Book Description
This new edition of Animal Behavior has been completely rewritten with coverage of much recent work in animal behavior, resulting in a thoroughly up-to-date text. Notable is the inclusion, for the first time, of discussion questions embedded in the text itself, rather than appended to the end of each chapter. This format is designed to encourage students to reflect on the material they have just digested while also making it easier for instructors to promote a problem-solving approach to the subject in their classes. Another key organizational improvement is the consolidation of what had been two separate chapters on the genetic and environmental influences on development. By combining this material, the new Chapter 3 makes a stronger, more tightly argued case for the view that development is a truly interactive process codependent on both genetic and environmental factors.
Like previous editions, the book shows how evolutionary biologists analyze all aspects of behavior. It is distinguished by its balanced treatment of both the underlying mechanisms and evolutionary causes of behavior, and stresses the utility of evolutionary theory in unifying the different behavioral disciplines. Important concepts are explained by reference to key illustrative studies; examples are drawn evenly from studies of invertebrates and vertebrates, and are supported by nearly 1,300 reference citations. The writing style is clear and engaging: beginning students have no difficulty following the material, despite the strong conceptual orientation of the text.
Throughout, the author keeps the essence of the scientific enterprise clearly in front of the student reader. The text stresses the role of theory and hypothesis-testing in doing science. The book also emphasizes the tentative nature of scientific conclusions, and it identifies controversial and unresolved issues.
Customer Reviews:
Perfect condition, speedy delivery.......2007-02-20
The book came shrink wrapped in perfect condition. Speedy delivery. No complaints.
Fun and Educational.......2007-02-19
This was a textbook for a class and it is as fun and easy to read as a textbook can be. Lots of good pictures and examples.
Book of examples and studies; great for animal behavior.......2006-12-13
While I expected this book (and my course) to be a book of concepts and theories, they are actually filled with examples of field studies, lab studies, etc. This makes the book actually enjoyable to read, if you have any interest in animal behavior. The writer is an evolutionary biologist himself, and he makes this clear when he explicitly compares his opinions to other biologists' opinions. The images of the author's thumb as a mating object by a bee were also amusing. Like another reviewer mentioned, this book is fun, and can -almost- be read for fun.
Great book.......2006-12-02
The reviewer that only gave this book 2 stars is dead wrong, in my opinion. It's sectioned off by topic, then it goes in depth with actual field studies and examples to explain why a particular animal behaviour is what it is, and usually from an ultimate and proximate viewpoint. Very easy to read and follow, lots of pictures and graphs, which helped keep my brain stimulated. I will be keeping this book in my personal library for future reference.
Poorly organized.......2005-12-08
Very poorly organized. Focuses on case studies (like pages and pages about vole hormones and a whole chapter on bird song) rather than concepts. The writing style is decent, but it's not very comprehensive or clear, and the author makes some mistakes (he misinterprets a critical graph when discussing hyena hormones and ends up with a bad conclusion. My teacher knows he screwed it up because she wrote the paper he cites incorrectly).
The only reason this doesn't get 1 star is that my teacher says that, while it is quite bad, there are no better alternatives.
Average customer rating:
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Cognition, Evolution, and Behavior
Sara J. Shettleworth
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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ASIN: 019511048X |
Book Description
How do animals perceive the world, learn, remember, search for food or mates, and find their way around? Do any non-human animals count, imitate one another, use a language, or think as we do? What use is cognition in nature and how might it have evolved? Historically, research on such questions has been fragmented between psychology, where the emphasis has been on theoretical models and lab experiments, and biology, where studies focus on evolution and the adaptive use of perception, learning, and decision-making in the field. Cognition, Evolution and the Study of Behavior integrates research from psychology, behavioral ecology, and ethology in a wide-ranging synthesis of theory and research about animal cognition in the broadest sense, from species-specific adaptations in fish to cognitive mapping in rats and honeybees to theories of mind for chimpanzees. As a major contribution to the emerging discipline of comparative cognition, the book is an invaluable resource for all students and researchers in psychology, zoology, and behavioral neuroscience. It will also interest general readers curious about the details of how and why animals--including humans--process, retain, and use information as they do.
Customer Reviews:
Fantastic.......2003-01-28
This was the required textbook for a class on Animal Intelligence at the University of Kansas. Contained various examples from a broad range of animal intelligence. Illustrated quite well how little we know about intelligence.
Book Description
In this innovative celebration of diversity and affirmation of individuality in animals and humans, Joan Roughgarden challenges accepted wisdom about gender identity and sexual orientation. A distinguished evolutionary biologist, Roughgarden takes on the medical establishment, the Bible, social science--and even Darwin himself. She leads the reader through a fascinating discussion of diversity in gender and sexuality among fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals, including primates. Evolution's Rainbow explains how this diversity develops from the action of genes and hormones and how people come to differ from each other in all aspects of body and behavior. Roughgarden reconstructs primary science in light of feminist, gay, and transgender criticism and redefines our understanding of sex, gender, and sexuality. Witty, playful, and daring, this book will revolutionize our understanding of sexuality.
Roughgarden argues that principal elements of Darwinian sexual selection theory are false and suggests a new theory that emphasizes social inclusion and control of access to resources and mating opportunity. She disputes a range of scientific and medical concepts, including Wilson's genetic determinism of behavior, evolutionary psychology, the existence of a gay gene, the role of parenting in determining gender identity, and Dawkins's "selfish gene" as the driver of natural selection. She dares social science to respect the agency and rationality of diverse people; shows that many cultures across the world and throughout history accommodate people we label today as lesbian, gay, and transgendered; and calls on the Christian religion to acknowledge the Bible's many passages endorsing diversity in gender and sexuality. Evolution's Rainbow concludes with bold recommendations for improving education in biology, psychology, and medicine; for democratizing genetic engineering and medical practice; and for building a public monument to affirm diversity as one of our nation's defining principles.
