SuperCooperators

EVOLUTION IS OFTEN PRESENTED AS A STRICTLY COMPETITIVE ENDEAVOR. This point of view has had serious implications for the way we see the mechanics of both science and culture. But scientists have long wondered how societies could have evolved without some measure of cooperation. And if there was cooperation involved, how could it have arisen from nature "red in tooth and claw"? Martin Nowak, one of the world's experts on evolution and game theory, working here with bestselling science writer Roger Highfield, turns an important aspect of evolutionary theory on its head to explain why cooperation, not competition, has always been the key to the evolution of complexity. He offers a new explanation for the origin of life and a new theory for the origins of language, biology's second greatest information revolution after the emergence of genes. SuperCooperators also brings to light his game-changing work on disease. Cancer is fundamentally a failure of the body's cells to cooperate, Nowak has discovered, but organs are cleverly designed to foster cooperation, and he explains how this new understanding can be used in novel cancer treatments. Nowak and Highfield examine the phenomena of reciprocity, reputation, and reward, explaining how selfless behavior arises naturally from competition; how forgiveness, generosity, and kindness have a mathematical rationale; how companies can be better designed to promote cooperation; and how there is remarkable overlap between the recipe for cooperation that arises from quantitative analysis and the codes of conduct seen in major religions, such as the Golden Rule. In his first book written for a wide audience, this hugely influential scientist explains his cutting-edge research into the mysteries of cooperation, from the rise of multicellular life to Good Samaritans. With wit and clarity, Nowak and Highfield make the case that cooperation, not competition, is the defining human trait. SuperCooperators will expand our understanding of evolution and provoke debate for years to come.

MARTIN A. NOWAK is Professor of Biology and Mathematics at Harvard University. He is Director of the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, for which Harvard obtained a donation of $30 million. Nowak studied biochemistry and mathematics at the University of Vienna where he received his Ph-D summa-cum-laude in 1989. Afterwards, he went to Oxford to work with Robert May (Lord May of Oxford). Nowak became Professor of Mathematical Biology at the University of Oxford at the age of 32. In 1998 he moved to Princeton to establish the first center in Theoretical Biology at the Institute for Advanced Study. In July 2003, Nowak was recruited by Harvard University as a full professor. Nowak has won many prizes and has revolutionized the mathematical approach to biology. He has discovered fundamental principles of evolutionary dynamics according to which life unfolds. Nowak has made important contributions to the understanding of virus infections and cancer. He has pioneered the mathematical theory for the evolution of human language and altruistic behavior. Nowak has invented concepts like indirect reciprocity, network reciprocity, evolutionary graph theory, stochastic game dynamics, generous tit-for-tat, and win-stay, lose-shift. He is the author of over 30 papers in Nature, Science and Scientific American. In total, Nowak has published around 300 papers. Nowak is generally considered the world's foremost authority on evolutionary game theory. Supercooperators will be Nowak's first book for a general audience. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ROGER HIGHFIELD, Ph.D. (Co-Writer) studied for his doctorate at Oxford University and the Institut Laue-Langevin, Grenoble. He is Editor of New Scientist magazine, which is now the world's biggest selling weekly science and technology magazine. Prior to joining New Scientist, he was the award-winning Science Editor of The Daily Telegraph, where he worked for more than 20 years. He has written/coauthored six popular science books, two of which have been bestsellers, including After Dolly, The Science of Harry Potter, The Physics of Christmas, The Private Lives of Albert Einstein, and Frontiers of Complexity. All of which have been translated into foreign editions. His most recent work was as the outside editor on genomic researcher J. Craig Venter's autobiography, A Life Decoded, published in November, 2007 (Viking, US; Allen Lane, UK) .