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| The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature | 
 enlarge | Author: Matt Ridley
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Discount Category: Book
Selling Price: $14.95
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Customer Ratings:  68 comments
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (pounds): 0.7
Dimensions (inch): 7.9 x 5.3 x 1
ISBN: 0060556579
Dewey Decimal Number: 599.938
EAN: 9780060556570
Publication Date: May 1, 2003
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| Customer Comments:
 The why of sex June 7, 2005
4 out of 6 found this comment useful.
Ridley, a biology major and journalist, sets out to bridge the gap between scientist and layman in this examination of sex, and in general he does a good job. Occasionally he has trouble deciding which hat he's wearing - a long list of biological examples, for instance, without any explanation of what they mean; on the other hand there's quite a few tortured metaphors and an excess of anthropomorphism.
The book is roughly divided into two parts. The first is, Why sex? Ridley examines sexual reproduction from an evolutionary perspective to figure out just how requiring two genders to reproduce could have been advantageous to our prehistoric ancestors. It's not as silly as it sounds - as Ridley points out, there's many species that don't reproduce sexually, and theoretically they should have been able to outbreed those where only 1/2 the population could actually bear offspring. Sex must confer some advantage, and Ridley explores several theories as to what it could have been. He has no hesitation about playing favorites, and if anything his condescension towards some schools of thought and his endorsement of others spoiled this section somewhat. It's also very, very heavy with examples, many of them redundant and others so obscure you wonder if Ridley's just showing off his background.
In the second part, Ridley looks at how sex has shaped us - by us, I mean sexual species in general and humans in particular. He looks at sexual selection - the peacock's tail, for instance - and compares it to the male preference for female beauty and the female preference for male wealth. He examines the age-old question of monogamy vs. polygamy to figure out just what humans are, by "nature", predisposed to. He even looks at how sex might have played a role in that most human of traits, intelligence.
This book is a great primer into evolutionary psychology and biology in general. Unlike some of his other books, I don't think you really need too much of a background in biology to follow him. Some of his examples will make you chuckle, some will have you scratching your head, and many will make you think. The text is dense but not incomprehensible; Ridley is one of the best I've ever read at writing for the layman without writing down to them. If you've ever wondered why the sexes act the way they do, this is the book for you.
A principle of evolutionary biology and its consequences March 24, 2005
0 out of 1 found this comment useful.
Red Queen is a principle of evolutionary biology. (continuing developement is needed to maintain fitness) Sex is the humankinds tool for this and this gives biological underpinnings of many motives of our culture/behaviour.
As such theories, it might or might not be true, in any case it is interesting to think about the questions raised. The opinions of living scientists is confronted, which is sometimes interesting, sometimes confusing for me. The "glue text" is sometimes humorous, sometimes boring.
 The Red Queen March 22, 2005
4 out of 4 found this comment useful.
This book is a series of references and discussions of theories about the role of sex in evolution and how it relates to Human Nature. Why animals (including humans) make our sexual preferences real and what behaviors we use in order to mate and thus continue our biological lineage.
The Red Queen takes its title from a general evolutionary theory that can be described briefly. A species evolves to meet its current survival needs. The lion develops better jaws or is faster based on an "improved" musculature or its scent improves. The details are not important. The lion becomes a better hunter.
At the same time its prey also develops evolutionary "improvements". The gazelle may become more camouflaged, or be able to leap higher etc. and again the details are not important for this purpose. As the lion improves its ability to hunt its prey that same prey develops abilities to elude the hunter. Essentially with evolutionary changes, there is no distancing the hunter from the prey or visa versa.
Like the Red Queen indicates in the Alice and Wonderland tale, the faster you run the more everything stays the same. As the prey, the more you develop to withstand your predator the more your predator develops their "capture" skills. This describes the point of Matt Ridley's Red Queen. Everything evolves but the world gets no closer to "solving" its many dilemmas.
This book is an enjoyable and thought provoking book. Ridley introduces a tremendous number of theories to corroborate his notions and often tells the reader why he rejects them. This left the reviewer wondering if Ridley was teasing us with ideas but leaving us with little that was conclusive. That appears to be the case but the author does not offer anything but his Red Queen theory as the point of the book.