Download Description
In this innovative celebration of diversity and affirmation of individuality in animals and humans, Joan Roughgarden challenges accepted wisdom about gender identity and sexual orientation. A distinguished evolutionary biologist, Roughgarden takes on the medical establishment, the Bible, social science--and even Darwin himself. She leads the reader through a fascinating discussion of diversity in gender and sexuality among fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals, including primates. Evolution's Rainbow explains how this diversity develops from the action of genes and hormones and how people come to differ from each other in all aspects of body and behavior. Roughgarden reconstructs primary science in light of feminist, gay, and transgender criticism and redefines our understanding of sex, gender, and sexuality. Witty, playful, and daring, this book will revolutionize our understanding of sexuality. Roughgarden argues that principal elements of Darwinian sexual selection theory are false and suggests a new theory that emphasizes social inclusion and control of access to resources and mating opportunity. She disputes a range of scientific and medical concepts and dares social science to respect the agency and rationality of diverse people. Evolution's Rainbow concludes with bold recommendations for improving education in biology, psychology, and medicine; for democratizing genetic engineering and medical practice; and for building a public monument to affirm diversity as one of our nation's defining principles.
Customer Reviews:
a biological reason for tolerance.......2007-06-27
a very interesting and mindful book. interesting in that it shows how the gender dichotomy of western societies is ever so rigid and needs to loosen up. mindful in that it exudes tolerance and simply makes you appreciate diversity. i enjoyed reading it.
A celebration of diversity.......2007-03-08
Roughgarden's work in Evolution's Rainbow should be required reading for all college and high school students in the country. Starting with relatively simple animals and working into increasingly complex organisms (finally culminating with humans), Roughgarden convincingly and irrefutably demonstrates how sexual diversity is widespread in nature, not simply "weird statistical anomalies" as many believe. In fact, an over-abundance of examples from nature in the first section of the book is often somewhat exhausting to follow, but serves to establish the widespread nature of homosexuality, transsexuality, and even intersexuality in nature. And finally, the ending sections of the book, demonstrating how various societies have accepted/incorporpated sexually diverse elements, should serve as a motivation for LGBTI peoples around the world. Overall an excellent and politically timely book that can be appreciated by biologists and non-scientists alike.
A great start.......2006-10-20
Finally, someone is putting together all of the real, scientific information regarding sexuality and gender variance in the animal world.
Roughgarden may well have taken on too much for one book - there is something of a rushed pace and she often drops dissertation-worthy bits of information into one page - but she has gathered some wonderful examples of the true nature of diversity in the animal kingdom.
Her reasons for writing the book may be political and personal in nature, but I think her reasoning and biology are sound.
Evolution's Rainbow... required reading for students I feel.......2006-10-13
No matter what one may think about Roughgarden's hypotheses (though these are to my mind often inspired) Evolution's Rainbow was a great read if only for the sheer quantity of information it encapsulates. One comes away from this book with a profoundly altered idea of what constitutes "natural" in reference to sexuality and gender.
The only criticism I have is of the rather strained effort at the end of the book to reconcile the Bible with homosexuality. While I agree the Sodom story is primarily aimed at a lack of hospitality other scriptures e.g. Romans 1:31-32 are more explicit. It is unfortunate that an exemplary scientist still feels the need to pander to moral constructs based upon faith i.e. the belief in things that cannot be seen or demonstrated. By this criteria the 9/11 terrorists were very moral people.
Clouded by Strong Biases.......2006-09-21
This book provides some good descriptions of sexual and gender diversity in nature and in a variety of human cultures, and makes a number of valid criticisms of biases against diversity in the scientific community and in society at large.
Many of her attempts to criticize sexual selection theory are plausible criticisms of beliefs that don't have much connection to sexual selection theory (e.g. the belief that all sexually reproducing organisms fall into one of two gender stereotypes).
Her more direct attacks on the theory amount to claiming that "almost all diversity is good" and ignoring the arguments of sexual selection theorists who describe traits that appear to indicate reduced evolutionary fitness (see Geoffrey Miller's book The Mating Mind). She practically defines genetic defects out of existence. She tries to imply that biologists agree on her criteria for a "genetic defect", but her criteria require that a "trait be deleterious under all conditions" (I suspect most biologists would say "average" instead of "all"), and that it reduce fitness by at least 5 percent.
Her "alternative" theory, social selection, may have some value as a supplement to sexual selection theory, but I see no sign that it explains enough to replace sexual selection theory.
She sometimes talks as if she were trying to explain the evolution of homosexuality, but when doing so she is referring to bisexuality, and doesn't attempt to explain why an animal would be exclusively homosexual.
Her obsession with discrediting sexual selection comes from an exaggerated fear that the theory implies that most diversity is bad. This misrepresents sexual selection theory (which only says that some diversity represents a mix of traits with different fitnesses). It's also a symptom of her desire to treat natural as almost a synonym for good (she seems willing to hate diversity if it's created via genetic engineering).
She tries to imply that a number of traits (e.g. transsexualism) are more common than would be the case if they significantly reduced reproductive fitness, but her reasoning seems to depend on the assumption that those traits can only be caused by one possible mutation. But if there are multiple places in the genome where a mutation could produce the same trait, there's no obvious limit to how common a low-fitness trait could be.
