Mean Genes: From Sex to Money to Food - Taming Our Primal Instincts: Amazon.co.uk: Terry Burnham, Jay Phelan: Books

Amazon.co.uk Review

"Don't trust your instincts". Hardly the standard self-help fare, to be sure. Mean Genes argues that Darwin has a lot more to tell us about ourselves than Freud, and it is high on evolution and low on inner child. Deemed "brilliant" by none other than EO Wilson himself, the book is the work of two young Wilson disciples: Terry Burnham, an economics professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and Jay Phelan, a professor of biology at UCLA.

Burnham and Phelan divide life issues into 10 categories (debt, fat, drugs, risk, greed, gender, beauty, infidelity, family, and friends and foes), and then offer up a two-step guide to better living: "Step 1 is to understand our animal nature, particularly those desires that get us into trouble and can lead to unhappiness. Step 2 is to harness this knowledge so that we can tame our primal instincts."

Needless to say, Nancy Reaganesque bromides don't fit into the Mean Genes scheme of things:

"Just say no" to drugs is the simplest way to kick a habit. Unfortunately, this obvious and low-cost approach is also the route most likely to fail. For example, only one person quits smoking for every 20 who attempt to just say no. Raw willpower seems like a great solution right up until weakness strikes and we light up a cigarette or mix a margarita.

Instead of slogans, the Mean Genes approach to overcoming drug addiction is to first recognise that "every person has strong, instinctual cravings for destructive substances". This, coupled with a thorough scientific understanding of a given drug's pleasurable effects on the brain, offers a more realistic course of action, such as finding a less harmful substitute for achieving a similar buzz.

Be it talk of weight loss, saving for retirement, or resisting the neighbour's wife, such practical, tough-love suggestions for subduing the beast within are provided throughout the book. Phelan describes how he instantly smears mayonnaise all over tempting sweets served with airline meals to keep from eating them during long flights, and Burnham writes of giving away his Internet access cable in order to free himself of a serious day-trading fixation.

The authors also rely heavily on findings from the animal world in stating their case, which makes for fascinating reading, if not always for the most readily transferable lessons to daily life. Consider, for example, certain frog species that "continue individual bouts of mating for several months. If people mated for a similar percentage of our lives, a single round of intercourse would last almost 10 years". And then there's the famed black widow spider. "Shunning the more traditional chastity belt, the male breaks off his sexual organ inside the female, preventing her from ever mating again. When the act is completed, the female kills and eats the male".

Put off by all the sex and violence? Don't worry. There's also a nod to family values in the form of the Australian social spider. "Soon after giving birth to about a hundred hungry spiderlings, mum's body literally liquefies into a pile of mushy flesh. The babies then munch on the flesh so they can start their lives with full bellies."

Mean genes indeed. --Patrick Jennings

Product Description

This is a look at why our toughest battles are often with ourselves. This book examines the issues that most affect our lives: body image, money, addiction, violence, and the search for love and happiness. It shows that our struggles are against our own genes and offers steps for beating them.

Customer Reviews

5 star

4 star

3 star

2 star

1 star

6 reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars

Write a customer review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

Dazzlingly brilliant! 8 Mar 2001

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

Mean Genes is a brilliantly written, witty, entertaining, informative and accessible read that I can't recommend highly enough. Just pick up the book and you will see accolades from myriad 'Greats' such as E.O Wilson and Richard Wrangham-and they're right--Mean Genes is a book that you will not want to put down. Mean Genes has changed my life. Not a day goes by that I don't find myself putting into practice some of the sage advice offered up by the authors. From sex to drugs to debt to infidelity, Mean Genes helps us understand why it is that we behave in the ways that we do, and gives helpful suggestions as to how we can change--for the better! If I were you, I would stop reading this review and buy this book immediately--you won't regret it.

Comment |

Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

Mean Genes explains why "just do it" is not so easy 6 Mar 2001

By phylliscohen@talk21.com

If taking it easy and eating lots of fattening food is so bad for us, why does it feel so good? Such is the blatant honesty of the questions asked and the answers found in this book. Mean Genes explains the history of homo sapiens shortcomings in areas of sex, drug dependance, emotions, money problems and weight gain. It's a new approach to self-help manuals which explain the evolutionary nature of our most human fallibilities. If you find it impossible to "just say no" to sex, chocolates, alcohol, or whatever your weakness is, there is probably an evolutionary scapegoat you can pin some blame on. For me this book enlightened the differences between the natural (evolutionary) and cultural (modern) expectations of everyday life. Mean Genes explains the survival mechanisms that saved the genes of our ancestors but serve the flawed lifestyles of our present-day existence.

This book helps the reader understand his behaviour. 23 Feb 2001

MEAN GENES is more than only another popular science book.This book helps you to understand your own bad habits and through interesting themas gives you many practical advices witch you can use every day. Because of simplicity it's an easy to read,so everybody can enjoj this book. Genes help shape our bodies and our minds but we also have free will at our disposal to counter our primative instincts. MEAN GENES is brisk and smart;HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS.