The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature

4.05 of 5 stars 4.05 · rating details · 4,794 ratings · 253 reviews

Referring to Lewis Carroll's Red Queen from Through the Looking-Glass, a character who has to keep running to stay in the same place, Matt Ridley demonstrates why sex is humanity's best strategy for outwitting its constantly mutating internal predators. The Red Queen answers dozens of other riddles of human nature and culture -- including why men propose marriage, the meth...more

Paperback, 416 pages

Published April 29th 2003 by Harper Perennial (first published 1993)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

Best Non-Fiction (non biography)

173rd out of 2,110 books — 3,794 voters

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

Best Science Books - Non-Fiction Only

137th out of 693 books — 1,351 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Jun 01, 2013 Nikolas Alixopulos rated it 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book and recommend it highly. Some may see it as a cynical view of human nature, however I found it to be an engaging and convincing one. My favorite quote from this book sums up the totality of the text for me:"...the choosiness in human beings in picking their mates has driven the human mind into a frenzied expansion for no reason except that wit, virtuosity,inventiveness, and individuality turn people on. It is a somewhat less uplifting perspective on the purpose of humanity th...more

4 likes · like · see review

Aug 24, 2008 Jason rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Jason by: Heather

Well, I had hoped to write this review closer to having read the book, but I'll write this anyway, just without some of the examples I was hoping to remember.

Roughly the first 1/2 to 2/3 of the books covers the different explanations for why sex arose and the mating habits of various non-human species. One thing that is great about this book is it will relate a theory, then an insufficiency in the theory, then a counter theory, then additional findings, and back and forth and so on. If there isn...more

6 likes · like · see review

Oct 07, 2007 Courtney rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who has no idea why they fall in love with the wrong person

Things I learned from this book: (human) women like tall men, (human) men like beautiful women, (barn swallow) women like men with long, symmetrical tails, gentlemen prefer blondes, sperm are small because they made a dastardly deal with nature, gender exists (and there are two of them) essentially as an accidental by-product of a primordial genetic arms race, why (we think) that we (or anything else) has sex (as opposed to splitting in half or excanging packets of DNA), why roosters have wattle...more

22 likes · like · see review

May 08, 2013 Austen rated it 5 of 5 stars

While much of the book describes the reasons organisms engage in sexual reproduction and details many species' mating habits, it is always illustrative of a greater point about human nature. The arguments and insights presented about human nature are endlessly interesting while maintaining intellectual honesty and objectivity. They are well worth it after working through the preliminary chapters. You'll find yourself at several points in the book setting it down to contemplate the richness of th...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 08, 2013 Ralph Hermansen rated it 4 of 5 stars

"The Red Queen" by Matt Ridley. A review by Ralph Hermansen.
I would buy Matt Ridley's next book without hesitation, no matter what the topic. He is one of the few authors who thoroughly researches his subject and understands the science underlying it. He then delivers the information to you in an interesting way. You certainly get your money's worth in his books.

"The Red Queen" is about the evolutionary forces which has shaped us as human beings. The significance of Lewis Carroll's Red Queen fro...more "The Red Queen" by Matt Ridley. A review by Ralph Hermansen.
I would buy Matt Ridley's next book without hesitation, no matter what the topic. He is one of the few authors who thoroughly researches his subject and understands the science underlying it. He then delivers the information to you in an interesting way. You certainly get your money's worth in his books.

"The Red Queen" is about the evolutionary forces which has shaped us as human beings. The significance of Lewis Carroll's Red Queen from the book, "Alice in Wonderland", is that we have to run just to stand still. So it is with evolution. We have to improve our survival skills over the generations to keep pace with the other plants and animals which are also advancing in their survival skills.

Much of what we are as humans has to do with sexual selection. Charles Darwin introduced the concept of natural selection in his book, "Origin of the Species", but he devoted an even greater deal of space to his concept of sexual selection in his book, "The Descent of Man". No matter how superior you are in survival abilities, it is all for naught if you do not pass those traits on to your offspring. Therefore mating is vitally important. You must be attractive to the opposite sex and this manifests itself in diverse ways amongst the animals. Moreover, sexual selection may create traits that seem to work against survivability. The peacock would certainly be better served with a smaller, less ornate tail, which makes him a more obvious target for predators.

Ridley picks up where Darwin left off and explores the sexuality of humans as they have evolved from apes and gradually became a big brained animal over millions of years of evolution. He has incorporated most of the ideas of modern scientists related to this subject. Men are attracted to beauty and women are attracted to powerful men, who can provide for them. In the animal kingdom, the female selects the male with the best traits and the males are willing to mate with most any female in heat. The case has become different for modern humans because human babies are helpless far longer than in normal in the animal kingdom. This is a consequence of out massive brain, which must continue developing outside the womb.