Her policy recommendations are of very mixed quality. She wants the FDA to regulate surgical and behavioral therapies the way it regulates drugs, and claims that would stop doctors from "curing" nondiseases such as gender dysphoria. But she doesn't explain why she expects the FDA to be more tolerant of diversity than doctors. Instead, why not let the patient decide as much as possible whether to consider something a disease?
Amazon.com
"Many people have sex in mind a great deal of the time." Authors Malcolm Potts and Roger Short spent more than 15 years trying to understand and explain these passions. While not fully embracing biological determinism--that destiny is simply written in the genes--Potts and Short believe that evolutionary biology can help explain human behavior. In this book they focus on milestones in life's cycle, such as love, marriage, sex, pregnancy, birth, parenting, divorce, and death. Each of these complex behaviors is studied in turn and analyzed for its biological foundations and centuries of cultural modifications. Nearly 100 illustrations lend support to the authors' theories, and dozens of fascinating sidebars go into greater depth about everything from Siamese twins and cloning to wet-nursing and Viagra.
The book is not without its flaws: the authors' belief that most behaviors are biologically based leads them to make sexist conclusions at times--for example, they argue that a woman's interest in sports must primarily stem from a desire to please her man. They also maintain that evolutionary biology can suggest solutions to some of our most difficult problems, without suggesting what these solutions (or, indeed, problems) may be. That said, the authors do an excellent job of teasing out the twisted strands of nature and nurture that make us who we are. Though scholars may find the lack of footnotes frustrating, Ever Since Adam and Eve will pique the interest of educated readers. --C.B. Delaney
Book Description
Eminent scientists Malcolm Potts and Roger Short view the broad panorama of human sexual and reproductive behaviour to reveal an inextricable mixture of nature and nurture - a combination of innate actions which have evolved over the millennia to adapt us to a nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle, overlain by more recent cultural constraints imposed by civilization. For each of life’s milestones - sexual intercourse, conception, pregnancy, birth, puberty, love, marriage, parenting, menopause and death - they describe the biology behind our actions and consider how pressures imposed by various historical and contemporary cultures have further influenced our behaviour. By looking back at the past they attempt to make sense of the present, to see how and why these cultural modifications arose, how they have contributed to the richness of human sexual behaviour, and what our biological and cultural inheritance can teach us about safeguarding the continuation of our species.
Customer Reviews:
Ever Since Adam and Eve.......2000-03-20
This book is a MUST for anyone who considers themselves an unbiassed thinker. If only there were a text like this when I was in college. It will appeal to anyone interested in anthropology, sociology and/or zoology. You don't have to agree with the arguments of the authors as they are the flavour enhancers of the proverbial "food for thought". The beauty of this book is it's personal affect of invading your waking and sleeping hours with questions. Wonderfully stimulating, the best thing I have read in AGES. What a legacy.
A great Outlook on sexual inhabitions and what drives them!.......1999-08-26
This book was written by my uncle who has always been an inspiration in my life. This book is just another extension of his Greatness! Malcolm Potts takes his work very seriously. I know that this book will and has already made changes in my life as far as human sexuality goes. It will make me take my sexual desires and actions to a new and much safer level.
veryprovacative,justone of thosebooksthathasrealityalloverit.......1999-08-03
the book was very touching.it made feel as if iwas far away from God, and it made me realize how far my relationship with God really was, and i'm just glad that Malcolm Potts and Roger Short brought me back to reality...
Stunning summary of the human condition from then to now.......1999-07-13
Of course there is nothing new under the sun...or is there? Better read this often funny, frequently irreverent book with remarkable sexual pictures and graphics. New syntheses must draw on past information. Like any masterpiece, these authors took lifetimes to acquire and understand the knowledge they now offer us in this complex, yet easy to read scientific recitation of human and other sexual histories. The book tells you about our evolutionary hsitory, that we are indeed descended from earlier animals and even earlier forms of life. They document that the main evolutionary drive for humans and mammals generally has been and is SEX, for the key to our existence is the need to produce the BEST next generation. For many this book will prove an epiphany of understanding, a creation of more reverence for life, but one not based on the mythology of religion, but on the clear facts of science. Don't miss it.
well written cultural anthroplogy.......1999-05-24
Two internationally recognized authors have provided us with a sparkling volume; informative and engaging. Several lay friends have read my copy, and shared it with their families.
Amazon.com
Strikingly different from most business books--it opens and closes with a pair of very powerful black-and-white photo essays, for example--A Simpler Way lays out a fascinating and productive reexamination of the traditional tenets of organizational behavior. Internationally known consultants Margaret J. Wheatley (Leadership and the New Science) and Myron Kellner-Rogers focus on the basic themes of play, organization, self, emergence, and notions of coherence to explore how people really systemize their existence. The authors draw upon science, poetry, philosophy, and other unconventional corporate resources to suggest a completely original method of working together. "There is a simpler way to organize human endeavor," they write. "It requires a new way of being in the world. It requires being in the world without fear. Being in the world with play and creativity. Seeking after what's possible. Being willing to learn and to be surprised."
While A Simpler Way may appear too New Age for some readers, this beautifully produced book hits the mark by bringing together an array of unexpected ideas as the authors look anew at established theories of human behavior to propose a decidedly unique way of promoting organization and achieving success. --Howard Rothman
Book Description
Margaret J. Wheatley and coauthor Myron Kellner-Rogers explore the question: "How could we organize human endeavor if we developed different understandings of how life organizes itself?" They draw on the work of scientists, philosophers, poets, novelists, spiritual teachers, colleagues, audiences, and their own experience in search of new ways of understanding life and how organizing activities occur. A Simpler Way presents a profoundly different world view that can change how we live our lives and how we can create organizations that thrive.
