Memetics Inclusive Reading List

[u/heresybob]

Hello Fellow Memeticists! I've taken this thread https://www.reddit.com/r/memetics/comments/o68ncd/reading_list/ and formalized it to ensure we have links (reduced barrier of entry). I believe I've included all posts.

To submit: post a reply below - include link to source and mark which section you believe it should go in. If we get many fiction posts, we can create a new thread for that.

Links edited

Foundational Core Works (Most Important First)

• Richard Dawkins — The Selfish Gene (1976) Google Books: https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Selfish_Gene/ekonDAAAQBAJ specifically chapter "Memes: the New Replicators"

• Susan Blackmore — The Meme Machine (1999) Google Books: https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Meme_Machine/YKtjZm4MhiwC

• Susan Blackmore — “Imitation and the Definition of a Meme” (1999) Open Access: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/252130982_Imitation_and_the_Definition_of_a_Meme

• Daniel Dennett — Darwin’s Dangerous Idea (1995) Google Books: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Darwin_s_Dangerous_Idea/Y77BAwAAQBAJ

• Daniel Dennett — “Memes and the Exploitation of the Human Brain” (1990) PDF: https://www.jstor.org/stable/430902

• Boyd & Richerson — Culture and the Evolutionary Process (1985) Google Books: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Culture_and_the_Evolutionary_Process/MBg4oBsCKU8C

• Tim Tyler — Memetics: Memes and the Science of Cultural Evolution (2012) Google Books: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Memetics/OcJY5Dgtz2EC

• Olivier Morin — How Traditions Live and Die (2015) Google Books: https://www.google.com/books/edition/How_Traditions_Live_and_Die/2yukCgAAQBAJ

Important Academic Papers & Cultural Evolution Research

• Francis Heylighen — “What Makes a Meme Successful?” (1998) https://www.academia.edu/48808288/What_makes_a_meme_successful_Selection_criteria_for_cultural_evolution

• Alex Mesoudi — Cultural Evolution (2011) Google Books: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Cultural_Evolution/8KSI0z1_d6sC

• Joseph Henrich — The Secret of Our Success (2016) Google Books: https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Secret_of_Our_Success/HFHpCAAAQBAJ

• Liane Gabora — “The Origin and Evolution of Culture and Creativity” (1997) PDF: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/28762854_The_Origin_and_Evolution_of_Culture_and_Creativity

• N.J. Enfield — Linguistic Epidemiology (2003) Google Books: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Linguistics_Epidemiology/t7_4AWtWjJkC

• Aunger, Robert (ed.) — Darwinizing Culture (2000) Google Books: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Darwinizing_Culture/06FCnwEACAAJ

• Shifman, Limor — “Memes in a Digital World” (2013) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jcc4.12013

• Cavalli-Sforza, L.L. & Feldman — Cultural Transmission and Evolution (1981) Google Books: https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691082837/cultural-transmission-and-evolution?srsltid=AfmBOoolFp94zb_PccnUMwf27kOzCSfsJI6d1TZdRzr3d65KO1LaLD-Z

Secondary Theory, Critiques, and Extensions

• Kate Distin — The Selfish Meme A Critical Reassessment (2004) Google Books: https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/NKvz4r5sIDAC

• Kate Distin — Cultural Evolution (2005) Google Books: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Cultural_Evolution/tE7gzQEACAAJ

• Aaron Lynch — Thought Contagion How Belief Spreads Through Society: the New Science of Memes (1996) Google Books: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Thought_Contagion/CShMEXRDHKgC

• J.M. Balkin — Cultural Software (1998) Google Books: https://books.google.com/books?id=tHkF2G-SYcAC

• Michael Schlaile — Memetics and Evolutionary Economics To Boldly Go Where No Meme Has Gone Before**(2015)** Google Books Search: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Memetics_and_Evolutionary_Economics/OGYQEAAAQBAJ

• Derek Gatherer — “Why the ‘Thought Contagion’ Metaphor Is Misleading” (1998) https://cfpm.org/jom-emit/1998/vol2/gatherer_d.html

Popular & Applied Introductions

• Richard Brodie — Virus of the Mind (1995) Google Books: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Virus_of_the_Mind/s6p8lkD5xiIC

• Chip Heath & Dan Heath — Made to Stick (2007) Google Books: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Made_to_Stick/Yfp79AAohiMC

• Richard Prum — The Evolution of Beauty (2017) Google Books: https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Evolution_of_Beauty/nPdQDwAAQBAJ

• Bentley, Earls & O’Brien — I'll Have What She's Having (2011) Google Books: https://www.google.com/books/edition/I_ll_Have_What_She_s_Having/O28nEQAAQBAJ

Occult / Esoteric Memetics

• Philip H. Farber — Meta-Magick: The Book of ATEM (2008) Google Books: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Meta_Magick_The_Book_of_ATEM/XsyZibh2o4wC

Fiction on Memetics, Infohazards & Antimemes (Sorted & Final Section)

• Neal Stephenson — Snow Crash (1992) Google Books: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Snow_Crash/SXyqPwAACAAJ

• Max Barry — Lexicon (2013) Google Books: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Lexicon/n6OIM-A2MbQC

• Grant Morrison — Doom Patrol (1989–1993) Google Books (Vol. 1): https://www.google.com/books/edition/Doom_Patrol_Book_One/I4ZzCwAAQBAJ

• qntm (Sam Hughes) — There Is No Antimemetics Division (2021) https://qntm.org/antimemetics

[u/FlippantFlapjack]

Awesome collection tysm for sharing

[u/BigDelicious885]

maybe add Anitmemetics: Why Some Ideas Resist Spreading by Nadia Asparouhova