I first read The Selfish Gene my freshman year of college...that would have been 1989. It was mentioned as an offhand remark by my biology professor, and I went to the Baylor University library and checked it out. It has probably been the single most influential book I've ever read. It literally changed the way I look at the world.

It was published in 1976, and this year marks it's 30th anniversary. There was a talk recently in which speakers paid tribute to the book and it's ideas. Here's a transcript.

It's long, so you might not want to read the whole thing. I'd particularly recommend Daniel Dennett's bit, and Matt Ridley (who explains that about half of our DNA doesn't do anything useful for us...junk DNA, and that this is most reasonably explained by the idea of selfish genes). And of course, Dawkins' closing remarks.

Oh yeah, and read the book if you haven't.