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This is a good book by a great evolutionary biologist, full of interesting personal narrative and readable and historically important papers on reciprocal altruism, sex ratios, parental investment and sexual selection, and much more. (Animal Behaviour )
One striking feature of Trivers' papers is that most contain very little mathematics, but there is plenty of verbal logic ... the book is suitable for reading in bed with falling asleep over pages of baffling formulae ... interesting stuff. (Animal Behaviour )
One striking feature of Trivers' papers is that most contain very little mathematics, but there is plenty of verbal logic ... the book is suitable for reading in bed with falling asleep over pages of baffling formulae ... interesting stuff. (Animal Behaviour )
Product Description
Robert Trivers is one of the leading figures pioneering the field of sociobiology. For Natural Selection and Social Theory, he has selected eleven of his most influential papers, including several classic papers from the early 1970s on the evolution of reciprocal altruism, parent-offspring conflicts and asymmetry in sexual selection, which helped to establish the centrality of sociobiology, as well as some of his later work on deceit in signalling, sex antagonistic genese, and imprinting. Trivers introduces each paper, setting them in their contemporary context, and critically evaluating them in the light of subsequent work and further developments. The result is a unique portrait of the intellectual development of sociobiology, with valuable insights of interest to evolutionary biology, anthropology, and psychology.
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It was the spring semester of 1969 and the population geneticist Richard Lewontin had come to Harvard to deliver a talk on a new methodology that promised to revolutionize the field of population genetics. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
It was the spring semester of 1969 and the population geneticist Richard Lewontin had come to Harvard to deliver a talk on a new methodology that promised to revolutionize the field of population genetics. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
A book with the title "selected papers" is bound to discourage readers of popular science, which is a shame as this book has a lot to offer to non-specialists (like me). Obviously, as a collection of papers, it can get quite dry and there are occasionally pages with maths (albeit quite simple, mainly fractions and equations with only 2-3 parameters), casual readers will probably skip them as I did.
The range of papers is quite wide and some are more traditionally 'scientific' than others, you have for example one on social insects full of evidence and testable predictions, and on the other hand one on self-deception which can sometimes come across as a philosophical opinion piece (or just common sense) expressed in scientific language. Finally, there are longish autobiographical introductions explaining how the author came to write the article, personal thoughts and criticisms, and a summary of developments on the topic after the article the written.
The 'more scientific' papers are very enjoyable, and full of interesting ideas, they may appeal to laymen who've read a few books on evolution or readers with little background to science (who can also get acquainted with the cold and lucid prose of academic papers. Unlike a lot of papers, the topics here are inviting and accessible).
The 'less scientific' pieces and especially the introductions are even more enjoyable. Trivers is too intelligent and self-aware to fall into the trap of verbosity and pseudoscience (in the case of the psychological pieces) or self-indulgence (in the autobiographical parts). Even in the most personal parts, he always engages with the world, puts his situation into a wider frame lucidly and un-emotively, and uses his experience to understand the world and provide insights on how science (and scientific mindsets) work, what it takes to do proper research and how humans and other animals are evolved to behave. The writing in the intros is also full of mischief, empathy, humour and quiet self-deprecation (And I should say that I rarely enjoy autobiographical parts).
Finally, for those not acquainted with Trivers' work, the theme in all the papers is conflict (within the individual, within family members etc), when it arises, and the practical cost/benefit to everything in life, it's all as far from escapism as reading can get, more than your average book on evolution.
The range of papers is quite wide and some are more traditionally 'scientific' than others, you have for example one on social insects full of evidence and testable predictions, and on the other hand one on self-deception which can sometimes come across as a philosophical opinion piece (or just common sense) expressed in scientific language. Finally, there are longish autobiographical introductions explaining how the author came to write the article, personal thoughts and criticisms, and a summary of developments on the topic after the article the written.
The 'more scientific' papers are very enjoyable, and full of interesting ideas, they may appeal to laymen who've read a few books on evolution or readers with little background to science (who can also get acquainted with the cold and lucid prose of academic papers. Unlike a lot of papers, the topics here are inviting and accessible).
The 'less scientific' pieces and especially the introductions are even more enjoyable. Trivers is too intelligent and self-aware to fall into the trap of verbosity and pseudoscience (in the case of the psychological pieces) or self-indulgence (in the autobiographical parts). Even in the most personal parts, he always engages with the world, puts his situation into a wider frame lucidly and un-emotively, and uses his experience to understand the world and provide insights on how science (and scientific mindsets) work, what it takes to do proper research and how humans and other animals are evolved to behave. The writing in the intros is also full of mischief, empathy, humour and quiet self-deprecation (And I should say that I rarely enjoy autobiographical parts).