A Simpler Way explores fundamental new beliefs about organizations and life. Like Leadership and the New Science, this new book is rooted in science but breaks new ground by developing insights from literature, spiritual teachings, and direct experience. The authors challenge many assumptions about life, organizations, and change, while providing inspiration and guidance for readers on their own journey to a simpler way to organize their endeavors.
The authors describe a new paradigm of life as self-organizing and coevolving, drawing on sources that support modern science but predate its findings by thousands of years. They examine five major themes-play, organization, self, emergence, and coherence-each grounded in both the science and philosophy of a world that knows how to organize itself. Each theme is explored in depth, and then applied to how we think about human organizations.
Customer Reviews:
Fluffy, repetitious.......2006-08-04
Not bad, but the material could have been covered in a magazine article. A few principles repeated until I felt like I was reading some sort of New Age meditative mantra.
Simply wonderful.......2006-05-02
I could not put it down! Although an easy ready, it presses us to look at things differently, simply AND deeply. This book relates to all aspects of life and how we interact with each other and the world. How often and quickly we delve into issues without considering the impact of changes (or even suggestion of change). This is a "must read" for business leaders, teachers, politicians, churches and other organizations who so often try force square pegs into round holes in the name of progress and growth. I will read this book again, share with others and will read a lot more of Margaret Wheatley!
Simpler way to absorb ideas from Leadership and the New Science.......2005-09-26
Margaret Wheatley is addictive. After reading "Leadership and the New Science" I have bought the rest of her books, and also those that she recommends by contributing a foreword.
This book has a great deal of white space, lots of photos, is double-spaced, but by no means is it simplistic. To play on the title, it is a "simpler way" to absorb the large deep ideas that are documented in "Leadership and the New Science." If her primary writing were a trilogy, this is the entry-level book, "Finding Our Way" is the intermediate volume, and "Leadership" is the graduate course. However, I recommend they be read in reverse order, because the simpler books are more clearly appreciated if one has the deeper background.
What I find most compelling about this book is the manner in which it captures core ideas from a wide variety of works that have been bubbling into human consciousness in the past 20 years. The bibliography is quite good although by no means all-inclusive (missing Kurzweil, E. O. Wilson, and Stephen Wolfham, as well as Tom Atlee and Bill Moyers, among others).
Among the core ideas in this book that are presented with elegance are the absurdity of thinking that life can have a boss--or that rigid ideas and identities will lead to anything other than rigid non-adjustable organizations. The author stresses the value of diversity, passion, connectedness, humanity and humanness, and tieing it all together, the role of information and of ethics as facilitators for "being."
There is a very useful discussion of bacteria and the manner in which human attempts to impose machine and medical solutions are ultimately defeated by bacteria. Although Howard Bloom's "Global Brain" is not in the bibliography, everything the authors discuss here is consistent with his concerns about bacteria winning the inter-species war with humanity.
Taking this a step further, I would contrast this book, and the varied books on collective intelligence, wisdom of the crowd, ecological economics (Herman Daly) and so on, with a book I recently reviewed about the National Security Council, aptly titled "Running the World." The stupidity and arrogance of that title reveals all that we need to know about why U.S. foreign policy is failing, and how desperately we need to take the ideas from this book and apply them to how we manage ourselves and our relationships with other nations, other tribes, other religions, other communities.
penetrating philosophic work.......2005-05-14
In this sharply perceptive and penetrating philosophic work, the authors with unusual sensitivity and insight have been able to express life of human organizations in a beautiful way.
The authors in a poetic way express that life is creative and playful, contrary to Darwinist theory that life occurred out of an error and it is struggle for survival. The mechanistic image of the world doesn't help us any longer. We keep exploring what we can see when we look at life and organizations using different images.
Organizations are living systems. They are like people, intelligent, creative, adaptive, self-organizing and meaning-seeking. The simpler way to organize human endeavor requires a belief that the world is inherently orderly. The world seeks organization. It doesn't need humans to organize it.
The book is based around the following essential ideas: everything is in a constant process of discovery and creating; life uses mess to get to well-ordered solutions, it doesn't seem to share our desires for efficiency or neatness, it uses redundancy, fuzziness, dense webs of relationships, and unending trails and errors to find what works; life is intent on finding what works, not what's "right"; life creates more possibilities as it engages with opportunities; life is attracted to order; life organizes around identity; everything participates in the creation and evolution of its neighbors.
"A simpler way" is to a great extent influenced by Maturana and Varela, Kelly, Prigogine, Jacob, Lewontin, Kauffmann and other great thinkers.
Here is the quote from this book:
"In their work on human cognition, Maturana and Varela explain that, at any moment, what we see is most influenced by who we have decided to be. Our eyes do not simply pick up information from an outside world and relay it to our brains. Information relayed from the outside through the eye accounts for only 20 percent of what we use to create a perception. At least 80 percent of the information that the brain works with is information already in the brain.
We each create our own worlds by what we choose to notice, creating a world of distinctions that makes sense to us. We then "see" the world through this self we have created. Information from the external world is a minor influence. We connect who we are with selected amounts of new information to enact our particular version of reality.
Because information from the outside plays such a small role in our perceptions, Maturana and Varela note something quite important for our activities with one another. We can never direct a living system. We can only disturb it. As external agents we provide only small impulses of information. We can nudge, titillate, or provoke one another into some new ways of seeing. But we can never give anyone an instruction and expect him or her to follow it precisely. We can never assume that anyone else sees the world as we do.
Their work on human cognition underscores the realization that we are all, always, poets, exploring possibilities of meaning in a world which is also all the time exploring possibilities."
