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Liked It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “I have just finished reading "Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters: From Dating, Shopping, and Praying to Going to War and Becoming a Billionaire-- Two Evolutionary Psychologists Explain Why We Do What We Do". Hows that for a really long book title. |
Didn’t Like It “Badly written, repetitive, annoying. The subject itself is fascinating, and the authors aren't doing it justice.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Newest Reviews
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“Uses evolutionary psychology to explain why human tendancies evolved the way they did. The premise is that all actions are driven by evolved desires within the human psychy. The authors rightly point out that the purpose of the book is to overstate the effect of genes over environment given that the previous biase has been environment. The problem is that the athors have two assumptions. The first is that all genes evolved soley to provide a better opportunity to propogate and that this is the biological driver behind evolution. I would argue that is primarily true, but not so universally. That chance has a large say in evolution. The other problem is the authors mistake their theories by seeing if the outcome is as predicted, but start with the predictive outcome, therefore any theory works. If they would acknowledge this shortcoming it would add greatly to the book while not diminishing the work.”
Jim G wrote this review Friday, October 16 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“well, interesting in certain way...”
Renata G wrote this review Thursday, August 6 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Revealing anthopological discussion of why we do the things we do and how it influences our lives.”
Sarah C wrote this review Thursday, July 30 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Fascinating. Downplays an important piece of human nature, as I see it. It is our responsibility, our God given gift, to strive to be more than our instincts. Nonetheless, the denial of the existence of our instincts and God given human nature has caused many more problems than it has solved. This book provides a strong counter argument to the 'standard social science model'.”
Eric P wrote this review Wednesday, April 1 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“There were a lot of things in this that I didn't like reading but think it's probably true. It's a pretty depressing book if you're a single female. Doesn't really bolster my view of men.”
kittocat wrote this review Sunday, March 15 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Badly written, repetitive, annoying. The subject itself is fascinating, and the authors aren't doing it justice.”
Elad wrote this review Wednesday, December 24 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Interesting ideas. I'm not sure I agree with all of them but they gave you something to think about.”
Julie wrote this review Wednesday, November 19 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“this is a fun pop culture view of those nagging questions everyone wants to know. A very enjoyable read & now I know why I have daughters instead of sons?!”
Victoriakem wrote this review Saturday, September 27 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“This book is a heavy favorite as it solidified my introduction to evolutionary psychology which I find so convincing. Interesting enough, I don't own this book nor did I ever check it out form the library, I read it at Barnes and Noble on several visits while watching my kids. To be fair, my real introduction and the necessary foreknowledge that preceded this book was The selfish Gene be Richard Dawkins, But this book really solidified some of these beliefs. I understand this is a popular intro, and that some of this is controversial or may change in the future, but I am suspicious if the core of differences between male and female sexuality will change (or why humans desire fat and sugar though it is unhealthy). Its a pity I don't own this book, I may purchase it later. ”
OSR wrote this review Wednesday, September 3 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Students of Evolutionary Psychology and laymen alike will enjoy this extremely readable synopsis of the field. This is a good update to The Moral Animal and a great source of EP updates.
Daniel C wrote this review Tuesday, May 20 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
The book introduces some new theories (Savannah Principle), dispels some old myths and backs up once theoretical ideas with some solid scientific studies.
A quick, easy read.”
