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The Moral Animal: Why We Are, the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology
 
 
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The Moral Animal: Why We Are, the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology [Kindle Edition]

Robert Wright (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews) |
Digital List Price: £11.07 What's this?
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Review

'THE MORAL ANIMAL overturns old ways of thinking.' - INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY 'This is not a book of breathless reportage from some frontier of science; it is an eye-opening, thought-provoking, spine-tingling, mind- boggling, wish-I-had-thought-of-that sort of science book.' - TLS

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Are men literally born to cheat? Does monogamy actually serve women's interests? These are among the questions that have made The Moral Animal one of the most provocative science books in recent years. Wright unveils the genetic strategies behind everything from our sexual preferences to our office politics--as well as their implications for our moral codes and public policies. Illustrations.


From the Trade Paperback edition.
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Robert Wright
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book sets out the theory that the human brain evolved,like the other organs, not to cope in todays society but in the world as it was thousands of years ago. Going further than the usual "sewing your wild oats" explanations it looks at not only "survival of the fittest" but also how the "best fit for the largest number" might also have effected natural selection and therefore the evolution of the human brain. Written in avery easy style this book does not claim to have all the answers but has the fascinating ring of truth.
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Moral Animal is the ideal introduction to evolutionary psychology. It also has some advantages over more technical works like Barkow et al.'s The Adapted Mind: it deals with the political implications (or lack of implications) of evolutionary psychology, and tries to suggest what a new ethics informed by the findings of evolutionary psychology might be. Clear and entertaining but also profound and suggestive.
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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Occasionally a book comes along that changes you in a profound way. It's partly the book, partly you, and partly where you are in your life when you read it. For me, this was one of those books.

Robert Wright ranges all over. Sex, marriage, monogomy, families, kin bonding and support, social hierarchy and status, reciprocal altruism, and modern morality. If you are interested in the nature of human behaviour and morality, and what modern genetics has to say about it, this book will tell you.

The author doesn't preach. He's very aware that this is a young science and much of what he discusses is speculation. This makes the book stronger: much of it is questions to ponder, not 'truths' to be believed. Open minded rather than didactic.

He also thoroughly debunks many of the myths surrounding evolutionary psychology. As a discipline, it has fallen victim to many mis-respresentations. It's a shame that so much of the discussion around it in the media is so off-base and mis-informed. This book is an excellent way to sort the reality from the propaganda.

Very highly recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Biased
The author of this book is a self-professed Utilitarian, but I had to wade through pages of biased tripe until finding that out on page 341. Read more
Published 20 days ago by Tommy Tank
Shamefully Badly Edited
The book is good when it sticks to a summary of the new discipline of evolutionary psychology. The summary and explanation of why group selection is not a valid theory is... Read more
Published 24 days ago by silverfawkes
Why we do what we do.
This book is great, really thought provoking and well written. I can see why the detail of Darwins life could be seen by some as distracting and irrelevant but i thought it was a... Read more
Published 3 months ago by akedup4bbq
Rolling the Universe in a Ball...
This is certainly an interesting book: it gets the reader to re-think his/her place in society and wonder about his/her life choices. Read more
Published 11 months ago by rob crawford
Superb introduction to Evolutionary Psychology
Popular science can be written in one of two ways: a scientist learning to communicate, or a writer researching a topic and then presenting it clearly. Read more
Published 14 months ago by anozama
In search of the psychic unity of humankind
Human anatomy applies to all peoples of the world. Why should the anatomy of the mind be any different? Every living human has the same sort of heart. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Sphex
interesting psychology but also pretty boring in places
This book has the distinction of being both interesting and boring. The early part of the book deals with how the attitude to sex is different for men and women in order to... Read more
Published on 6 April 2010 by Mr. J. Hudson
..
Lots of interesting ideas, I now often find myself thinking in ways similar to those in Wright's framework in my real-life situations. Read more
Published on 6 Nov 2009 by John Smith
Matrix - The Reality!
Down, down I was falling. Sucked into a set of cultural values I didn't understand or sign up to. I had learnt to cope with people vehemently defending the indefensible, but was... Read more
Published on 27 Aug 2003
A superb book
An eye-opener of a book. Clearly and concisely presented, The Moral Animal gives the layman a chance to enter the world of eolutionary psychology.
Published on 24 Aug 2000
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Popular Highlights

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This disjunction between the contexts of our design and of our lives is probably responsible for much psychopathology, as well as much suffering of a less dramatic sort. &quote;
Highlighted by 53 Kindle users
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Understanding the often unconscious nature of genetic control is the first step toward understanding thatin many realms, not just sexwere all puppets, and our best hope for even partial liberation is to try to decipher the logic of the puppeteer. &quote;
Highlighted by 44 Kindle users
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lasting love is something a person has to decide to experience. Lifelong monogamous devotion is just not naturalnot for women even, and emphatically not for men. It requires what, for lack of a better term, we can call an act of will. &quote;
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