I also recommend "Leadership and The New Science" in addition to this book.
Beautiful and Simple Way to introduce the Complex(ity).......2003-06-30
This book is special for two reasons: #1 the book itself is beautiful in graphics, typography and shape, #2 the text pleasantly guides the novice into the realm of the subject of complexity.
This is the book I always advice to those who want to 'get into' the subject.
Book Description
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.
Customer Reviews:
Great Book.......2007-03-27
I can't add very much to the excellent reviews already posted. I'll just say quickly that I enjoyed very much the fresh insight into mating practices among the "lower animals" and among humans. I've read a lot about evolution and biology and so forth, and still found much new material here. I really enjoyed learning about how scientists finally discovered the rampant adultery among birds and how incredible they are at hiding it.
Several reviewers warn about having to "make it through" the first part, and I certainly understand that if your primary interest is in the evolutionary origins of human sexuality. However, I really enjoyed the first part as well, because it provides a broad understanding of sex in evolution and give lots of fun examples about different behaviors and adaptations.
Although I didn't give the book 5 stars (I reserve that for the best of the best), it showed me that Mr. Ridley is a great writer and I'll check out his other books (I think I'll start with Genome).
Worth slogging through Part 1 to get to Part 2.......2007-01-30
Some of the ideas expressed in The Red Queen are brilliant, and their applicability to the nature of human sexuality are quite interesting. However, Ridley's very methodical approach to categorizing and cataloging the varieties during the first 120-150 pages can be painfully slow.
Once Part II kicked in, I was glad I persevered. After the first part apparently sets the stage for some descriptions related to human beings, I found myself unable to put the book down during second half. No need to add on to what has been written by others, but if I had to do it again, I definitely would have skimmed Part 1.
Still worth the effort and quite a conversation piece. In the month since I finished, I find I bring it up in casual conversation regularly, and even during the course of book club conversations about male and female perspectives to similar actions, perceptions, or mating rituals. Definitely recommended!
So interesting..........2006-12-14
I remember flying on an airplane 6 years ago and having the stranger sitting next to me highly recommend this book. It ended up taking me three years before I finally obtained a copy!
This book is phenomenal. Starting from the first organisms on the planet and building up to modern day human beings, this book gives a detailed account of evolution and covers numerous theories, supported in great detail, as to how humans are they way we are.
The only reason this book gets 4 stars from me is because it is written in text book language and it can be hard to follow at some points. But stick with it - the end of the book is where most of the interesting points emerge.
The implications to the future human civilization are staggering.......2006-11-10
Science writer Matt Ridley's book "The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature" is outstanding. I have read at least 20 other books by various authors on this subject, and yet Ridley's book contains a vast amount of original work and brilliant viewpoints.
His language is accessible, witty, and moving. His explanations and arguments are well researched, and elegantly written.
Ridley takes you on a journey, for those willing, into nature's infinite world of sexual evolution using existing species as examples. You'll end up realizing how constricted our society is in relation to our nature. The book opened my mind to how diverse our society can be, and how we limit and restrict ourselves. I find this book to be one of his best works.
Experts in every field of living systems should read this book, the implications are staggering. Although written entirely from a biological / genetic / nature point of view, anyone could use the material to develop an improved system. For example, improved political systems, draft laws that make sense, market products more successfully, understand the criminal mind-set, raise children better, better discern the cause of war and violence, etc.
In a nut-shell, if you want to understand the infinite possibility of human potential, this book gives you the "theory of operation" and should be considered the bible on how central sexuality is to the nature of humankind and our modern civilization.
Too serious / intense - Not for casual reading.......2006-11-06
This is interesting only if you want to do a very detailed study on Sex and Evolution of Human Nature. Not something I would recommend if you are just looking for some dating techniques or How to....type suggestions.
Average customer rating:
- Sorting out the Issues
- God sense, not nonsense
- A breath of fresh air
|
Sense and Nonsense: Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behaviour
Kevin N. Laland , and
Gillian Brown
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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Binding: Hardcover
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Similar Items:
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Evolutionary Thought in Psychology: A Brief History (Blackwell Brief Histories of Psychology, 2)
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Nature Via Nurture : Genes, Experience, and What Makes Us Human
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Not by Genes Alone: How Culture Transformed Human Evolution
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Human Evolutionary Psychology
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Defenders of the Truth: The Sociobiology Debate
ASIN: 0198508840 |
Book Description
Evolutionary theory is one of the most wide-ranging and inspiring of scientific ideas. It offers a battery of methods that can be used to help us understand human behaviour. Nevertheless, the legitimacy of this exercise is at the centre of a heated controversy that has raged for over a century. Many evolutionary biologists, anthropologists and psychologists have taken these evolutionary principles and tried using them to explain a wide range of human characteristics, such as homicide, religion and sex differences in behaviour. Others, however, are sceptical of these interpretations. Moreover, researchers disagree as to the best ways to use evolution to explore humanity, and a number of schools have emerged. 'Sense and Nonsense' provides an introduction to the ideas, methods, and findings of five such schools, namely, sociobiology, human behavioural ecology, evolutionary psychology, memetics, and gene-culture co-evolution. Carefully guiding the reader through the mire of confusing terminology, claim and counter-claim, and polemical statements, Laland and Brown provide a balanced, rigorous analysis that scrutinizes both the evolutionary arguments and the allegations of the critics. This is a book that will be make fascinating reading for popular science readers, undergraduate and postgraduate students (for example, in psychology, anthropology and zoology), and to experts on one approach who would like to know more about the other perspectives. Having completed this book the reader will feel better placed to assess the legitimacy of claims made about human behaviour under the name of evolution, and to make judgements as to what is sense and what is nonsense.
