On the Origin of Sex: The Weird and Wonderful Science of Reproduction

From split-gill mushrooms to duck-billed platypuses, the spectacular science of sexual reproduction and creation of biodiversity on Earth. 

“Smart, thoughtful, and witty, this book will make you rethink what you thought you knew about sex.” —Cat Bohannon, author of Eve

Let’s talk about sex. Not boring, human sex, but the endlessly fascinating, varied, and complex forms of reproduction in the rest of the natural world. Biologist Lixing Sun has spent decades researching sexual reproduction and evolution using behavioral experiments, genetic testing, and mathematical and computer modeling. In On the Origin of Sex, he reveals the wild and weird world of how creatures reproduce. 

In slime molds, sex can involve dozens—or even hundreds—of mating types, or proto-sexes. Among certain algae, nearly every individual can mate with almost any other—a veritable free-for-all. Meanwhile, whiptail lizards and California condors are just two among the many vertebrate species capable of parthenogenesis. Clownfish sequentially change from male to female, and bearded dragons can undergo temperature-dependent sex reversal, all of which challenge the notion that sex is binary and fixed in the natural world. 

Assiduously researched and narrated with humor and verve, On the Origin of Sex offers an expert and entertaining investigation into the science of how our planet is populated.

Dr. Lixing Sun is a distinguished research professor at Central Washington University and a 2024–2025 Radcliffe fellow at Harvard University. He is author of The Liars of Natureand the Nature of Liars and The Fairness Instinct. He lives in Washington.