The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature (edit title)

Ray A edited the quotations of The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature 3 weeks ago.

• Added a quotation: “Why sex? Surely there are features of human nature other than this one overexposed and troublesome procreative pastime. True enough, but reproduction is the sole goal for which human beings are designed: everything else is a means to that end. Human being inherit tendencies to survive, to eat,to think, to speak, and so on. But above all they inherit a tendency to reproduce. Those of their predecessors that reproduced passed on their characteristics to their offspring; those that remained barren did not. Therefore, anything that increased the chances of a person reproducing successfully was passed on at the expense of anything else. We can confidently assert that there is nothing in our natures that was not carefully "chosen" in this way for is ability to contribute to eventual reproductive success.”

Shelfari edited the description of The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature Sunday, August 2 2009.

• 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.

Shelfari edited the contributors of The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature Tuesday, July 21 2009.

• reordered the contributors.
• 1 : Matt Ridley:

Peiyu W edited the quotations of The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature Monday, July 20 2009.

• Added a quotation: “For the central theme of our evolution has been sexual”
• Added a quotation: “Its theme is that it is impossible to understand human nature without understanding how it evolved, and it is impossible to understand how it evolved without understanding how human sexuality evolved”

Shelfari edited the contributors of The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature Monday, July 20 2009.

• Added a contributor: Matt Ridley: (Primary Author)

Shelfari edited the first sentence of The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature Thursday, July 16 2009.

• When a surgeon cuts into a body, he knows what he will find inside.