Customer Reviews:
Sorting out the Issues.......2005-08-13
Kevin Laland is a prominent researcher in gene-culture coevolution, niche construction (the study of how organisms modify their social and physical environment, and thereby modify their own gene pool) and animal social learning. Gillian Brown is a primatologist who studies parenting behavior. Their book is a study of six strands of evolutionary theory as applied to human behavior: (a) Darwin and his pre-sociobiology followers (including Galton, Spencer, Lorenz, Tinbergen, von Frisch, and Ardrey); (b) the founders of sociobiology, including Dawkins, Trivers, Hamilton, Maynard Smith, and E. O. Wilson; and three offshoots of sociobiology, (c) behavioral ecology (including Hill, Kaplan, Hawkes, and Chagnon); (d) evolutionary psychology (including Cosmides, Tooby, Daly, Margo Wilson, Pinker, Buss); (e) memetics; and (f) gene-culture coevolution (including Cavalli-Sforza and Feldman, Boyd and Richerson, and Laland himself).
The title is inspired by the authors' impression that, despite the fact that the academic social sciences have virtually ignored evolutionary approaches, the public finds them very sexy and provocative, to the point where evolutionary research is continually influenced by political and journalistic concerns, and the science tends to be overwhelmed by the junk and the hype. I fully share this impression, and I think they have done a fine job in extracting the "sense" from the "nonsense." They even manage to treat memetics seriously, despite the fact that memetics' attempt to detach culture from reproduction, production, cooperation, conflict, and the other basic activities of social life cannot possibly succeed.
Laland and Brown vigorously defend the early Darwinists and sociobiologists against the many politically motivated attacks against them (they do not deal with religious critiques). While the authors recognize that their ideas have often eclipsed by more contemporary research, they find no major fault in the constitution of these two schools. I think this is a bad mistake. In the century from Darwin to E. O. Wilson, evolutionary researchers managed to isolate themselves from every mainstream social science, including economics, sociology, psychology, political science, and to a lesser extent, anthropology. It is futile to blame this on the mainstream. The fault lies squarely with the evolutionary theorists, who failed to make a convincing case for the position.
This is quite unforgivable, because mainstream social science has made many central contributions that must be integrated into evolutionary theory to provide a solid, scientific body of knowledge concerning human behavior. Laland and Brown give no reason for this isolation of evolutionary theory, except the trivial commonplaces mouthed by virtually everyone in this tradition (traditional social science is ideology, the mainstream is afraid of being tainted with the sins of eugenics and racist genetic determinism, and so on). The major problem facing evolutionary theory today is not to shuck the nonsense, but to account for its failure to become part of the mainstream, I believe, and Laland and Brown do not recognize this.
The very idea of forming schools of thought, such as behavioral ecology, evolutionary psychology, and gene-culture coevolution is an indication of the inability of evolutionary theory to consider itself a science. Scientists seek integration, not fragmentation. Behavioral ecologists, for instance, are anthropologists who study simple societies, while evolutionary psychologists are psychologists who study commonalities in human behavior across all societies. How could they possibly consider themselves "alternative" theories? They very idea is absurd, a capitulation to the natural human tendency to congregate in small groups of "insiders" whose major motivation is to triumph over the many groups of "outsiders" whose strange ways are threatening and unsettling.
This one issue aside, I find Laland and Brown very convincing in adjudicating among the various approaches, and in their plea for tolerance and exchange of information among them. Like the authors, I believe that gene-culture coevolution is the overarching principle that includes the others as subclasses. I also believe that gene-culture coevolution is the most promising basis for the integration of evolutionary with mainstream social science. The authors' only critique of gene-culture coevolution is that it tends to be highly mathematical and does not generate many empirical studies. I do not agree with this critique. Cavalli-Sforza and Feldman, as well as Boyd and Richerson, have done admirable empirical work, and with the use of experimental game theory in recent years, we will have much more such research in the near future. The true critique of gene-culture coevolutionary theory, in my view, is its ignorance of and contempt for traditional social science. Unless this is overcome, evolutionary social theory will remain marginalized for the foreseeable future.
Of course, most potential readers of this book will have the same prejudices concerning the traditional disciplines as do the authors, and they should find this book a welcome and incisive corrective to the disarray within evolutionary social theory.
God sense, not nonsense.......2004-02-18
The final chapter of E O Wilson's Sociobiology was a bombshell whose shockwaves reverberate today. Kevin Laland and Gillian Brown set out to sift through the morass of evolutionary approaches to human nature that is has spawned.
This is a useful review of the various schools of research, although I would have liked a firmer conclusion than 'a pluralistic approach is best'. Sometimes the authors could be a little less polite and have a little more bite.
Good stuff overall though, probably most helpful for those new to the area, or for students looking for an introduction. The book is a little light in content, concentrating on methodology, but the emphasis on cultural processes, absent from many evolutionary discussions, is most refreshing.
Do Laland and Brown successfully separate the sense from the nonsense? No. But they do equip the reader with some of the tools to do it for herself.
