SuperCooperators: Altruism, Evolution, and Why We Need Each Other to Succeed - Hardcover

MARTIN A. NOWAK is Professor of Biology and Mathematics at Harvard University. He is Director of the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics. In 1998 he moved to Princeton to establish the first center in Theoretical Biology at the Institute for Advanced Study. Nowak has won many prizes and has revolutionized the mathematical approach to biology.  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.Supercooperators will be Nowak's first book for a general audience.

ROGER HIGHFIELD, Ph.D. (Co-Writer) is the Editor of New Scientist magazine, which is now the world’s biggest selling weekly science and technology magazine. 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. 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) .

"[Nowak's] willingness to argue for group selection, a theory suggesting that evolution operates beyond the genetic level, reawakens old controversies - but he does so using innovative mathematical models, able to incorporate dynamism and uncertainty... Like other great controversialists, Mr. Nowak moves from decision matrices to emotive moral language...all politicians can draw inspiration and ideas from the intellectual resources of this exciting approach." -"Financial Times" "Martin Nowak is one of the most creative scientists of our time, and Roger Highfield is a superb science writer. Their insights into the mystery of cooperation will change the way you think about everything. If you're looking for the next Big Idea book, you've just found it." --Steven Strogatz, Schurman Professor of Applied Mathematics, Cornell University, and "New York Times" contributor "A fantastic journey into the science of cooperation, with important implications for both individuals and society alike." --Richard Wiseman, author of "Paranormality, ""59 Seconds" and "Quirkology" ""SuperCooperators" looks beyond "The Selfish Gene" and invites us to think afresh about evolution. Contrary to the simplistic idea that selfishness is the only strategy for survival, the brilliant Martin Nowak proves that cooperation is also vitally important. This rich and rewarding book teems with new ideas and insights, which co-author Roger Highfield makes wonderfully lucid and entertaining." --Graham Farmelo, author of "The Strangest Man, " winner of the Costa Biography Award "Roger Highfield deftly weaves together a personal and informative account of the research of Harvard's Martin Nowak to reveal five mechanisms that rule human behaviour. On the way, they explore the origins of life, language, cancer and much more, and highlight how evolution can lead to cooperation as well as competition." --Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal and recent President of the Royal Society "Martin Nowak is regarded as the foremost mathematical theorist working in evolutionary biology. His contributions on cooperation and altruism here augmented by the expertise of Roger Highfield, fall in one of the most important domains of present-day biology." --Edward O. Wilson, author of "Consilience "and Pellegrino University Research Professor, Harvard University "A panoramic view of the role of cooperation in the evolution... [A] sweeping survey... Nowak is a mathematical biologist, and his enthusiasm for numbers is extremely useful in his discussions of evolutionary theory. However, thankfully for the mathematically disinclined, there is little hard math here...A fleshed-out, persuasive chronicle of the bright side-collective enterprise-of the evolutionary road." "--Kirkus Reviews"