Finally, for those not acquainted with Trivers' work, the theme in all the papers is conflict (within the individual, within family members etc), when it arises, and the practical cost/benefit to everything in life, it's all as far from escapism as reading can get, more than your average book on evolution.
Format:Paperback
This book is wonderful for two reasons: First, it contains the original work of the most creative and open mind-ed of the modern evolutionary theorists. Trivers' papers cover areas as diverse as fluctuating asymmetry and development, though to his theory predicting that our need to deception of others effectively has caused us to evolve mechanisms for self-deception.
The second reason this book is so great, and the reason to buy it rather than to read the original papers, is that nearly all the papers are brought up-to-date by a commentary or post script by Trivers.
This affords an opportunity for him to reflect on the ideas, and on their impact. As you read, you will gain a deeper insight into the trajectory of evolutionary theory (as well as the life and adventures of an interesting character).
The ideas here essentially tell us what is possible for the mind: the book is, then, in many ways the equivalent of Kant for physics - a scientific metaphysics for understanding human belief, war, love, and social behaviour.
The second reason this book is so great, and the reason to buy it rather than to read the original papers, is that nearly all the papers are brought up-to-date by a commentary or post script by Trivers.
This affords an opportunity for him to reflect on the ideas, and on their impact. As you read, you will gain a deeper insight into the trajectory of evolutionary theory (as well as the life and adventures of an interesting character).
The ideas here essentially tell us what is possible for the mind: the book is, then, in many ways the equivalent of Kant for physics - a scientific metaphysics for understanding human belief, war, love, and social behaviour.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
25 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Yippee!!!
29 Nov 2002
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Those of us who are interested in the stories behind just HOW major breakthroughs in evolutionary and ecological thought were made have been spoiled in recent years: First there was W.D. Hamilton's marvelous 2 volume NARROW ROADS OF GENE LAND, now we get Bob Triver's wonderful NATURAL SELECTION AND SOCIAL THEORY. Here, in one place, one can find most of Trivers' revolutionary work on the evolution of social behavior, and as an added bonus one also gets Trivers' unvarnished -and often highly entertaining- commentary on just how he came to put together the ideas that -love 'em or hate 'em- provided much of the driving force behind Sociobiology & ultimately lead to Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Psychology. Along the way we are introduced to a fascinating cast of characters, ranging from Ernst Mayr, the foremost living Darwinian, through the neo-Marxist wing of Harvard, to Huey Newton, ex-Minister of Defense for the Black Panthers. Trivers' thinking is as eclectic and far ranging as the list of his friends and enemies, and while many of his subjects (altruism, parent-offspring conflict, fluctuating asymmetry, etc.) are still at the cutting edge of evolutionary thought, his writing is sufficiently free of jargon that I think it will draw in even the non-specialist. You may not agree with everything that Trivers says here -and I suspect that some folks will be offended by his candor- but this is a really important book & I see it as essential reading for any of us interested in the question of why we may do so many of the things that we do. Bravo!
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Classic paper, plus plus why, PLUS where too now
27 Feb 2006
Format:Paperback
This book contains all of Robert Triver's best papers.
In addition, each is book-ended between a two short essays outlining the background to Professor Trivers' initial exploration and thinking behind the paper, often including quite intriguing sociological contexts. Then, which is extremely valuable, Triver's brings the reader up-to-date with the subsequent history of the idea in that paper: who did it influence? Does he still believe it? What is the current hot take on the area?
It is a magnificent tribute to a life-time of work, and valuable for anyone active in the area of evolution.
In addition, each is book-ended between a two short essays outlining the background to Professor Trivers' initial exploration and thinking behind the paper, often including quite intriguing sociological contexts. Then, which is extremely valuable, Triver's brings the reader up-to-date with the subsequent history of the idea in that paper: who did it influence? Does he still believe it? What is the current hot take on the area?
It is a magnificent tribute to a life-time of work, and valuable for anyone active in the area of evolution.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
After all these years
21 April 2009
Format:Paperback
When I was doing my doctoral work, I took a psychology class from a wonderful young professor. He introduced us to Robert Trivers,then at Harvard. It's been nearly 30 years since I received my degree and I have never forgotten that name nor the fascinating research with which we were presented. I have often made references to his work in the classes I taught but I never pursued my own suggestion to "go read Trivers." When this book popped up on my Amazon page, I decided it was karma and I ordered it. I was not disappointed. This is not an easy read and I don't for one minute pretend to understand the equations, but Trivers' introductions to each article are well written and often humorous. The research itself still holds as much fascination for me as it did when I was a young doc student. Give it a try.
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