A breath of fresh air.......2002-07-17
This book is both a great read, and an informative one, for anyone interested in human behavior, evolutionary theory, and the links between the two. The area of potential evolutionary bases to human behavior has traditionally been filled with much controversy, some fighting, scattered irresponsible speculations and pronouncements that at times have produced tragic effects, and quite often, more heat than light. Laland and Brown have produced a book that is truly a breath of fresh air. One of the things I liked most about Sense and Nonsense is that Laland and Brown had actually sat down to talk with--and listen to--many of the leading proponents of different "schools" of thought. They work hard in Sense and Nonsense to give a fair presentation of each different approach, before moving on in each chapter to provide their own analysis of the approach presented from their own perspective as working scientists. In the midst of an area in which some researchers have been prone to simply shout louder--often literally--at those they disagree with, Laland and Brown have truly taken the time to listen, reflect, and form considered and thoughtful judgements. This is a service to all of us: After reading their book, I know that I will always look reflect differently on researchers' claims of evolutionary bases of human behavior, whether that's hearing them at a conference, or reading a journal article, or the latest best-selling book or TV interview. If you want to improve your understanding of evolution and human behavior, get a guided tour through the area and its controversies by two thoughtful experts, and come out with a changed perspective that will likely always stay with you, then read Sense and Nonsense. Great book.
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- From sea slugs to siblings
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- Ok. I take it back (send it back)
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- A great book!
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Animal Behavior: An Evolutionary Approach
John Alcock
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Exploring Animal Behavior: Readings from American Scientist, Fourth Edition
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Vertebrate Life (7th Edition)
ASIN: 0878930116 |
Book Description
This new edition of Animal Behavior has been completely rewritten, resulting in a more compact yet thoroughly up-to-date text. Notable is the inclusion, for the first time, of four-color photographs and illustrations throughout. Like previous editions, the book shows how evolutionary biologists analyze all aspects of behavior. It is distinguished by its balanced treatment of both the underlying mechanisms and evolutionary causes of behavior, and stresses the utility of evolutionary theory in unifying the different behavioral disciplines. Important concepts are explained by reference to key illustrative studies, which are described in sufficient detail to help students appreciate the role of the scientific process in producing research discoveries. Examples are drawn evenly from studies of invertebrates and vertebrates, and are supported by nearly 1,300 reference citations. The writing style is clear and engaging: beginning students have no difficulty following the material, despite the strong conceptual orientation of the text. Indeed, instructors consistently report a high level of enthusiasm for the book on the part of their students.
The book is organized into two major sections, one dealing with the proximate mechanisms of behavior and the other with the ultimate or evolutionary causes of behavior. The first two chapters introduce the distinction between proximate and ultimate causes in biology that is the foundation for the remaining chapters. Four subsequent chapters then take a more detailed look at different aspects of proximate bases of behavior.
The text then shifts to the other major section that covers the evolution of behavior. Making the point that each behavioral trait has an evolutionary history as well as potential current adaptive significance, the author examines the history and adaptive value of various categories of behavior, including evasion of predators, reproductive tactics and social behavior. A final chapter presents an evolutionary view of human behavior.
Customer Reviews:
From sea slugs to siblings.......2003-11-22
There's benefit in starting this book at the final chapter. After all, we consider humans the most important member of the animal kingdom. A quick perusal of Chapter 15, "The Evolution of Human Behavior", introduces you to many issues within that topic. The question that must arise, is "how did we get to be that way?". To answer that question, simply turn to page 1 and start reading. The rewards gained by following John Alcock's presentation are beyond measure. He's an outstanding researcher and analyst. His writing demonstrates the importance of understanding why this book is necessary for both professional and novice. The behavioural traits he explains show the workings of evolution. We are but one of the products of that process.
Stating that Darwin's concept of evolution was a "blockbuster" of an idea, he argues it illuminates everything once you have the courage to look. He uses the concept of "proximate" and "ultimate" causes in analysing traits and deriving their origins. What we see in nature are the "proximate" causes of behaviour - how do a moth's muscles make the wings move in a particular way? The "ultimate" cause is what, if anything is gained by the action or behaviour? Answering the second question leads to a probable explanation of how evolution brought the feature about. Traits are the result of a long series of tiny steps leading to what is seen today. Alcock demonstrates that there are many influences affecting the course of evolution.
Alcock presents an array of examples neatly arranged in groupings such as environmental impact, heredity, mating and feeding. How does the ungainly seaslug discern predator approach and how does it escape? Why do so many male birds sing, and so few females? How do night-flying moths evade the sonar-equipped bat? Why is the Monarch butterfly so brilliant in colour while other butterflies and moths seem drab and muted? How do we recognize faces? The underlying question in each example is whether the observed property is a beneficial adaptation.
Every trait is subject to a balance of "benefits" and "costs" - camouflage to hide from predators may also cloak you from a possible mate. Alcock examines this balance for many species, noting that some assessments remain in dispute. Testing alternative hypotheses is a major sub-theme of this book. Considering "cost/benefit" of human behaviours is only now being undertaken, but is just as applicable to us as to other animals. What are the benefits of a social environment such as ours? What are the costs involved in maintaining this type of existence? One "cost/benefit" analysis is the evolution of "helpers". Humans long believed the rest of the animal world never exhibited altruism. Yet, now it's known that "assistance to others" can range from adoption of offspring to a variety of reciprocal trade-offs of many types across many species.
Although this book is designed as a classroom text, the writing style, illustrative material and references make it a worthy purchase for anyone. At first glance the cost of this book seems staggering. Looking at the bibliography, however, suggests you could spend this figure many times over in detailed studies. Alcock presents the work of many researchers, summarising it effectively. Further examination of a single topic is easier with the "head start" Alcock offers in many topics. The value of this book is inestimable and Alcock's frequent upgrades ensure you will be kept abreast of recent findings. With luck and effort, you might even contribute some of your own. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Going downhill.......2003-05-15
I used this book as a student and enjoyed it then. Years later, as a professor, I decided to switch from Krebs and Davies' text to this one for the greater number of examples. However, the lack of theoretical underpinning makes this book more of a fun read than an educational one. My students often thought "wow, thats cool" without understanding the significance. I also found the avoidance of mathematical models troubling. This is a trend I have seen in the most recent Ricklefs' Ecology text as well (which I no longer use). Beautiful photos, easy to read, lots of examples, but much too watered down. I would give this book to my parents to read to understand animal behavior, but I wont use it for a college text again.
