Long time readers are aware that one of my favorite books is R. A. Fisher’s The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection. It’s a touch on the spendy side for a slim, though dense, book. But looking for stuff that’s public domain for my Kindle I noticed that you can get the 1930 version free. And it’s not just in Kindle formats, you can get it in PDF as well and read it on your computer. I think of TGTNG as somewhat like the Critique of Pure Reason of evolutionary genetics; even if your inclination is to rubbish it, it’s an importance place to begin.
Razib Khan’s degrees are in biochemistry and biology. He has blogged about genetics since 2002, previously worked in software development, is an Unz Foundation Junior Fellow and lives in the western US. He loves habaneros.
April 2nd, 2011 at 2:53 pm
PDFs work great in Kindle, especially if you use the Duokan operating system.
April 2nd, 2011 at 7:00 pm
Awesome resources, I highly recommend it.
April 2nd, 2011 at 7:54 pm
Thanks! I didn’t remembered where I had archived my website before Geocities close their website and services.
So it was on http://www.archive.org...
Thanks for the free book…
April 3rd, 2011 at 6:24 am
You blogged on the availability of “The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection” back in 2008 as well. I recall this because I was curious about the copyright status of TGTNS and did some investigation. (See my comments to that prior post.) As best I can gather, the 1930 edition is indeed in the public domain in the US, but not the 1958 edition. However it’s not clear to me whether the 1930 edition is actually in the public domain in the UK or other countries.
This is important because the US Supreme Court is currently considering a case, Golan v. Holder, that addresses the question of whether Congress can remove works from the public domain in the US based on their being copyrighted in other countries. I don’t believe it affects this edition of TGTNS, but those wanting a copy should definitely download it while they can.
April 3rd, 2011 at 10:19 am
A while ago I attempted to read that version on my kindle, but the damage the novel format had done to the text, particularly to the mathematical formulas, soon dissuaded me.