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The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature |  | Author: Matt Ridley
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Category: Book
List Price: $14.99
Buy Used: $5.85
as of 11/22/2009 07:21 MST details
You Save: $9.14 (61%)
New (37) Used (30) from $5.85
Seller: booksonnet
Rating:  74 reviews
Sales Rank: 10019
Media: Paperback
Pages: 416
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.3 x 1
ISBN: 0060556579
Dewey Decimal Number: 599.938
EAN: 9780060556570
ASIN: 0060556579
Publication Date: May 1, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product 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.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 74
 fun nonfiction November 20, 2009
R. Hoang (California, USA)
before i read this book, i preferred to read fiction. this book changed my mind, nonfiction can be just as fun. i think it is very interesting and its the first nonfiction book i read for pleasure rather than a school assignment.
Amazing, Creative, Concise September 30, 2009
Grace Defloreis (New York)
Whether you buy into the "Red Queen" theory or not, Matt Ridley perfectly describes evolution in terms anyone can understand, in an organized and metaphorical way. I hope he continues to write and resolve the unanswered questions of our most basic minute natures.
 very well-researched, but badly written and diluted August 30, 2009
petIQe
i find the title of the book disturbingly misleading. i expected a lot more discussion on what the title says (ie sex and the evolution of human nature) and on the possible links between the two. instead, the author keeps ranting about birds and other animals. true, there is space for such discussions, but i find it hugely disproportionate. take this line from p174 for instance (the text in the book is approx 350 pages): 'so far this book has taken only a few, sideways glances at human beings.' this is true, and it only modestly improves even from here on. with a more suitable title, disappointments of this sort could be avoided
the author very often quotes from others. actually, large part of the book is quotations and references sewn together in a patchwork. i find very few original insights in the book, and the ones that are there are not always very well presented. the author does not seem to have found his own voice, and somehow the whole book lacks character
the only real merit of the book is that it is extremely well researched and the references and bibliography is presented in a very clear and neat manner
all in all, the book is kind of ok, but in no ways outstanding. if i could choose not to have bought and read it, i probably would, though
Great book. July 28, 2009
Oscar Sebastian Reyes
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
just a short review, I've had this book for about 3 years and just not getting to do a review. If you like evolutionary stuff this is the book for you. an easy read and takes a lot of evolutionary idea's of animals and applies it humans and in a lot of ways makes sense. If you're interested in delving into the human mind this has some really great idea's and concepts.
Will change your concept of reality February 26, 2009
H. La
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
If you are buying this book because it is on a PU reading list or on Style's recommended reading list, your reality of male and female interactions will change. Just remember that the world is not out to get you. It can give you a negative view on life, thinking that every LTR is going to cheat on you for better genes, and you are nothing more then a vehicle for your DNA.
Just, be happy and read this book.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 74
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