Book Review: Sex at Dawn
Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality
Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha
This is certainly a book that aims to preach to the audience. If you are already receptive to their theories, you'll love it. Otherwise, not so much. It's fun, though. There are references to the Flintstones and a chart of penis sizes amongst primates (humans included). All in all, I rather liked it. The tone is far more familiar and easier to get into than something like Matt Ridley's "The Red Queen".
The basic point, if the book is to be boiled down into a sentence (and sadly, it can) is that human beings, similar to bonobos (but not chimps), are not naturally monogamous, but rather naturally polyamorous, and were so before agriculture came along and ruined things for the happy hunter-gatherers.
But, hey, I made it through it in a few days and found plenty of food for thought and lots of stuff that made me laugh. I am no expert, so their let's-talk-about-the-theories approach really appealed to me.
4.5/5
Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha
This is certainly a book that aims to preach to the audience. If you are already receptive to their theories, you'll love it. Otherwise, not so much. It's fun, though. There are references to the Flintstones and a chart of penis sizes amongst primates (humans included). All in all, I rather liked it. The tone is far more familiar and easier to get into than something like Matt Ridley's "The Red Queen".
The basic point, if the book is to be boiled down into a sentence (and sadly, it can) is that human beings, similar to bonobos (but not chimps), are not naturally monogamous, but rather naturally polyamorous, and were so before agriculture came along and ruined things for the happy hunter-gatherers.
But, hey, I made it through it in a few days and found plenty of food for thought and lots of stuff that made me laugh. I am no expert, so their let's-talk-about-the-theories approach really appealed to me.
4.5/5