The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature

by Matt Ridley (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1994

  $3.60

  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 behavior 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 behaviors. 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 .

• Used

  Hardcover
  1993

  $3.44

  Lewis Carroll's Red Queen had to keep running to stay in the same place. And so, argues the author, do the rest of us. Sexual reproduction makes no sense in conventional theories of evolution; simple cloning is much more efficient. But sex maintains a genetic flux within a species which enables disease to be successfully resisted. This book looks at recent changes in evolutionary biology and throws fresh light on seduction and sexism, beauty and polygamy, attraction and adultery - even intelligence itself. The author also wrote Warts and All , about US presidential politics.

• New

  Paperback
  1994

  $13.14

  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 behavior 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 behaviors. 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 .