Ok. I take it back (send it back).......2001-12-02
Every time I teach Animal Behaviour I swear that I am going to change texts "the next time" -and every time UNTIL NOW my students have said that they REALLY liked Alcock, well, the latest edition changes all that. As other reviewers have noted (and for reasons that escape me) Alcock has allowed his publisher to "dumb down" the text into a bland "pretty face" that turned students off in droves. As I moved through each chapter I kept thinking "How could someone as smart & interesting as Alcock make so many cool subjects so BORING?" Previous editions convince me that it ain't him, so it must be the publisher. Margins are huge, more and more gratuitous "illustrations" clutter up the text & break one's stream of thought, and by mid-term I essentially threw up my hands, apologized to the class & went to using the original primary sources with the book as a marginal reference for those that got lost. If you have a huge lecture course full of unimaginative students who want to take one & one only Behaviour course so that they can say that they have "done Behaviour" then this text is probably perfect for you, otherwise I would suggest haunting used book shops for past editions or going straight to the literature. the whole thing reminds me of "New Coke" -a marketing scheme that ignored its market. Alcock is an excellent scholar and in the past his book has been a great source of original material which I have encouraged my students to have on their shelves as a reference source,but this is a shame.
Step backwards.......2001-11-25
Alcock's 'Animal behavior: an evolutionary approach' editions 1 through 6 have come to dominate the field. Edition 7 (without the 'evolutionary approach' on the cover) is a step backwards. The page size is larger with much white space and the pictures have been artistically coloured. Some pictures are there for entertainment and are biologically wrong (flip) p372 the asymmetric pseudoscorpion with a leg and a pedipalp segment missing. There is significantly less content (at least 20% less on the sample of pages I measured). The language is simpler, sometimes at a cost in precision. Some explanations have become 'textbook glib' where attention could/should have been drawn to the fragility of evidence (e.g. it's about time someone pointed out the influence of a single point on Baker & Bellis' human mate guarding results (p476 Fig 15 this edition)) other examples p344 - the suicidal male redback spider - fails to consider mating strategies in other closely related Latrodectus sp. and the observation the fatal flip breaks the embolus, sealing the female's reproductive tract. etc., etc.
The redesign, pretty pictures and reduction in content seems to come at the expense of a marked price hike.
In content the book is now closer to Krebs & Davies 'An introduction to behavioural ecology' which needs to be considered as an alternative for textbook adoption.
In favour of the new style is that a sample of students preferred this book on appearance.
A great book!.......2001-08-09
This is a really great book for a thorough introduction to animal behavior. It's well written and well documented. One of its strengths is that, unlike some texts in behavioral ecology, it provides good coverage of the proximate mechanisms underlying patterns of animal behavior.
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Avian Incubation: Behaviour, Environment, and Evolution (Oxford Ornithology Series, 13)
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Avian Growth and Development: Evolution within the Altricial-Precocial Spectrum (Oxford Ornithology Series)
ASIN: 0198508107 |
Book Description
This is the first scientific review of all factors affecting incubation in avian nests. These range from nest construction, egg characteristics and patterns of embryonic development. There is an extensive section describing incubation behaviour of parents and embryos, and there are chapters reviewing brood patch physiology and the various factors determining the incubation environment, including nest microbiology. Another section provides chapters giving detailed descriptions of examples of unusual aspects of avian incubation, whilst the final section provides consideration of the ecological, energetic and fitness cost of incubation. Written by authorities in their respective fields from around the world, this provides a comprehensive review of this critical aspect of avian reproduction. Much of the data included has not been previously published, and so Avian Incubation is not only an extensive reference text but is also a valuable contribution to our basic understanding of incubation.
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Sex Differences: Developmental and Evolutionary Strategies
Linda Mealey
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Similar Items:
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Female of the Species
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Sex on the Brain: The Biological Differences Between Men and Women
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Male, Female: The Evolution of Human Sex Differences
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Sexual Selections: What We Can and Can't Learn about Sex from Animals
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Brain Gender
ASIN: 0124874606 |
Book Description
Sex Differences serves as an advanced text for courses in evolutionary and human biology, psychology, and sexuality and gender studies. It also serves as a reference source for academic professionals in these disciplines. The book covers the evolution of sex and sex differences, and sex differences and sexual strategies in non-human and human animals. The final chapter addresses issues of sex and gender in interpersonal relationships, organizations and politics. Diagrams, graphs, charts, and tables illustrate key concepts; cartoons and photos provide visual breaks and an element of humor.
Key Features
* Examines sexual differences from a multi-level comparative approach
* Contains a thorough coverage of literature through 1998 and into 1999
* Illustrates pages with a generous use of cartoons, photos, figures, and diagrams
* Invites bonus learning with special interest boxes interspersed throughout text
* Presents a critical analysis
* Includes a combination of feminist and evolutionary thinking
Customer Reviews:
Clear and Informative.......2001-09-22
This is an excellent, clearly written, well-organized scholarly review of sex differences. The author takes a broad look at the topic, which makes the book useful for a broad range of readers: biologists, psychologists, medical practitioners, ecologists, clinicians,counselors, and the well-informed general reader. The clear writing style and careful review of the literature make this a very accessible and informative book.
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