When I have extra reading time (between radical, leftist manuscripts), I have been known to pick up a popular science title. This is a relatively new development for me and so far, so good.

My latest find (thanks Tonef) is The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins. Only two other popular science titles have had a somewhat similar effect on me: Guns, Germs and Steel and On Intelligence.

In The Selfish Gene, Dawkins addresses the genetic roots of altruism and selfishness using bizarre, hilarious examples in nature. He proposes that natural selection isn't taking place on the group level or even the individual organism level, but the genetic level. He describes humans as 'slumbering robots' or disposable 'survival machines' for genes coasting from generation to generation.

Dawkins explores the world of social insects (these parts are mind blowing). He describes how ants actually plant and weed gardens and have domesticated other insects that they milk like cows!!

He spends a good amount of time applying the Prisoner's Dilemma to nature and puts the proverb 'Nice guys finish last' to the test. [He does this by recruiting Professors to design 'survival strategies' (in the form of programs) and plugs them into a computer to compete for 1000 very quick generations. Wild stuff!]

In the book, Dawkins coins the term 'meme' (pronounced like cream). A meme is like a gene (both are defined as self replicating units of transmission) but a meme, get this, is an idea.

For example, 'There is a God' is a single meme, that just like a gene for eye color, is passed from generation to generation with occasional mutations. Culture, he proposes, is like the second degree of evolution.

Clearly I cannot do these ideas justice, but hopefully I have sparked your interest.
This book is, for lack of a precise scientific term: rad.