Humans are extraordinary creatures with the unique ability among animals to imitate and so
copy from one another ideas habits skills behaviours inventions songs and stories. These
are all memes a term first coined by Richard Dawkins in 1976 in his book The Selfish Gene.
Memes like genes are replicators and this enthralling book is an investigation of whether
this link between genes and memes can lead to important discoveries about the nature of the
inner self. Susan Blackmore makes a compelling case for the theory that the inner self is
merely an illusion created by the memes for the sake of replication.
