# Darwin's Cathedral by David Sloan Wilson

2 Hacker News commenters recommended Darwin's Cathedral by David Sloan Wilson and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend it as a readable account of group selection and how humans came to cooperate, and say it synthesizes more rigorous work on the subject.

## Why people recommend it

- Clear case for group selection (2 comments): "It's a recent take on the old idea of group selection, a theory that attempts to explain the human drive to cooperate." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46269921)) "that book plus the story of this tribe have served to shove me firmly into the land of absolute belief in this idea" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48102248))
- Appeals to readers of this kind of book (2 comments): "I already feel a kindred spirit behind that book" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47291483)) "This class of book is something I enjoy." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46270820))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter](https://hackerapproved.com/p/g-del-escher-bach.md): 47 recommend
- [Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/thinking-fast-and-slow.md): 17 recommend
- [Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows](https://hackerapproved.com/p/thinking-in-systems.md): 17 recommend
- [The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins](https://hackerapproved.com/p/selfish-gene.md): 14 recommend
- [Cosmos by Carl Sagan](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cosmos.md): 13 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0226901351?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780226901350) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Darwin's Cathedral by David Sloan Wilson", https://hackerapproved.com/p/darwin-s-cathedral/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).