse, P. G. 364
RD’s parody of 427–30
Wolf, Gary 174
Wong, Nicky 166
Wong, Yan 164, 165–6
Woodger, J. H. 90
Woollard, William 109, 116, 121
Wren, Christopher 209
Wright, Wendy 217–18
Wrightson, Philip 200
Wynne-Edwards, C. 312, 313
Wytham Abbey, Oxfordshire 284
Wytham Wood, Oxford 41
Xerox Parc 204, 275
Y-chromosomes 229–33
Yeats, W. B. 174
Young, J. Z. 90
Zara, Steve 202
Zeit
schrift für Tierpsychologie 91
Zoological Society 159
Zoology Department, Oxford University 11–12, 25, 27, 64–9, 179, 280, 281, 380
PHOTO SECTION
For my fiftieth birthday, my mother painted a cupboard (bottom right) with scenes depicting my life . . .
. . . my room in New College, with biomorphs on the computer screen and a view of the Oxford skyline (top left); my African childhood (bottom left); and my daughter Juliet with her dog and two cats, building castles in the air (above right).
Some of my heroes, presided over by the greatest of them all, Charles Darwin: on this page (clockwise), Peter Medawar, Niko Tinbergen, Bill Hamilton, John Maynard Smith . . .
. . . and here (from top down), Douglas Adams, Carl Sagan (who provided part of the title of this book) and David Attenborough.
Florida. Jane Brockmann (top) and the subjects of her research: a Sphex digger wasp at its burrow entrance (above left) and the ‘organ pipe’ nests made by Trypoxylon mud-daubers – an example of the ‘extended phenotype’.
Panama. Top: arriving at Barro Colorado island: first sight of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute from the landing stage. Bottom: the ever-cheerful Fritz Vollrath (centre) and the institute’s deputy director, Mike Robinson (right, with friend). Left: I was fascinated by the leaf-cutter ants carrying materials to make compost for their underground fungus gardens.
Conferences. Top: the splendid German castle that housed the poshest conference I’ve been to, and the determined non-smoker Karl Popper, one of the presiding geniuses of that meeting. Centre right: inside the Gran Telescopio Canarias at the 2011 Starmus event, where we saw the splendidly affable Alexei Leonov, first man to walk in space, give a proper Russian greeting to his fellow astronaut Jim Lovell (bottom right), and dash off a self-portrait (centre left) for the organizer’s son, who demanded that as he was wearing a tie at the conference, he should also be wearing one in space.
Top: with some of the so-called ‘founders of sociobiology’ at Evanston, Illinois, in 1989: left to right, Irenaeus Eibl-Eibesfeldt, George C. Williams, E. O. Wilson, me and Bill Hamilton.
Centre right: looking lost at Michael Ruse’s 1989 conference on the spectacularly beautiful Melbu Island in northern Norway (bottom). Perhaps I had already been entranced by the voice of the ‘Northern Nightingale’, Betty Pettersen (centre left).
Kindred spirits. Top: The ‘Four Horsemen’ – left to right, Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, me and Sam Harris. Tragically, a few years later, I had to say ‘Farewell, Hitch’ (centre left). Mutual tutorials have proved enjoyable and illuminating in equal measure, from discussion of ‘the poetry of science’ with Neil deGrasse Tyson (centre right) to travels with Lawrence Krauss – with whom I am pictured in the bottom photo in a hermetically sealed and stiflingly hot limo during the filming of The Unbelievers.
Ties. The only ties I wear now are the beautiful ones designed and hand-painted by Lalla with animal motifs. Here I am (clockwise from top left) with Lalla in my dugong tie; with Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury (praying mantis tie); with Robert Winston, dedicatee of Climbing Mount Improbable (chameleon tie); with Joan Bakewell at Hay-on-Wye (penguin tie); signing books (scarlet ibis tie) and receiving an honorary doctorate from the Open University (zebra tie).