Reviews

Sites 154

• From Brains to Consciousness (Rose) A review of Stephen Rose's "From Brains to Consciousness Essays on the New Sciences of the Mind".
• The Dream of the Human Genome A review of Richard Lewontin's "It Ain't Necessarily So: The Dream of the Human Genome and other Illusions".
• Promiscuity (Tim Birkhead) Danny Yee reviews Tim Birkhead's evolutionary history of sperm competition and sexual conflict.
• Human Nature and the Limits of Science by John Dupré "Dupré's Human Nature and The Limits of Science is not a successful attempt at providing a criticism of evolutionary psychology. Quite literally because it is not about evolutionary psychology, rather, as an extreme statement, it is about the author's prejudice of what evolutionary psychology is about," writes Leif Edward Ottesen Kennair in this detailed analysis.
• 'Animal traditions: Behavioural inheritance in evolution' reviewed by Herbert Gintis A skeptical assessment by Herbert Gintis.
• Burrow, Evolution and Society This review appeared in Cambridge Review 10 June 1967, pp. 409-11.
• Understanding It All Essay Review of C. D. Darlington, 'The Evolution of Man and Society'.
• Even Baboons Get the Blues Rob Nixon reviews 'A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons' by Robert M. Sapolsky.
• Killer Woman Blues by Benjamin Demott First chapter.
• Looking Good by Lynne Luciano First chapter.
• Buff and Ready Holly Brubach reviews 'Looking Good : Male Body Image in Modern America' by Lynne Luciano.
• Are You in Anthropodenial? Douglas Foster reviews 'The Ape and the Sushi Master' by Frans de Waal.
• The Ape and the Sushi Master by Frans de Waal First chapter.
• No Job for a Woman Laura Shapiro reviews 'A History of the Wife' by Marilyn Yalom.
• Stupid Pet Tricks James Gorman reviews 'Clever As a Fox: Animal Intelligence And What It Can Teach Us About Ourselves' by Sonja I. Yoerg.
• Women Behaving Badly Emily Eakin reviews 'Killer Woman Blues: Why Americans Can't Think Straight About Gender and Power' by Benjamin Demott.
• Carnal Knowledge Courtney Weaver reviews 'Her Way: Young Women Remake the Sexual Revolution' by Paula Kamen.
• Her Way by Paula Kamen First chapter.
• An Ape-Man Is Hard to Find John Noble Winford reviews 'The Man Who Found the Missing Link: Eugene Dubois and His Lifelong Quest to Prove Darwin Right' by Pat Shipman.
• The Man Who Found the Missing Link by Pat Shipman First chapter.
• Back to the Stone Age Erica Goode reviews 'Mean Genes: From Sex to Money to Food: Taming Our Primal Instincts' by Terry Burnham and Jay Phelan.
• Mean Genes by Terry Burnham and Jay Phelan First chapter.
• Don't Bring Home the Bacon J. B. Schneewind reviews 'Writings on an Ethical Life' by Peter Singer.
• From beehives to burrows, animal building sheds new light on biology Kurt Schwenk reviews 'The Extended Organism: The Physiology of Animal-Built Structures' by J. Scott Turner.
• The Century of the Gene Anne Magurran reviews this book by Evelyn Fox Keller. Genes, the author argues, are merely bit players in the game of life.
• The Century of the Gene by Evelyn Fox Keller First chapter.
• Hearts of Darkness John Horgan reviews 'Darkness in El Dorado' by Patrick Tierney.
• Darkness in El Dorado by Patrick Tierney First chapter.
• Wag the Human James Gorman reviews 'Truth About Dogs: An Inquiry into the Ancestry, Social Proclivities, Mental Habits, and Moral Fiber of Canis Familiaris' by Stephen Budiansky.
• The Truth About Dogs by Stephen Budiansky First chapter.
• All About Evil Steven Pinker reviews 'Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century' by Jonathan Glover.
• Humanity by Jonathan Glover First chapter.
