The Blind Watchmaker

Richard Dawkins's 1986 book arguing that natural selection is sufficient to explain biological complexity — no designer required — using the analogy that a watchmaker (designer) who never sees the final product is effectively blind, while evolution builds complexity through accumulated small improvements.

Provides the clearest available explanation of how complexity emerges from simple iterative processes without design — making it a foundational text for understanding emergence, which applies directly to how markets, technologies, and organizations develop without central direction.