Facebook Twitter Pinterest <Embed>
  • RRP: £11.99
  • You Save: £3.00 (25%)
FREE Delivery in the UK on orders with at least £10 of books.
Only 6 left in stock (more on the way).
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon. Gift-wrap available.
The Meme Machine (Popular... has been added to your Basket
Dispatch to:
France - Mainland
To see addresses, please
Or
Please enter a valid UK postcode.
Or
FREE Delivery on orders over £10.
Used: Good | Details
Sold by Revival Books Ltd
Fulfilled by Amazon
Condition: Used: Good
Comment: Over 2 million items sold. Fast dispatch and delivery. Excellent Customer Feedback. Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day.

Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) is a service Amazon offers sellers that lets them store their products in Amazon's warehouses, and Amazon directly does the picking, packing, shipping and customer service on these items. Something Amazon hopes you'll especially enjoy: FBA items are eligible for and for Amazon Prime just as if they were Amazon items.

If you're a seller, you can increase your sales significantly by using Fulfilment by Amazon. We invite you to learn more about this programme .

Have one to sell?
Sell on Amazon
Flip to back Flip to front
Listen Playing... Paused   You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more
See all 2 images

The Meme Machine (Popular Science) Paperback – 16 Mar 2000

by
Susan Blackmore (Author)
› Visit Amazon's Susan Blackmore Page
search results for this author
Susan Blackmore (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars 39 customer reviews
See all formats and editions Hide other formats and editions
Amazon Price
New from Used from
Kindle Edition
"Please retry"
£8.03
— —
Hardcover
"Please retry"
—
£17.53 £0.97
Paperback
"Please retry"
£8.99
£5.52 £0.01
Textbook Binding
"Please retry"
—
£36.40 —
Promotion Message 10% Bulk Discount 1 Promotion(s)
Want it delivered by Wednesday, 19 Oct.? Order within 2 hrs 10 mins and choose Priority Delivery at checkout. Details
Note: This item is eligible for click and collect. Details
Pick up your parcel at a time and place that suits you.
  • Choose from over 13,000 locations across the UK
  • Prime members get unlimited deliveries at no additional cost
How to order to an Amazon Pickup Location?
  1. Find your preferred location and add it to your address book
  2. Dispatch to this address when you check out
Learn more
Save 10% on School Books
Buy 10 or more of the same book and use the code SCHOOLS2016 at checkout to receive your discount. Shop now
£8.99 FREE Delivery in the UK on orders with at least £10 of books. Only 6 left in stock (more on the way). Dispatched from and sold by Amazon. Gift-wrap available.
click to open popover

Special Offers and Product Promotions

  • Save 10% on Books for Schools offered by Amazon.co.uk when you purchase 10 or more of the same book. Here's how (terms and conditions apply) Enter code SCHOOLS2016 at checkout. Here's how (terms and conditions apply)

Frequently Bought Together

  • The Meme Machine (Popular Science)
  • +
  • Virus of the Mind: The Revolutionary New Science of the Meme and How It Can Help You
  • +
  • Thought Contagion: How Belief Spreads Through Society: The New Science of Memes: How Ideas Act Like Viruses (The Kluwer International Series in Engineering & Computer Science)
Total price: £31.97
One of these items is dispatched sooner than the other. Show details
Buy the selected items together

Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

  • Apple
  • Android
  • Windows Phone

To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number.

Product details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: OUP Oxford; New Ed edition (16 Mar. 2000)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 019286212X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0192862129
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 2 x 12.7 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 61,824 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Product Description

Amazon Review

Habits, skills, songs, stories, ideas: humans are marvellously equipped to keep themselves and each other ceaselessly busy and it's as well, for no matter how hard we try, we humans just can't stop thinking. So, says Susan Blackmore, what if consciousness is not some esoteric genetic freebie but is itself the product of an altogether different evolutionary process?

Once humans learned to imitate each other--that is, receive, copy and retransmit "memes"--the rest, Blackmore argues, is a foregone and somewhat chilling conclusion: we are the product of our memes just as we are the products of our genes, the trouble being that memes, like genes, care only for their own propagation. The ability to imitate each other laid us open to ideas good and bad in equal measure. These proliferated in such numbers that individuals, competing to imitate the best imitators, needed bigger and bigger brains to contain the flood. Now our heads are so big, they are barely birthable.

