Short description
Human sexuality seems normal to us, but is bizarre by the standards of most other animals. This book argues that our strange sex lives were as crucial to our rise to human status as were our large brains. A variety of aspects of human sexuality which we take for granted are re-examined.
Long description
Why are humans one of the few species to have sex in private? Why do humans have sex any day of the month or year ' including when the female is pregnant, beyond her reproductive years, or between her fertile cycles? Why are human females one of the few mammals to go through menopause? Human sexuality seems normal to us but it is bizarre by the standards of other animals. Jared Diamond argues that our strange sex lives were as crucial to our rise to human status as were our large brains. He also describes the battle of the sexes in the human and animal world over parental care, and why sex differences in the genetic value of parental care provide a biological basis for the all-too-familiar different attitudes of men and women towards extramarital sex.
Review
The Science Masters series here links the sexiest subject of them all with a big name science writer, a former winner of the Rhone-Poulenc Prize. According to Diamond, human sexuality is 'even by the standards of our own closest relatives the great apes... bizarre.' We indulge in sexual activity more often than other mammals, and extend the period in which we are sexually active throughout our lives. All this, he claims, is as important to the way we have evolved as more commonly cited characteristics. Diamond's assertion that in hunter-gatherer societies men were really sent out hunting to keep out of the way while women did all the work has already angered other anthropologists, and is typical of the sideways way he looks at evolution. A hugely entertaining book, but not one to accept as gospel truth. (Kirkus UK)