However at that stage I hadn't seen Brent Jesiek's 110 page MSc thesis. This presents a comprehensive history of memetics. It mostly concentrates on the period from 1975 to 2003. It is available free of charge online - to ResearchGate members.
- Jesiek, Brent K. (2003) Betwixt the Popular and Academic: The Histories and Origins of Memetics.
Unfortunately, this focus leaves out much of interest - and some of what it puts in its place is not too interesting. For example, there's quite a large section devoted to the efforts of Aaron Lynch. Alas, Lynch's book on memetics was pretty terrible. Paul Marsden's account of how bad it was is of much better quality. Also, Susan Blackomre doesn't get much space in this history - which doesn't seem very fair, given the scale of her efforts.
Anyway, despite some misplaced emphasis, Brent Jesiek's history is an essential guide to the history of memetics. It's great to have such a resource available online.
Thanks for that link, I love a good Venn diagram. Pity I didn't get hold of that thesis in 2003 when I was grinding out mine.
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