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The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating
 
 
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The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating (Paperback)

by David M. Buss (Author) "HUMAN MATING BEHAVIOR delights and amuses us and galvanizes our gossip, but it is also deeply disturbing ..." (more)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Basic Books; New edition edition (Mar 1995)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0465021433
  • ISBN-13: 978-0465021437
  • Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 13.2 x 1.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 346,134 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #24 in  Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Sex > Psychology

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Product Description

Product Description

How we chooseand loseour mates has always been a source of fascination. This controversial book is the first to present a unified theory of human mating behavior. The Evolution of Desire is based on the most massive study of human mating ever undertaken, encompassing more than 10,000 peoples of all ages from thirty-seven cultures worldwide. If we all want love, why is there so much conflict in our most cherished relationships? To answer this question, we must look into our evolutionary past, according to David M. Buss. For in attracting, keeping, and even breaking up with our mates, we are closer to our ancestral forebears than many of us think.
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HUMAN MATING BEHAVIOR delights and amuses us and galvanizes our gossip, but it is also deeply disturbing. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
24 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A clear, well-writen book, 20 Jan 2000
By J. Thiry (Munich) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I strongly recommend this clear, well-written book to the general reader who wishes to get away from conventional ideas on men-women relations. The biologically literate will also be pleased to find it is well within the spirit of evolutionary science. The reference to "ancestral men and women" as the group on which selective pressure acted to shape present-day sexual behaviour is, strictly speaking, not entirely correct since many patterns of sexual behaviour - like competition between males, and female choosiness - had already evolved millions of years earlier, in our long line of animal ancestors, but it serves as a close enough approximation to emphasise the important fact that the sexual antics of modern Man can only be understood in an evolutionary perspective and why they are so at odds with moral standards. The coexistence of short- and long term sexual strategies in both men and women, a point often missed in other books on the subject, is a recurrent theme here, and it helps to understand why we can have great sex with partners we wouldn't even dream of moving in with and why our selection criteria for a one-night-stand lover will differ from those we apply when seeking a soul mate for life. An important conclusion of the book is that men will be men, not because they have been brought up that way or because of ingrained male chauvinism, but because women made them that way, through the process of sexual selection. As long as women go for high-status, dominant men, fierce male rivalry, with all its attendant social evils, is likely to plague human societies. The author is soft on the institution of marriage, perhaps because he is a married man himself and, well ... it's no good writing a good book if it ruins your married life. He is also politically cautious regarding the evolutionary significance of rape and the relevance of feminist militancy.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Venus and Darwin on a date, 18 Jul 1997
By A Customer
For the individualist, it's not easy to think of human behavior as largely a mass of strategies selected by evolution. Yet the evidence from several directions is impressive, if not entirely convincing in all respects. _The Evolution of Desire_ should play an important role in the popular science writing of our age, illustrating both the influence and the boundaries of evolutionary selection on human behavior. Both readable and well documented, _Evolution_ goes beyond simply interpreting modern behavior in terms of evolutionary stories. Buss also synthesizes massive amounts of data from far reaching and extensive cross-cultural studies to reveal the patterns in our attraction, mating, and separation behaviors. Notably, exceptions to the patterns are discussed at length. This aspect leaves the reader with a slightly better understanding of the limitations of strict evolutionary thinking than we find with the similar and also excellent "Anatomy of Love" by Helen Fisher. Human behavioral flexibility is emphasized, and our potential freedom from the patterns of evolutuionary selection, through knowledge of those patterns. Much of _Evolution_ will seem consistent with common experience, while some will be remarkable new food for thought. There is virtually no aspect of intimate human relationships that does not have some light, or at least a new and intriguing viewing angle, cast by the broad strokes of evolutionary psychology in David Buss' absorbing web of sexual strategies and counter-strategies.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating read, 10 Oct 2005
By A Customer
I studied this book six years ago as part of my psychology course at university. I found it an absolutely fascinating and highly interesting read. so much so, that despite having leant the book to someone many years ago, and not getting it back, I still find myself thinking about it. I think i'll buy another one.
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 		 Most Recent Customer Reviews

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