One part of the book did leave me surprised. Ridley got so caught up in his analysis of what women would do in selecting men that he surmised that women would rarely engage in opportunistic sex as it is against their self interest. Mr. Ridley, if you had been single and dating in California in the 1970's, you would soon realize how very mistaken you are. Many women had decided that they were now equal to men and could enjoy the same pleasures and they did. A few years later, fear of AIDS put an end to this libertine period. Alas!

Aside from that mistaken projection, the Red Queen book is excellent and I think you will enjoy reading it.

Ralph Hermansen 10/04/08 (less)

1 like · like · see review

Jan 22, 2013 Katja rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: en, non-fiction, z-lib

What could have shaped the human mind is an endlessly interesting subject, no question about that. Speculating about contributions of the genes, nature, nurture, culture is fun, as much as getting a new perspective on what has always seemed "obvious". Still, I did not like this book as much as I probably would, had it a bit less of sheer speculations. Some readers praise Ridley for objectively presenting to them so many different and often contradictory theories. When discussions are heated, it...more What could have shaped the human mind is an endlessly interesting subject, no question about that. Speculating about contributions of the genes, nature, nurture, culture is fun, as much as getting a new perspective on what has always seemed "obvious". Still, I did not like this book as much as I probably would, had it a bit less of sheer speculations. Some readers praise Ridley for objectively presenting to them so many different and often contradictory theories. When discussions are heated, it is indeed a virtue. But flaws in some of the "theories" are evident even before the argument is over, so why include those if a few paragraphs later Ridley admits that the theory does sound pretty wrong? An example: attractiveness of slender women nowadays supposedly signalizes their wealth because not every woman can afford a healthy diet.

Furthermore, certain claims are given as well-known widely accepted facts while they may not even be true. One example is Chomsky's hypotheses about Universal Grammar and language innateness. It is far from true that all linguists agree with Chomsky. Pinker, whom Ridley cites a few times, surely does but there are more linguists in the world. Another example: neural networks have recently had a huge comeback, researchers have very big hopes for "deep learning". Obviously Ridley dismissed them as incapable of learning far too early. A few times I was wondering where Ridley got his facts from. For example, describing "highly sexed emperors" he states that the ancient civilizations we know of were all ruled exclusively by ruthless men with hundreds of wives and thousands of children (mostly sons). One of his examples is Akhenaten who in fact is known as a loving husband and father of a dozen of children. There are numerous depictions of him playing with his daughters. Also, apparently Ridley never heard of successful female pharaohs. His knowledge of the ancient civilizations seems to be based on a cartoon about an evil pharaoh and his poor slaves.

Finally, what annoyed me most is the plasticity of Ridley's "evolutionary" arguments. If there is a trait which he states is characteristic of modern men, he simply says that it was obviously advantageous for males in the past. Usually he throws in a thought experiment or some bizarre example from the animal world and off to the next section and a new trait. But this is not what is needed to prove a hypothesis. First, the trait may be not as characteristic of men as he wants it to look like. For example, he says "boys are better in math than girls", or "girls are better in linguistic tasks" although even at his time there were studies showing that it very much depends on how boys and girls are treated at elementary school. In fact there are countries where girls are better in math (Iceland). Second, for a evolutionary argument to apply, there must be a gene, so why not name it right away? Third, why should this particular gene be gender-specific, why wouldn't it reveal its power in the other gender too? Wouldn't men benefit from better language skills (something he claims women are better at)? I doubt so. Finally, if the gene has not yet been discovered, why not show a mathematical model which would at least demonstrate that the benefit of the trait is real and would affect the reproductive success of its carrier. What happened with females who were not so eloquent? Were they and their children killed by better versed women? Surely I do see a benefit in being a good talker and I can imagine why this quality could be more important for women than men, but it still does not explain why this supposedly genetic trait should propagate. There is a big difference between "soft skills" and traits like "fear the snakes" or "lactose tolerance" for which reproductive advantage is obvious.

To summarize, an interesting read but with far too many annoying errors, logical flaws and sloppy arguments.(less)

4 likes · like · see review

Dec 05, 2012 Mario García rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everybody

Recommended to Mario by: Richard Dawkins

Shelves: favorites

An amazing book on when and how things started developing for us in a way which serves no big purpose but keeping our social cohesion.

By us I mean the human species as a subspecies of African ape, by when I mean historically and then, how, biologically.

