The Mating Mind

How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature

Geoffrey Miller

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English

Vintage
01 June 2001

Gender studies, gender groups; Psychology; Sexual behaviour; Sex & sexuality, sex manuals; Popular psychology

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.

By: Geoffrey Miller
Imprint: Vintage
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: New edition
Dimensions: Height: 198mm, Width: 129mm, Spine: 32mm
Weight: 373g
ISBN: 9780099288244
ISBN 10: 0099288249
Pages: 538
Publication Date: 01 June 2001
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Reviews for The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature

"""Intriguing... The discussion of the mind as a mechanism of attracting mates is fascinating"" Washington Post Book World ""A refined, an intellectually ingenious, and a very civilised discussion of the possible importance of sexual selection for mental evolution"" -- John Constable, Cambridge University Psychology, Evolution, and Gender ""Entertaining and wide-ranging"" Nerve ""Flies in the face of evolutionary orthodoxy - proposed by Stephen Jay Gould and others - which suggests that cultures evolve on their own, separate from the evolution of the human mind"" Observer ""Thoughtful, witty and vividly written"" -- Richard Dawkins"