Matt Ridley
Paperback | Pages: 405 pages Rating: 4.04 | 14489 Users | 571 Reviews
Present Appertaining To Books The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature
| Title | : | The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature |
| Author | : | Matt Ridley |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 405 pages |
| Published | : | April 29th 2003 by Harper Perennial (HarperCollins) (first published October 1993) |
| Categories | : | Nonfiction. Science. Biology. Psychology. Evolution. Sexuality |
Rendition Toward Books The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature
Referring to Lewis Carroll's Red Queen from Through the Looking-Glass, a character who has to keep running to stay in the same place, Matt Ridley demonstrates why sex is humanity's best strategy for outwitting its constantly mutating internal predators. The Red Queen answers dozens of other riddles of human nature and culture -- including why men propose marriage, the method behind our maddening notions of beauty, and the disquieting fact that a woman is more likely to conceive a child by an adulterous lover than by her husband. Brilliantly written, The Red Queen offers an extraordinary new way of interpreting the human condition and how it has evolved.Particularize Books Supposing The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature
| Original Title: | The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature |
| ISBN: | 0060556579 (ISBN13: 9780060556570) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Rating Appertaining To Books The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature
Ratings: 4.04 From 14489 Users | 571 ReviewsJudgment Appertaining To Books The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature
The payoff in this book is in the last 1/3rd of the book. The beginning is really really dry and academic. The theories are fascinating and some were mind-blowing. Ridley himself admits that they are just theories and probably half of them are wrong. But it's just a fascinating way to view human behavior through sexual selection and evolutionary advantage.Things I learned from this book: (human) women like tall men, (human) men like beautiful women, (barn swallow) women like men with long, symmetrical tails, gentlemen prefer blondes, sperm are small because they made a dastardly deal with nature, gender exists (and there are two of them) essentially as an accidental by-product of a primordial genetic arms race, why (we think) that we (or anything else) has sex (as opposed to splitting in half or excanging packets of DNA), why roosters have
This is Evo Psych masquerading as hard science. It is sometimes dense and technical, sometimes defensive and condescending. There is some well-researched science, some reasonable observations, and some logical conclusions, but they are so inextricably tangled with sweeping generalizations, correlations misinterpreted as causations, and ambiguous data presented as certainty as to render the whole mess too annoying to read. I gave up with about 70 pages to go. Life is too short, and surely there
This was like being in a work release program with an educated half-wit.Very questionable reasoning throughout.
This was an interesting exploration of the reasons for sexual reproduction in many organisms, as well as then discussing the science with relation to human sexuality and sociology. Ridley makes good thorough use of a broad range of research findings in the area, discussing these with (mainly) even-handedness and a breadth of illustrative examples. The central theme relates to the importance of sexual reproduction in protection from disease and in best perpetuating our genes. It's an educational
Since this is a science book it is troubling that this doesn't follow the scientific method. Frequently topics are not developed logically leading to confusing and odd sentences. Some interesting propositions -- read for a lark.
What could have shaped the human mind is an endlessly interesting subject, no question about that. Speculating about contributions of the genes, nature, nurture, culture is fun, as much as getting a new perspective on what has always seemed "obvious". Still, I did not like this book as much as I probably would, had it a bit less of sheer speculations. Some readers praise Ridley for objectively presenting to them so many different and often contradictory theories. When discussions are heated, it
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