Ever since Adam and Eve
The Evolution of Human Sexuality
Published on 14. February 1999
Book
Hardback
368 pages
978-0-521-47042-1 (ISBN)
Description
Eminent scientists Malcolm Potts and Roger Short view the broad panorama of human sexual and reproductive behaviour to reveal an inextricable mixture of nature and nurture - a combination of innate actions which have evolved over the millennia to adapt us to a nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle, overlain by more recent cultural constraints imposed by civilization. For each of life's milestones - sexual intercourse, conception, pregnancy, birth, puberty, love, marriage, parenting, menopause and death - they describe the biology behind our actions and consider how pressures imposed by various historical and contemporary cultures have further influenced our behaviour. By looking back at the past they attempt to make sense of the present, to see how and why these cultural modifications arose, how they have contributed to the richness of human sexual behaviour, and what our biological and cultural inheritance can teach us about safeguarding the continuation of our species.
Reviews / Votes
'Fascinating and often brilliant ... Aimed at a popular readership and lavishly illustrated, it comes up with much of its best material in little boxed off sections.' Humphrey Carpenter, The Sunday Times '... a comprehensive and fascinating study ... he is to be congratulated for so elegantly opening up this world.' Expository Times '... a tour de force.' Helen Fisher, The Quarterly Review of Biology 'This is the kind of book that has already generated great discussions among my friends and associates. It will make a wonderful gift, even for those with no more than a passing interest in biology or science. The authors are to be congratulated for having put together a book that that is at once thought-provoking, entertaining, and sumptuously attractive.' Abraham Morgentaler, The LancetMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
50 Plates, color; 20 Halftones, unspecified; 10 Line drawings, unspecified
Dimensions
Height: 254 mm
Width: 194 mm
Thickness: 31 mm
Weight
1295 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-47042-1 (9780521470421)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Content
Preface; Introduction; 1. Beginnings; 2. The polygynous primate; 3. Sex and gender; 4. Love and marriage; 5. Sex and pregnancy; 6. Birth and breastfeeding; 7. Growing up; 8. The civilisation of sex; 9. Sex and power; 10. Dying for love; 11. Sex and mortality; 12. Too many people; 13. The animal within us; Index.