Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
Two fascinating questions lie at the heart of The Red Queen: Why is Homo sapiens a sexual species, and what implications does this have for human nature?
That man is sexual may seem unremarkable, yet in fact not all plants and animals need to have sex to reproduce; simple cloning is practiced by many animals with much greater efficiency. To understand how life evolves, and what benefit sex provides for humans, we must think like the Red Queen in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, who had to keep running just to stay in place.
According to a controversial yet persuasive new theory, evolution is not about progress, but about changing in order to survive. Because humans are in a perpetual battle with the parasites lurking within our bodies, we need to be able to change molecular locks as fast as parasites invent new keys. Sex enables us to alter genetic combinations every generation. Sex, then, is a vital weapon in disease resistance. It enables us to change, not so we progress ahead, but so we avoid falling behind.
But what does all this mean for human nature? From a lucid overview of the Red Queen theory, Matt Ridley follows the logic of its argument into the heart of human behavior. For just as the human eye is a product of evolution, so is human nature.
Evolutionary theory provides the clues to help us understand fundamental facts about human beings, from our fashion consciousness to our "system of monogamy plagued by adultery." Ridley's probing mind asks a series of provocative questions. Is mankind naturally polygamous like most of our ape relatives? Are men and women mentally different as well as physically, and if so why? Why do people share so many sexual habits with swallows? Are our notions of human beauty arbitrary, or is there method in them?
Jumping into the middle of the debate over the definition of "human nature," The Red Queen offers an extraordinary new way of interpreting the human condition and how it has evolved. It throws fresh light on seduction and sexism, beauty and polygamy, attraction and adultery - even intelligence itself. This is a brilliantly written book of considerable intrigue and uncommon sense.
Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
Previews available in: English
Subjects
Human evolution, Social evolution, SexShowing 6 featured editions. View all 6 editions?
Edition | Availability |
---|---|
1
The red queen: sex and the evolution of human nature
2003, Perennial
in English
- 1st Perennial ed.
0060556579 9780060556570
|
aaaa
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
2
The Red Queen: sex and the evolution of human nature
1995, Penguin Books
in English
0140245480 9780140245486
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
3
Eros und Evolution: Die Naturgeschichte des Sexualität
1995, Droemer-Knaur
Hardcover
in German
- 1. Auflage
3426268523 9783426268520
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
4
The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature
June 1, 1995, Penguin (Non-Classics)
in English
0140245480 9780140245486
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
5
The Red Queen: sex and the evolution of human nature
1994, Macmillan Pub. Co., Maxwell Macmillan Canada, Maxwell Macmillan International
in English
- 1st American ed.
0026033402 9780026033404
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
6
The Red Queen: sex and the evolution of human nature
1993, Viking
in English
0670843571 9780670843572
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
Book Details
Edition Notes
Includes bibliographical references (p. [369]-393) and index.
Originally published: London : Viking, 1993.
Classifications
External Links
The Physical Object
ID Numbers
Community Reviews (0)
Feedback?History
- Created April 1, 2008
- 17 revisions
Wikipedia citation
×CloseCopy and paste this code into your Wikipedia page. Need help?
December 19, 2023 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
December 4, 2022 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
December 24, 2021 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
December 8, 2020 | Edited by MARC Bot | import existing book |
April 1, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | Imported from Scriblio MARC record |