What can elephant seals tell us about Homer's Iliad? How do gorillas illuminate the works of Shakespeare? What do bloodsucking bats have to do with John Steinbeck? Madame Bovary's Ovaries
A Darwinian Look at Literature According to evolutionary psychologist David Barash and his daughter Nanelle, the answers lie in the most important word in biology: evolution. Just like every animal from mites to monkeys, our day-to-day behavior has been shaped by millions of years of natural selection. So it should be no surprise to learn that the natural forces that...
What can elephant seals tell us about Homer's Iliad? How do gorillas illuminate the works of Shakespeare? What do bloodsucking bats hav...
Economics is traditionally taken to be the social science concerned with the production, consumption, exchange, and distribution of wealth and commodities. Economists carefully track the comings and goings of the human household, whether written small (microeconomics) or large (macroeconomics) and attempt to predict future patterns under different situations. However, in constructing their models of economic behavior, economists often lose sight of the actual characteristics and motivations of their human subjects. In consequence, they have found the goal of an explanatory and predictive...
Economics is traditionally taken to be the social science concerned with the production, consumption, exchange, and distribution of wealth and comm...
There is a revolution underway in biology. It is based on a new perception of bodies and genes, in which the former are the end product of the latter within the continuum of evolution. Twenty fi ve years after Richard Dawkins helped revolutionize our thinking about "selfi sh genes," it is time to reevaluate. Revolutionary Biology explains in simple, vivid terms what this exciting approach has to off er, and then applies its stunning insights to human beings. Th is novel perspective, galvanizes our understanding of how evolution works, what living things are all about and,...
There is a revolution underway in biology. It is based on a new perception of bodies and genes, in which the former are the end product of the latter ...
In this book, based on over twenty years of study around the world, the author summarizes and synthesizes virtually everything that is known of the social behaviour and ecology of marmots. The organizing principle of the author's approach is evolution by natural selection - and thus, the degree to which the social behaviour of free-living animals can be interpreted as representing adaptations to particular environmental conditions. This book is essentially a single, widespread genus (genus Marmota comprising fourteen species found in North America and Eurasia. As such, it represents a...
In this book, based on over twenty years of study around the world, the author summarizes and synthesizes virtually everything that is known of the so...
Applying new research to sex in the animal world, esteemed scientists David P. Barash and Judith Eve Lipton dispel the notion that monogamy comes naturally. In fact, as The Myth of Monogamy reveals, biologists have discovered that for nearly every species, cheating is the rule -- for both sexes.
Reviewing findings from the same DNA fingerprinting science employed in the courtroom, Barash and Lipton take readers from chickadee nests to chimpanzee packs to explain why animals cheat. (Some prostitute themselves for food or protection, while others strive to couple with...
Applying new research to sex in the animal world, esteemed scientists David P. Barash and Judith Eve Lipton dispel the notion that monogamy comes n...
"An accessible, intriguing explanation of game theory . . . that can help explain much human behavior." -Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Humans, like bacteria, woodchucks, chimpanzees, and other animals, compete or cooperate in order to get food, shelter, territory, and other resources to survive. But how do they decide whether to muscle out or team up with the competition?
In The Survival Game, David P. Barash synthesizes the newest ideas from psychology, economics, and biology to explore and explain the roots of human strategy. Drawing on game theory-the study of...
"An accessible, intriguing explanation of game theory . . . that can help explain much human behavior." -Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Do the fractious groups of Arabs and Israelis actually need each other? Can the Pentagon find new enemies to replace the USSR? Are married couples held together by a shared sense of enmity toward outside parties and even each other? Who is more likely to cultivate enemies - men or women? Is the "devil" a created enemy? Is the need for enemies psychological, sociological, or biological? These and other fascinating questions are explored by David P. Barash as he skillfully combines findings from biology, psychology, sociology, politics, history, and even literature to shed new and unexpected...
Do the fractious groups of Arabs and Israelis actually need each other? Can the Pentagon find new enemies to replace the USSR? Are married couples hel...
Barash . . . brilliantly integrat es] science, literature, and pop culture into elegant and insightful commentaries on the most interesting and important questions of our time. A delightful read. Michael Shermer, author of "The Science of Good and Evil"
Entertaining and thought-provoking. Steven Pinker, author of "The Blank Slate"
If we are, in part, a product of our genes, can free will exist? Incisive and engaging, this indispensable tour of evolutionary biology runs the gamut of contemporary debates, from science and religion to our place in the universe.
David Barash is the...
Barash . . . brilliantly integrat es] science, literature, and pop culture into elegant and insightful commentaries on the most interesting and im...
So how did women get their curves? Why do they have breasts, while other mammals only develop breast tissue while lactating, and why do women menstruate, when virtually no other beings do so? What are the reasons for female orgasm? Why are human females kept in the dark about their own time of ovulation and maximum fertility, and why are they the only animals to experience menopause? David P. Barash and Judith Eve Lipton, coauthors of acclaimed books on human sexuality and gender, discuss the theories scientists have advanced to explain these evolutionary enigmas (sometimes called...
So how did women get their curves? Why do they have breasts, while other mammals only develop breast tissue while lactating, and why do women m...
From the child taunted by her playmates to the office worker who feels stifled in his daily routine, people frequently take out their pain and anger on others, even those who had nothing to do with the original stress. The bullied child may kick her puppy, the stifled worker yells at his children: Payback can be directed anywhere, sometimes at inanimate things, animals, or other people. In Payback, the husband-and wife team of evolutionary biologist David Barash and psychiatrist Judith Lipton offer an illuminating look at this phenomenon, showing how it has evolved, why it occurs, and what we...
From the child taunted by her playmates to the office worker who feels stifled in his daily routine, people frequently take out their pain and anger o...
