Why Mark Zuckerberg wants everyone to read this book about the evolution of man

genome matt ridley

(Amazon) "Genome" was first published in 1990.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's 2015 New Year's resolution was to read an important book every two weeks and discuss it with the Facebook community.

Zuckerberg's book club, A Year of Books, has focused on big ideas that influence society and business. For his 15th pick, he's gone with "Genome" by Matt Ridley, an exploration of both the evolution of genes and the growing field of genetics.

More than halfway through "A Year of Books," Zuckerberg's book list has included expansive histories of power structures, violence, science, sociology, and now the fabric of human life itself.

Zuckerberg explains his latest book-club pick on his personal Facebook page:

This book aims to tell a history of humanity from the perspective of genetics rather than sociology. This should complement the other broad histories I've read this year, as well as follow "Energy" well in focusing on science.

I've wanted to read Matt Ridley's books for a while. His recent book "The Rational Optimist" about how progress and the economy evolve is also near the top of my ever-growing pile of books to read.

Fans of Ridley's works include former president Bill Clinton, evolutionary scientist and atheist philosopher Richard Dawkins, and Microsoft chair Bill Gates.

A Year of Books so far:

• "The End of Power: From Boardrooms to Battlefields and Churches to States, Why Being In Charge Isn'’t What It Used to Be" by Moisés Naím

• "The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined" by Steven Pinker

• "Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets" by Sudhir Venkatesh

• "On Immunity: An Inoculation" by Eula Biss

• "Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration" by Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace

• "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" by Thomas S. Kuhn

• "Rational Ritual: Culture, Coordination, and Common Knowledge" by Michael Chwe

• "Dealing with China: An Insider Unmasks the New Economic Superpower" by Henry M. Paulson

• "Orwell's Revenge: The 1984 Palimpsest" by Peter Huber

• "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness" by Michelle Alexander

• "The Muqaddimah" by Ibn Khaldun

• "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

• "The Player of Games" by Iain M. Banks

• "Energy: A Beginner's Guide" by Vaclav Smil

• "Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters" by Matt Ridley

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