Group Selection 1st edition

Marc Notes: Based on publisher-provided data.; Includes bibliographical references and index. Publisher Marketing: Living things are constantly engaged in a struggle for existence, and ingenious devices for the purpose of self-preservation can be seen in all types of animal and plant life. However, nature also displays phenomena that are not related to survival or that seem clearly to violate the principle of self-preservation--particularly when organisms interact with one another. Darwin investigated these apparent contradictions and proposed that both mechanisms of self preservation and those of reproduction are explained by a more basic principle of "natural selection"--the reproductive survival of the fittest. George C. Williams in Group Selection challenges the adequacy of this process of selection at the individual level. Williams has here collected the work of the chief partisans with opposed viewpoints on the theory of selection at the group level to state their arguments and rebuttals. A minority of modern biologists offer evidence to show that groups of living things are organized to assure their collective survival; they are not merely collections of individuals designed for their own survival and reproduction. In opposition, defenders of the traditional point of view charge that mechanisms of group survival are based on illusion and misinterpretation. Because of the wide range of opinion expressed in Group Selection, the reader is exposed to all sides of the dispute and encouraged to form his or her own views. In addition, as a source book on current evolutionary issues or for research or reference material, Group Selection remains a valuable addition to every personal and institutional library in the biological sciences.

Contributor Bio:  Williams, Angela Alayna Williams has an MA in sociology-criminology (research interests: fear of crime and victimology) and a BA in criminology. She has worked in and around criminal justice since 1997. Although she does read Tarot cards, she's never used them in criminal profiling or to locate lost scientists. She recently took up astronomy, but for the most part her primary role in studying constellations and dark matter is to follow her amateur astronomer-husband around central Ohio toting the telescope tripod and various lenses. Like the Pythia in "Dark Oracle", she's been known to belly dance. Unlike the Pythia she?d never consider herself a professional. Contributor Bio:  Williams, Angela Angela Williams grew up in northern Michigan. She studied creative writing and theatre at Western Michigan University, and now works in the cherry industry in Leelanau County. Contributor Bio:  Williams, George George Williams was born in Dublin, Ireland, and served in the civil service of the British government at Dublin Castle. He ministered throughout Ireland and Europe, where his proficiency in French, German, Italian, and Spanish allowed him to preach directly to the people. Following his retirement, Williams devoted the remaining twenty years of his life to biblical study.