Sex, Genes & Rock 'n' Roll: How Evolution Has Shaped the Modern World - Hardcover

Brooks, Rob

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1611682363 ISBN 13: 9781611682366

Publisher: University Press of New England, 2012

Synopsis

Why are we all getting fatter? Why are we fascinated by pop music and celebrities? Is there any hope of curbing population growth and rampant consumerism, and the environmental devastation they wreak? Evolutionary scientist Rob Brooks argues that the origins of these twenty-first-century problems can be found where the ancient forces of evolution collide with modern culture and economics. Natural selection might be "the most important idea anybody ever had," but evolution remains the poor relation of economics and social theory when it comes to understanding human affairs. This book shows how evolution can help us understand human history, our radically changing environment, and the lives people lead today.

Rob Brooks examines the many issues facing our world and introduces key principles of evolutionary biology as a lens through which to view how and why we've gotten to where we are, and how to leverage the mechanism of adaptation and change. Throughout, he includes fascinating illustrations from the natural world and from human prehistory and history. Just as Freakonomics revealed "the hidden side of everything," Sex, Genes & Rock 'n' Roll reveals how evolution and ecology interact to explain the most important and interesting problems faced by modern civilization.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Nature and nurture interact to produce behavior - but how, exactly? In this engaging and witty book, biologist Rob Brooks shows how human nature interacts with social and economic conditions to explain some of the most troubling aspects of modern human life - obesity, environmental degradation, over-population, sexual conflict, polygyny, female-biased abortion, and heavy metal music. His science is good, his writing is clear, and his policy suggestions would make the world a better place. A must-read for the evo-curious.- Geoffrey Miller, author of The Mating Mind and Spent: Sex, Evolution, and Consumer Behavior
Evolution is much more than a history lesson; properly employed, it is an illuminating guide to the present and a powerful prophet of the future. And Rob Brooks uses evoutionary thinking not just properly, but superbly. Whether illuminating the obesity crisis, world population, the ever-fascinating panorama of sex and love, or the adaptive value of music (especially rock and roll), "Sex, Genes and Rock 'n' Roll" offers up a humane, accessible and scientifically informed vision of how evolution is always with us. - David P. Barash, Professor of Psychology, University of Washington and co-author of Payback: why we retaliate, redirect aggression and seek revenge

About the Author:

ROB BROOKS is Professor of Evolution and director of the Evolution and Ecology Research Center at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. He received the 2010 Australian Academy of Science Fenner Medal, and is an internationally recognized expert on evolutionary biology and behavioural ecology.

About this edition

• Publisher: University Press of New England
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1611682363
• ISBN 13: 9781611682366
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 306