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Product Description
Product Description
Sex is as fascinating to scientists as it is to the rest of us. A vast pool of knowledge, therefore, has been gleaned from research into the nature of sex, from the contentious problem of why the wasteful reproductive process exists at all, to how individuals choose their mates and what traits they find attractive. This fascinating book explores those findings, and their implications for the sexual behaviour of our own species. It uses the Red Queen from ‘Alice in Wonderland’ – who has to run at full speed to stay where she is – as a metaphor for a whole range of sexual behaviours. The book was shortlisted for the 1994 Rhone-Poulenc Prize for Science Books.
‘Animals and plants evolved sex to fend off parasitic infection. Now look where it has got us. Men want BMWs, power and money in order to pair-bond with women who are blonde, youthful and narrow-waisted … a brilliant examination of the scientific debates on the hows and whys of sex and evolution’ Independent.
From the Publisher
According to Matt Ridley, science is not a catalogue of facts; it is a search for new mysteries. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
When a surgeon cuts into a body, he knows what he will find inside. Read the first page
Concordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Looking at the evolution of sex, it is filled with intriguing facts, remarkable examples, and frequently alarming revelations. From why the peacock has that remarkable tail (it's probably to do with sexy sons) to why polygamy benefits females rather than males, the book is a real eye-opener.
Once you've learned the secret of the lek, the local disco will never seem the same again. And, given that a man's testicular size is evidence that neither he nor his partner evolved for true monogamy, you may not find this book terribly reassuring.
Polygyny, polyandry, incest, infanticide, and group-bonking bonobos: it may leave you thinking that, in comparison to even some of our closest relatives, we humans have very conservative sex lives indeed. And we may only have started doing it at all so that we don't fall prey to parasites!
A great read, and real incentive to read anything else available by Matt Ridley.
Some people will have an issue with this book -by it's nature, evolutionary biology and behaviourology are somewhat deterministic. It also necessarily recognises sexual differences. People of a left-wing bias tend to find this at odds with the fundamentals behind their politics (although the same fuss is not made when the same principles are applied to animals...) - hence low scoring reviews of this book having a sexist/political slant. This is unfair as the subject matter is what it is - the book itself is a very well written popular science tome and that is what you want when buying such a book.
Matt also opens us up to debate as in one of the chapters he mentions about sexual reproduction "why do we have sex, why not go asexual, that way we would waste less energy" He wants us to question things instead of just accepting things for what they are just because someone famous made a discovery. He also mentions about the psychology of men and women and how any why they are different, the roles of beauty and how that could attract parasites and that is what makes this book so interesting up to the final ending when he leaves with a final analogy in the end of the chapter in The intellutual chess game. Recommended Reading!!!
It turns out that the purpose of sex is to enable our genes to refresh... Read more
but all the standard praise... Read more
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