The many theories and references force the reader to investigate further in order to develop their own understanding. Ridley offers plenty to choose from. The reader can enjoy this book for its references and suggestions but it would be hard not to enjoy the prose that includes many subtle pieces of humor. He suggests at one point that a peahen reading this book might disagree with him. While the reviewer is not so sure the peahen would disagree he does feel confident that reading this book will enlighten a person and provide them with ideas to pursue for further investigation.
Powerful ideas December 6, 2004
7 out of 8 found this comment useful.
The beauty of evolutionary biology is the absolute simplicity of its central tenet: traits (genes) that benefit a creature will be passed on to the next generation. Traits that don't, won't.
Sex, being the mechanism through which these traits are passed on (for sexual animals), plays then a central role in evolution, and in shaping the characteristics of species, since species are as much a product of natural selection as they are of sexual selection. In this book, Ridley choses to focus on human beings, but a similar book could be written about any other sexual species.
Ridley covers a lot of ground in this book, begining with the the actual mechanics behind sex and the theories for it's existance, to how it has shaped human beings and the differences between the sexes.
The book will definitely make you think, and provide you with refreshing views on topics such as incest, what constitutes beauty, polygamy/monogamy, the prevalence of pair-bonds in humans, and why men and women think differently. This is all done from an irrefutably scientific perspective, which is more than anyone can say about the garbage spewed on these topics from the likes of sociologists, psychologists and feminist "thinkers" for the past one hundred years.
I highly recommend this outstanding book.
The Queen of Sex and the King of P.C.! August 31, 2004
Very interesting, very difficult to review. The types of people who will read this book are widely differant. I will attempt to provide a dynamic review from three prospectives. The layman will appreciate this book because everyone needs to understand this topic and this is THE book about how and why. The layman who is religious or spiritual, believes in free will, or enjoys the breathing room that hard science seems to infringe will also enjoy as Mr. Ridley's book as he leaves ample room here for a compatabilist point of view as well. Allow me to add that everybody needs to understand this stuff and this book is a 6 star as an introduction to evolutionary psychology. Compatibalism maybe a responsible position givin the state of the country with respect to education and belief structure and perhaps short term book sales. This book does not however have the precision of Dawkin's "Selfish Gene" that makes a science book timeless but then they rarely do. Mr. Ridley extrapolates some excellent ideas and insights he sees in the work of those in the field but misses to nail the conclusion once and for all. Many will miss the flaw in circular evolution arguement at the end of the book but that does not detract from the fact that this maybe the most upto date book there is on the subject. This brings me to the biologist.
Some friends of mine at Cal Tech and I have all read this book recently and everyone really enjoyed it. They however were more cautious than I as they are scientist and are sceptical of popular science books and rather read the journels themselves. For those of you who are not informed, Mr. Ridley is and excellent writer and has a firm understanding of the field as he used to be a scientist himself, he is not however a current field scientist which I am told makes a big differance. This seemed to be scientist snootyness at those who can actually communicate to the laymen the beauty of science better than the scientist. Suprisingly, they were actually impressed with Ridley much more than I. It's not that Ridley doesn't make a provocative arguement with great wit, which he does brilliently, but that he hasn't covered his bases properly like most scientist seem to. I have a hunch that this is a product of working in a university as a professior and scientist who is constantly under the pressure of his peers and bright students to keep the rhetoric in-line and iron out the kinks in the arguement.
The third reader is the intellectual. The book is Politically correct because if it wasn't, you wouldn't be reading it because you never would have seen it anywhere so I see no reason for complaint as evolutionary psychology needs to take smaller steps. Ridley presents ideas with a grounded undertanding of truth is science with respect to PC arguements. What he needs is to teach and spend more time debating with others before he can satisfy this groups desire to complain about minor imperfections while enjoying Ridleys ablity to clearly construct conflicting points of view. The bottom line is that everyone that does not read this book or one that succeeds it is at a strong disadvantage to those that do.
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