- Hardcover: 708 pages
- Publisher: Chatto & Windus; 1st Edition edition (4 Nov 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0701166258
- ISBN-13: 978-0701166250
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 17.4 x 5.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 308,955 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Mother Nature: A History of Mothers, Infants and Natural Selection should be required reading for anyone who happens to be a human being. In it, Hrdy reveals the motivations behind some of our most primal and hotly contested behavioural patterns--those concerning gender roles, mate choice, sex, reproduction, and parenting--and the ideas and institutions that have grown up around them. She unblinkingly examines and illuminates such difficult subjects as control of reproductive rights, infanticide, "mother love" and maternal ambition with its ever-contested companions: Child care and the limits of maternal responsibility. Without ever denying personal accountability, she points out that many of the patterns of abuse and neglect that we see in cultures around the world (including, of course, our own) are neither unpredictable nor maladaptive in evolutionary terms. "Mother" Nature, as she points out, is not particularly concerned with what we call "morality." The philosophical and political implications of our own deeply-rooted behaviours are for us to determine--which can be done all the better with the kind of understanding gleaned from this exhaustive work.
Hrdy's passion for this material is evident and she is deeply aware of the personal stake she has here as a woman, a mother and a professional. This highly accomplished author relies on her own extensive research background as well as the works of others in multiple disciplines (anthropology, primatology, sociobiology, psychology and even literature). Despite the exhaustive documentation given to her conclusions (as witness the140-plus-page notes and bibliography sections), the book unfolds in an exceptionally lucid, readable and often humorous manner. It is a truly compelling read and highly recommended. --Katherine Ferguson, Amazon.com
Product Description
The author argues that evolution is controlled by the female of the species. She is more diverse, deadlier and more adaptable than the male, and the notion of maternal instinct, with its baggage of self-sacrifice, gentleness and devotion is a misapprehension.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I read this book whilst my wife was expecting our first child and I must say that I was absolutely fascinated by it. I kept glancing over the top of the book at my wife and trying to place her actions and reactions in the context of this book, in fact I started referring to it as "The Book." Maybe I am stretching the analogies too far, but I also see the actions of my sisters in law, my mother in fact most of the women I know mirrored in Hrdy's book. Sure there are inconsistencies, maybe some of the analogies are stretched a little too far and I have hard time believing that motherhood isn't a more complex process. However, the historical information is fascinating, the examples from natural history are also very interesting and the book is an easy read. I love this book and have sent copies to all the mothers I saw mirrored in its pages.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I just loved this book - I found it shed light on many of my experiences in becoming a mother, and brought to the fore a more 'whole' mother, who is strategic, sometimes aggressive, and understandably passionate. I find evolution theory so meaningful in day-to-day life. This is a profound book.
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