Blackmore's brilliantly argued version of how humans became conscious--not to say downright troubled--demolishes some of the most intractable problems of human evolution and social biology, with flair. Hers is a book full of careful arguments and thrilling conjectures: riddled, in other words, with promising memes. --Simon Ings

Review

Anyone who hopes or fears that memetics will become a science of culture will find this surefooted exploration of the prospects a major eye-opener. (Daniel Dennett)

Any theory deserves to be given its best shot, and that is what Susan Blackmore has given the theory of the meme I am delighted to recommend her book. (Richard Dawkins)

See all Product Description

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsThe meme machine unleashed!
By Simon Laub on 15 Sept. 2002
Format: Paperback
Human bodies evolved by natural selection, just as other animals. But still we are different. According to Susan Blackmore thats because we are capable of imitation. We can thereby copy ideas, habits, inventions, songs and stories. I.e. memes. And now memes are as powerful, if not more powerful, than the good old genes, in directing human evolution. I find the idea intriguing, and certainly Susan Blackmore argue well for the idea. The (evolutionary) pressure for imitation skills requires big brains. So we evolve big brains, as people mate with the ones with the most memes. Language is invented in order to spread memes. Film stars, journalists, writers, singers, politicians and artists become the most attractive, as they are the ones who spread the most memes. Things that are hard to explain in a genetic context (such as adoption, birth control, celibacy) are easy to explain in a meme context (the memes are happy with it, as it help spread more memes). Science becomes a process to distinguish true memes from false memes. Fax-machines, telephones, etc. are created (by the memes) in order to spread more memes. Writing is a battleground in the head between memes wanting to be spread etc.
It all rings true to me. Except Susan Blackmores claim that the self is a complex meme. Certainly it is puzzling that blind people are reported thinking that Their "I" is located at their fingertips, when they read Braille. Still there are other explanations to what a human "I" is than memes. Personally, I prefer Antonio Damasios, as he explain edit in the book "the feeling of what happens". Nevertheless, Susan Blackmores book is a very exciting read, with lots of clever thoughts. Or should I say memes?
-Simon
Comment 19 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
3.0 out of 5 starsThe world is still waiting for "the book" on memes.
By A Customer on 27 May 1999
Format: Hardcover
Ever since Dawkins wrote his chapter on memes in The Selfish Gene, people have become captivated by the meme meme. Several people have attempted to wrap their minds around the concept, and present it in a useful and comprehensive way. While Blackmore's attempt is, I think, the best yet, it tries to do too much, and ends up collapsing under its own weight. Some of the assertions, such as the development of large brains in humans being a function of memes' imperative, while possibly correct in part, lose the force of their argument by their overstatement. Humans are thinking machines, not copying machines, and brains evolved to think. Memes ride along, for better or worse, on the waves created by the constant motion of our thoughts. Not the other way around. I believe memetics will someday prove to be a valuable tool for understanding some cultural and behavioural aspects of humans. But right now, they still more resemble Gould's "meaningless metaphor" description.
1 Comment 22 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
3.0 out of 5 starsA bit flat
By J Bakewell on 26 Nov. 2012
Format: Paperback
Like many other reviewers I found this book a bit flat. The first third of the book is actually very interesting and has some exciting ideas. I like the idea that meme-gene co-evolution caused our big brains. There are certainly a few ideas that memetics sits well with. Culture does evolve and many of things we do do not offer us any particular biological advantage. This book attempts to address the reason why we do those things. It is in some ways a theory of how human culture developed: of interest to those studying art and culture.

What this book lacks however is science. A lot of the ideas are pure speculation and it's hard to take a lot of it seriously without good evidence. As the book progresses, the theory of memetics becomes weaker and weaker until Dr Blackmore ditches the theory altogether. Mid-way she spends some time on religion and alien abduction explaining why people believe in such fallacies. However, none of this really has anything to do with memes and these subjects certainly don't deliver any exciting memetic theory. I don't need to read a book on memetics to learn that most alien abduction stories probably aren't true.

And that's another thing this book lacks: a point. Although the idea of memetics is an interesting one, what grand theory does it really deliver? I was hoping for some exciting and controversial explanation for humanity but this book doesn't offer that. In fact, since memetics is largely concerned with mimicry, I think most people will find more answers and more science in books on psychology which certainly deal with mimicry and learning but use evidence to back their claims.

In a sense memetic theory gives a reasonably good explanation to why humans are distracted by culture, and why some pieces of culture work and others do not.Read more ›
Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsThe Book of Common Sense
By Stephen A. Haines HALL OF FAME on 21 Feb. 2005
Format: Hardcover
It will be interesting to see how long it takes for the term 'meme' to surpass the lexicon of phrases previously used to convey cultural ideas. "Shibboleth" is, of course, too 'foreign' for the WASP mind to grasp intuitively. "Myth" is nice and brief, but again has been relegated to minor considerations. It's something 'pagan' or out of time. "Cultural icon" conjures up images of rock stars or charismatic politicians. "Meme" has the advantages of universality; it's easy to remember, and isn't carrying any prior cultural overtones. In an age of fast moving technologies, 'meme' is timely - after all, how many readers here haven't heard something about genetic research. It's only shortcoming is the hesitation one hears when others are trying to say it: is it 'meem' or 'meemee'. The former is correct, of course, but you might have to have read Dawkins first to pick up on that.
Alien abductions and Near Death Experiences as expressions of memeplexes, complex, irrational memes. In 'Religions As Memeplexes' Blackmore explains how memes modify the genetic mechanism for altruism among kin by extending benificence to those who are 'like us'. This give great strength to religious memes, extending their influence over disparate groups. Religious memes did not set out to be successful, they have no more ability to foresee the future than do genes. Religious memes flourish in a given environment, with group selection rising above selection of individuals. The link of memetics to genetics and the reinforcing feedback loop of their interaction is the basis for successful religions.
It's a useful exercise to read this book in company with Richard Brodie's VIRUS OF THE MIND. Where Blackmore takes Dawkins' idea and fleshes it out with additional background information, Brodie applies practical applications of how memes impact our lives, and what, if anything, the reader might wish to do about that.
1 Comment 15 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse

Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

fast delivery of well-preserved copy

Published 4 months ago by Amazon Customer
3.0 out of 5 starsNo Dawkins

Have been spoiled by the quality of Dawkins expositions of scientific subject matter. Unfortunately, i found this somewhat less elegant to read, thought the subject matter is very... Read more

Published 15 months ago by Joe Woodhouse
5.0 out of 5 starsThis is a brilliant book. I find the idea of memes fascinating ...

This is a brilliant book. I find the idea of memes fascinating and her theories explain so much. She also explains her ideas so clearly. Read more

Published 24 months ago by BrianP
4.0 out of 5 starsRead Susan Blackmore's other books

I was impressed by Susan Blackmore's A Very Short Introduction to Consciousness, so thought I'd give this book a whirl.

Published on 1 Jan. 2014 by Mr. J. Ballard
4.0 out of 5 starsAppreciation of The meme machine

The book was well written but a bit repetitive in its presentation.
I liked it because it gave a different slant on replication from that provide by gene theory. Read more

Published on 20 Nov. 2013 by Alexander Morrison
5.0 out of 5 starsa book worth reading

this book is a very dense but yet readable and good introduction to the field of "Meme theory", basically established 30 years ago by Richard Dawkins, great scientist,... Read more

Published on 14 Jun. 2013 by Turi Cane
4.0 out of 5 starsA very intriguing look at how ideas shape us.

Dawkins briefly introduced the term 'meme' in "The Selfish Gene" in 1976, principally to show that the process of natural selection was not dependent on a particular underlying... Read more

Published on 21 Jan. 2012 by Jason Mills
4.0 out of 5 starsA Call to Action (or maybe not)?

Susan Blackmore's book can be a little frustrating at times. What seems at first to be a relatively straightforward premise - that we are perhaps not as in control as we think we... Read more

Published on 22 Sept. 2011 by Gardenque
4.0 out of 5 starsDawkins' Meme Infects Blackmore

Ever since Dawkins introduced the meme, almost tangentially, in "The Selfish Gene", it had lain waiting for someone to pick it up and run with it. Read more

Published on 4 Sept. 2011 by RR Waller
4.0 out of 5 starsThe Evolution of Knowledge

At the start of the book Blackmore quotes Richard Dawkins in "The Selfish Gene", saying, "All life evolves from the differential survival of replicating entities. Read more

Published on 12 Jun. 2011 by Baraniecki Mark Stuart

There's a problem loading this menu at the moment.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.

Look for similar items by category

Feedback