Survival of the fittest

"Survival of the fittest" is a phrase that originated from an evolutionary theory as a way of describing the mechanism of natural selection. The biological concept of fitness is defined as reproductive success. In Darwinian terms the phrase is best understood as "Survival of the form that will leave the most copies of itself in successive generations."

Herbert Spencer first used the phrase – after reading Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species – in his Principles of Biology (1864), in which he drew parallels between his own economic theories and Darwin's biological ones, writing, "This survival of the fittest, which I have here sought to express in mechanical terms, is that which Mr. Darwin has called 'natural selection', or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life."

Darwin responded positively to Alfred Russel Wallace's suggestion of using Spencer's new phrase "survival of the fittest" as an alternative to "natural selection", and adopted the phrase in The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication published in 1868. In On the Origin of Species, he introduced the phrase in the fifth edition published in 1869, intending it to mean "better designed for an immediate, local environment".

Survival of the Fittest (novel)

Survival of the Fittest is the thirteenth novel by Jonathan Kellerman and is told through the first person point of view of Kellerman's main character, Dr. Alex Delaware. LAPD Detective Milo Sturgis has asked Alex to help him with another whodunit. It reached number two in the New York Times Best Seller list for paperbacks.

Plot introduction

The plot centers around the murder of the daughter of an Israeli diplomat. The murder seems exceptionally cruel, since the girl was developmentally disabled. From the positioning of the body and location, motive for the killing is not clear, until other people with other disabilities--being blind, having a very low IQ, etc.--and strange symbols are showing up at the scenes. It is only when they learn of a very cruel, self-righteous conspiracy to practice eugenics that Milo and Alex start unravelling this very dark case.

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