Items related to The Mating Mind : How Sexual Choice Shaped Human Nature
In this brilliantly ambitious and provocative book, evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller shows the evolutionary power of sexual choice, and the reasons why our ancestors became attracted not only to pretty faces and bodies, but to minds that were witty, articulate, generous, and concious.
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Review:
Evolutionary psychology has been called the "new black" of science fashion, though at its most controversial, it more resembles the emperor's new clothes. Geoffrey Miller is one of the Young Turks trying to give the phenomenon a better spin. In The Mating Mind, he takes Darwin's "other" evolutionary theory--of sexual rather than natural selection--and uses it to build a theory about how the human mind has developed the sophistication of a peacock's tail to encourage sexual choice and the refining of art, morality, music, and literature.
From the Author:
Where many evolutionary psychologists see the mind as a Swiss army knife, and cognitive science sees it as a computer, Miller compares it to an entertainment system, evolved to stimulate other brains. Taking up the baton from studies such as Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene, it's a dizzyingly ambitious project, which would be impossibly vague without the ingenuity and irreverence that Miller brings to bear on it. Steeped in popular culture, the book mixes theories of runaway selection, fitness indicators, and sensory bias with explanations of why men tip more than women and how female choice shaped (quite literally) the penis. It also extols the sagacity of Mary Poppins. Indeed, Miller allows ideas to cascade at such a torrent that the steam given off can run the risk of being mistaken for hot air).
That large personalities can be as sexually enticing as oversize breasts or biceps may indeed prove comforting, but denuding sexual chemistry can be a curiously unsexy business, akin to analyzing humor. As a courting display of Miller's intellectual plumage, though, The Mating Mind is formidable, its agent-provocateur chest swelled with ideas and articulate conjecture. While occasionally his magpie instinct may loot fool's gold, overall it provides an accessible and attractive insight into modern Darwinism and the survival of the sexiest. --David Vincent, Amazon.co.uk
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- PublisherVintage/Ebury (a Division of R
- Publication date2001
- ISBN 10 0099288249
- ISBN 13 9780099288244
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages538
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. An intelligently provocative book about Darwin's 'other' theory discusses the curious ways in which sexual attraction has influenced the evolution of the human mind.An intelligently provocative book about Darwin's 'other' theory discusses the curious ways in which sexual attraction has influenced the evolution of the human mind.Many aspects of the human mind remain mysterious. While Darwinian natural selection can explain the evolution of most life on earth, it has never seemed fully adequate to explain the aspects of our minds that seem most uniquely and profoundly human - art, morality, consciousness, creativity and language. Yet these aspects of human nature need not remain evolutionary mysteries.Until fairly recently most biologists have ignored or rejected Darwin's claims for the other great force of evolution - sexual selection through mate choice, which favours traits simply because they prove attractive to the opposite sex. But over recent years biologists have taken up Darwin's insights into how the reproduction of the sexiest is as much a focus of evolution as the survival of the fittest.Witty, powerfully-argued and continually thought-provoking, Miller's cascade of ideas bears comparison with such critical books as Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene and Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct.It is a landmark in our understanding of our own species. Miller shows how our brains are the products of sexual selection, rather than natural selection and how this alters and illuminates our understanding of intelligence, art, language, mortality, sex and the differences between men and women. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780099288244
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Book Description Paperback / softback. Condition: New. New copy - Usually dispatched within 4 working days. Many aspects of the human mind remain mysterious. While Darwinian natural selection can explain the evolution of most life on earth, it has never seemed fully adequate to explain the aspects of our minds that seem most uniquely and profoundly human - art, morality, consciousness, creativity and language. Seller Inventory # B9780099288244
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Book Description Condition: New. 2001. New Ed. Paperback. Miller shows how our brains are the products of sexual selection, rather than natural selection and how this alters and illuminates our understanding of intelligence, art, language, mortality, sex and the differences between men and women. Num Pages: 544 pages. BIC Classification: JFSJ; JMU; VFVC; VSP. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 197 x 131 x 35. Weight in Grams: 384. . . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland. Seller Inventory # V9780099288244
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