• Why Boys Will Be Boys Derek Bickerton reviews 'Heroes, Rogues, and Lovers: Testosterone and Behavior' by James McBride Dabbs and Mary Godwin Dabbs.
• A neurosurgeon probes the nature of pain Jerome Groopman reviews 'Why We Hurt : The Natural History of Pain' by Frank T. Vertosick Jr
• Goddess Theory Natalie Angier reviews 'The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory : Why an Invented Past Will Not Give Women a Future' by Cynthia Eller.
• The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory by Cynthia Eller First chapter.
• Buttering Up Richard Klein reviews 'You're Too Kind: A Brief History of Flattery' by Richard Stengel.
• You're Too Kind by Richard Stengel First chapter.
• The Prince of Peas Joe Cain reviews 'The Monk in the Garden: The Lost and Found Genius of Gregor Mendel, the Father of Genetics' by Robin Marantz Henig.
• The Monk in the Garden by Robin Marantz Henig First chapter.
• How Far From the Tree? Mark Ridley reviews 'Genes, Peoples and Languages' by Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza.
• Genes, Peoples, and Languages by Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza First chapter.
• She's Gotta Have It Karla Jay reviews 'Nymphomania: A History' by Carol Groneman.
• Nymphomania by Carol Groneman First chapter.
• Branching Out Richard Dawkins reviews 'Extinct Humans' by Ian Tattersall, Jeffrey H. Schwartz.
• Extinct Humans by Ian Tattersall and Jeffrey H. Schwartz First chapter.
• Boys to Men Robert Coles reviews 'The War Against Boys : How Misguided Feminism Is Harming Our Young Men' by Christina Hoff Sommers and 'Real Boys' Voices' by William S. Pollack .
• The War Against Boys by Christina Hoff Sommers First chapter.
• Real Boys' Voices by William S. Pollack with Todd Shuster First chapter.
• Another Branch of the Family W. Ford Doolittle reviews 'The Variety of Life: A Survey and a Celebration of All the Creatures That Have Ever Lived' by Colin Tudge
• The Variety of Life by Colin Tudge First chapter.
• Whatever Turns You On Ian Tattersall reviews 'The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature' by Geoffrey F. Miller.
• The Mating Mind by Geoffrey F. Miller First chapter.
• Life After God Steven Marcus reviews 'Darwin's Worms' by Adam Phillips.
• Darwin's Worms by Adam Phillips First chapter.
• Software Etc George Johnson reviews 'The Advent of the Algorithm : The Idea that Rules the World' by David Berlinski.
• Well Preserved for His Age David Papineau reviews 'Iceman: Uncovering the Life and Times of a Prehistoric Man Found in an Alpine Glacier' by Brenda Fowler
• Iceman by Brenda Fowler First chapter.
• Split Personality Stephen S. Hall reviews 'Of Two Minds: The Growing Disorder in American Psychiatry' by T. M. Luhrmann.
• Make War, Not Nice! Carol Gilligan reviews 'The Kinder, Gentler Military : Can America's Gender-Neutral Fighting Force Still Win Wars?' by Stephanie Gutmann
• The Kinder, Gentler Military by Stephanie Gutmann First chapter.
• Books of the Times Richard Bernstein reviews 'The Kinder, Gentler Military: Can America's Gender-Neutral Fighting Force Still Win Wars?' by Stephanie Gutmann.
• Rebel With a Cause Rachel P. Maines reviews 'Sex the Measure of All Things: A Life of Alfred C. Kinsey' by Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy.
• Everybody Into the Gene Pool John Durant reviews 'Darwin's Ghost: The Origin of Species Updated' by Steve Jones.
• Darwin's Ghost by Steve Jones First chapter.
• From Grunting to Grammar Paul Bloom reviews 'Lingua ex Machina: Reconciling Darwin and Chomsky With the Human Brain' by William H. Calvin and Derek Bickerton.
• Lingua Ex Machina by William H. Calvin and Derek Bickerton First chapter.
• Nobody Does It Better Jim Holt reviews 'Taboo : Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We Are Afraid to Talk About It' by Jon Entine.
• Taboo by Jon Entine First chapter.
• What's the Forecast? John R. G. Turner reviews 'The Triple Helix: Gene, Organism, and Environment' by Richard C. Lewontin.
• The Sixth Sense Ann Finkbeiner reviews 'Jacobson's Organ: And the Remarkable Nature of Smell' by Lyall Watson.
• Jacobson's Organ by Lyall Watson First chapter.
• Survival of the Rapist Frans B. M. de Waal reviews 'A Natural History of Rape: Biological Bases of Sexual Coercion' by Randy Thornhill and Craig T. Palmer
• A Natural History of Rape by Randy Thornhill and Craig T. Palmer First chapter.
• You've Got an Attitude Paul Mattick reviews 'On the Emotions' by Richard Wollheim.
• On the Emotions by Richard Wollheim First chapter.
• Talking About Wu Wei Stephen Wilson reviews 'Cherishment: A Psychology of the Heart' by Elisabeth Young-Bruehl and Faith Bethelard.
• Cherishment by Elisabeth Young-Bruehl and Faith Bethelard First chapter.
• Down the Hatch Stewart Kellerman reviews 'The Primal Feast: Food, Sex, Foraging, and Love' by Susan Allport.
• Speak, Monkey George Page reviews 'Wild Minds: What Animals Really Think' by Marc D. Hauser.
• Wild Minds by Marc D. Hauser First chapter.
• You Can't Get There From Here Robert J. Richards reviews 'In Search of Deep Time: Beyond the Fossil Record to a New History of Life' by Henry Gee.
• In Search of Deep Time by Henry Gee First chapter.
• In the Heart, or in the Head? Liesl Schillinger reviews 'A General Theory of Love' by Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini and Richard Lannon.
• A General Theory of Love by Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini and Richard Lannon First chapter.
• Map of Life Lee M. Silver reviews 'Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters' by Matt Ridley.
• Heartburn Courtney Weaver reviews 'The Dangerous Passion: Why Jealousy Is as Necessary as Love and Sex' by David M. Buss.
• Rattling the Cage by Steven M. Wise First chapter.
• X + Y = Z Natalie Angier reviews 'As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl' by John Colapinto.
• The Dangerous Passion by David Buss First chapter.
• So, This Parrot Comes Into a Bar and Says . . . Bernd Heinrich reviews 'The Alex Studies: Cognitive and Communicative Abilities of Grey Parrots' by Irene Maxine Pepperberg.
• The Alex Studies by Irene Maxine Pepperberg First chapter.
• Where Are We Headed? Simon Conway Morris reviews 'Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny' by Robert Wright.
• Nonzero by Robert Wright First chapter.
• Maternal Instinct Anne Magurran reviews 'Mother Nature: A History of Mothers, Infants, and Natural Selection' by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy.
• Believe It or Not Mary Lefkowitz reviews 'Truth: A History and a Guide for the Perplexed' by Felipe Fernández-Armesto.
• Truth by Felipe Fernández-Armesto First Chapter.
• Little Gray Cells Galen Strawson reviews 'The Mysterious Flame: Conscious Minds in a Material World' by Colin McGinn.
• La Difference Jim Holt reviews 'The First Sex: The Natural Talents of Women and How They Are Changing the World' by Helen Fisher.
• The First Sex by Helen Fisher First chapter.
• Major Transitions in Evolution John Maynard Smith and Eors Szathmary look at a range of topics in evolutionary biology, from abiogenesis to the origins of societies and language.
• Human Diversity (Richard Lewontin) A review by Danny Yee of Lewontin's introduction to human genetics and human biology.
• Almost like a Whale (Darwin's Ghost) - Steve Jones A review and a link to other reviews of 'Almost like a Whale'(published in the US as 'Darwin's Ghost') by Steve Jones.
• A Darwinian Left - Peter Singer A review, and links to other information about and reviews of 'A Darwinian Left' by Peter Singer.
• The Anatomy of Melancholy - Robert Burton A review, and links to other information about and reviews of 'The Anatomy of Melancholy' by Robert Burton.
• A Universe of Consciousness - Gerald M. Edelman and Giulio Tononi A review, and links to other information about and reviews of 'A Universe of Consciousness' by Gerald M. Edelman and Giulio Tononi.
• Darwin's Worms - Adam Phillips A review, and links to other information about and reviews of 'Darwin's Worms' by Adam Phillips.
• The Language of Genes - Steve Jones A review and a link to other reviews of 'The Language of Genes' by Steve Jones.
• Mystery of Mysteries - Michael Ruse A review and a link to other reviews of 'Mystery of Mysteries: Is Evolution a Social Construction?' by Michael Ruse.
• The Meme Machine - Susan Blackmore A review, and links to other information about and reviews of 'The Meme Machine' by Susan Blackmore.
• Neanderthals, Bandits and Farmers - Colin Tudge A review, and links to other information about and reviews of 'Neanderthals, Bandits and Farmers' by Colin Tudge.
• The Triple Helix - Richard Lewontin A review, and links to other information about and reviews of 'The Triple Helix' by Richard Lewontin.
• Unweaving the Rainbow - Richard Dawkins A review and a link to other reviews of 'Unweaving the Rainbow' by Richard Dawkins.
• Victorian Sensation - James A. Secord A review, and links to other information about and reviews of 'Victorian Sensation' by James A. Secord.
• The Hand: How Its Use Shapes the Brain, Language, and Human Culture by Frank Wilson First chapter.
• Queer Science: The Use and Abuse of Research into Homosexuality by Simon LeVay First chapter.
• The Symbolic Species: The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brain by Terrence W. Deacon First chapter.
• Swim Meet Paul Raeburn reviews 'Promiscuity: An Evolutionary History of Sperm Competition' by Tim Birkhead.
• Analyze This Guy Emily Nussbaum reviews 'A Life of Jung' by Ronald Hayman.
• Paul Ehrlich challenges evolutionary psychology and the 'selfish gene' in his new book, Human Natures: 9/00 Ehrlich's book 'Human Natures' builds on evolutionary psychology and sociobiology.
• The Origin of Language by Desmond Fearnley-Sander When did language arise, and how? And why? If it is of value for the survival of a species, as it clearly is, then why has only one species succeeded in acquiring full-blown language? An interesting discussion of Terrence Deacon's 'The Symbolic Species: The Co-evolution of Language and the Brain'.
• John D. Wagner reviews The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature by Geoffrey Miller Why have humans evolved such costly and complex brains? And further, why do we use our brains to produce such seemingly useless behaviors as art or music? Evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller suggests that the reason might lie in what he considers to be Darwin's most significant contribution to evolution: sexual selection.
• Lynn O'Connor reviews A General Theory of Love by Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini, and Richard Lannon A General Theory of Love, by three long-time collaborating psychiatrists, Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini, and Richard Lannon, is a compelling and timely discussion not only of love between lovers, but love between parents and children, therapists and patients.
• The Myth of Monogamy: Fidelity and Infidelity in Animals and People First chapter.
• Evolution and Human Origins Bruce Bridgeman compares two approaches to the understanding of human attraibutes in evolutionary perspective.
• Robin Dunbar reviews Mapping Human History: Discovering the Past Through our Genes by Steve Olson Genetics has made an enormous contribution to our understanding of human history in the last few years and Robin Dunbar gives his opinion of Steve Olson's account.
• True (altruistic) love is hard to find by Markus Kemmelmeier This edited volume is the first publication of the Cleveland-based Institute for Research on Unlimited Love and its president Stephen G. Post. The mission of this organization is to "support research and education on 'unlimited love,' a concept defined as 'total constant love for every person with no exception.'"
• Neil Levy reviews Evolutionary Origins of Morality edited by Leonard D. Katz Natural selection inevitably favors organisms which behave in self-serving manners, for it will be these organisms who leave the most descendants, and so how can evolutionary psychology ever explain morality?
• Linked: Barabasi ratifies Kauffman, demotes the social gene by James Brody Linked offers many heuristic possibilities if your interests are in genetic, neural, electronic, or social organizations.
• Religion Explained: The Human Instincts That Fashion Gods, Spirits and Ancestors by Pascal Boyer This book is a milestone on the road to a new behavioral understanding of religion, basing itself on what has come to be known as cognitive anthropology.
• Intelligence Ann Finkbeiner reviews The Genius Within: Discovering the Intelligence of Every Living Thing by Frank T. Vertosick. Free registration required at the New York Times
• Evolutionary Psychology: The Ultimate Origins of Human Behavior by Jack A. Palmer and Linda K. Palmer Evolutionary psychology (EP) is barely a decade old, yet already there are several textbooks available designed to give students an overview of the discipline. This is a worthy addition to the range - according to Neil Levy.
• Alas Poor Evolutionary Psychology: Unfairly Accused, Unjustly Condemned Book review of "Alas Poor Darwin", by Robert Kurzban. Assesses five charges against evolutionary psychology: genetic determinism, panadaptationism, unfalsifiable hypotheses, proximate explanations, and ideological bias.
• 'How The Mind Works' by Stephen Pinker Review by John Sloss.
• Ask Darwin's Grandma Fiona Cowie reviews 'Mean Genes: From Sex to Money to Food: Taming Our Primal Instincts' by Terry Burnham and Jay Phelan.
• Language and Gesture Dario Maestripieri reviews From Hand to Mouth: The Origins of Language by Michael C. Corballis.
• Klein on Human Evolution Derek Bickerton reviews The Dawn of Human Culture by Richard G. Klein with Blake Edgar.
• Metaphors and Models David L. Hull reviews Making Sense of Life: Explaining Biological Development with Models, Metaphors, and Machines by Evelyn Fox Keller.
• Planters vs. Weeders John Dupré reviews 'Defenders of the Truth: The Battle for Science in the Sociobiology Debate and Beyond' by Ullica Segerstråle.
• Posthumans Dan W. Brock reviews Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution by Francis Fukuyama.
• Limits of the Genetic Lexicon Hans-Jörg Rheinberger reviews 'The Century of the Gene' by Evelyn Fox Keller.
• Brief Tragedies Paul W. Ewald and Gregory M. Cochran review 'Cancer: The Evolutionary Legacy' by Mel Greaves.
• Genetically Manipulated Humans? Diane B. Paul reviews Redesigning Humans: Our Inevitable Genetic Future by Gregory Stock.
• Darwin's Dirty Secret Review of 'A Natural History of Rape' by Randy Thornhill and Craig Palmer.
• Who Wrote the Book of Life? A review of this book, subtitled 'A History of the Genetic Code' by Lily E. Kay.
• A Natural History of Rape Kenan Malik reviews this book by Randy Thornhill and Craig T. Palmer.
• Darwin Gets a Makeover Professor Steve Jones has rewritten Darwin's 'Origin of Species', a book that contains ideas which are just as controversial today as they were 140 years ago.
• Fruit Fly Genetics Fly: An Experimental Life' by Martin Brookes.
• Schizophrenia 'helped the ascent of man' Robin McKie reviews 'The Madness of Adam and Eve' by David Horrobin.
• The human stain John McCrone reviews 'The Madness of Adam and Eve: How Schizophrenia Shaped Humanity' by David Horrobin.
• Biology in Progress Jon Turney reviews 'Investigations' by Stuart Kauffman.
• Darwinian Soup W.G. Runciman reviews 'The Meme Machine' by Susan Blackmore.
• Not an Inkling Jerry Coyne reviews 'Genome: Autobiography of a Species' by Matt Ridley.
• So much for genes Adrian Woolfson reviews 'The Century of the Gene' by Evelyn Fox Keller.