But categorizing that way is unfair to the acute reader. Matt Ridley manages to handle the subject with such an elegance, concision and property quite difficult to find among "entrepreneurial" scholars nowadays. This book is really informative and...more

like · see review

May 09, 2012 Aaron Arnold rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: science, read-in-2012

I might have rated this more highly if I hadn't just come off a spate of reading very similar and slightly better works that incorporate much of its content in pithier form (Daniel Dennett's Darwin's Dangerous Idea and Steven Pinker's How the Mind Works, though those were both written afterwards), yet its central metaphor of sexual selection as arms race is compelling enough that I finished it alongside the superior Dennett and Pinker books anyway. The "red queen" of the title is derived from th...more I might have rated this more highly if I hadn't just come off a spate of reading very similar and slightly better works that incorporate much of its content in pithier form (Daniel Dennett's Darwin's Dangerous Idea and Steven Pinker's How the Mind Works, though those were both written afterwards), yet its central metaphor of sexual selection as arms race is compelling enough that I finished it alongside the superior Dennett and Pinker books anyway. The "red queen" of the title is derived from the famous character in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass who at one point tells Alice that in her world, you have to run as fast as you can just to stay in place. Life is similar, in that hard-won evolutionary advantages are obsoleted almost instantly as competitors adapt to keep up - the book is about how sexuality is used both on a macro level between species, as a gene-shuffler that can provide a leg up over parasites and asexual organisms that are forced to evolve a bit more slowly; and on a micro level within species, as males and females choose different game-theoretic strategies to maximize reproductive fitness. Obviously we're most interested in human sexuality, so the book does not disappoint in its exploration of titillating topics like adultery, incest, homosexuality, polygamy, promiscuity, age differences, dimorphism, fashion, and communication, with plenty of comparisons to analogous behavior in the animal kingdom. There's also plenty of pages on whether all this exciting behavior is due to nature or nurture, which I did not find to be as well-written as Dennett or Pinker's very similar sections in their books (strawmen start popping up in conjunction with loaded subjects like feminism, though this happened somewhat in Pinker's book as well); readers who aren't idiots will be unsurprised that Ridley falls into the sensible "it's both, to some degree, depending on what you're talking about" camp. I found the red queen idea to be a an illuminating metaphor and I enjoyed Ridley's take on sexual selection, even if as a work specifically on evolutionary biology it didn't rise to the level of Richard Dawkins' The Extended Phenotype, which I consider to be one of the best books existing on the subject, but since I read it right next to books that seemed to recapitulate most of its insights in fewer pages I'm not sure I would recommend it above either. It was a better-written treatise on human sexuality than your average porn, though, that's for sure.(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Jan 03, 2012 Andy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

I've been meaning to read this for years, after an old flat-mate told me about it while studying for his BSc in the psychology of attraction. Finally found it in a charity shop in Tunbridge Wells and decided to finish of the year with some evolutionary pondering.

Matt Ridley freely states that the first third may not be as interesting to some as he details the background of evolutionary theory in relation to sexual activity and behaviour in animals. Dry perhaps, may be a better term. It's the lat...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 24, 2010 Rhaegar rated it 2 of 5 stars

I'm not sure why I read that now, as I've slowly grown to hate pop-psychology and especially pop-evolutionary-psychology with a passion, but I did read this one some time ago. It's much more logical and believable than most, but I'd still warn against blindly trusting any of its conclusions. I'd recommend a book in the philosophy of science first. I'm reminded of Noam Chomsky's critique of evolutionary psychology - "You find that people cooperate, you say, ‘Yeah, that contributes to their genes'...more

6 likes · like · see review

Sep 03, 2010 Clif rated it 4 of 5 stars

I didn't give five stars because I found this book something of a slog in the beginning.

To make his case, it's necessary for Ridley to give an account of what has been found true of animal behavior before moving on to relate it to the most familiar animal, man. These accounts of the sex lives of birds and mammals and so on are rather dull to me.

But stick with it! The book gets more interesting until it becomes absolutely fascinating with the chapter "Sexing the Mind". From that point on I was ha...more I didn't give five stars because I found this book something of a slog in the beginning.

To make his case, it's necessary for Ridley to give an account of what has been found true of animal behavior before moving on to relate it to the most familiar animal, man. These accounts of the sex lives of birds and mammals and so on are rather dull to me.

But stick with it! The book gets more interesting until it becomes absolutely fascinating with the chapter "Sexing the Mind". From that point on I was hanging on almost every sentence. The conclusions the author reaches are surprising, enlightening, exciting, because they are so reasonable in view of the evidence for them.

The idea that prompts the title is drawn from the Red Queen, a character in Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, who must keep running faster all the time just to keep up. Evolution demands the same.

The natural environment puts demands on every living thing. The most demanding thing for animals that have separate sexes, is for each sex to keep up with what the other wants - sexual selection.

We can't reproduce by ourselves, so we must be able to come together with at least one member of the opposite sex to provide a future for our genes. The success of the individual in doing this determines his/her influence on future generations - what they will be like, how attractive they will be. Thus, each sex is in a contest with others of it own sex in being the most attractive to the opposite sex. It's a race that never ends.

The parallels between other animals and man are remarkable. Just as remarkable are the unique characteristics of man. Why do we have such huge brains for our body size and so intelligent? Whey are we so accomplished in music and the arts and even sense of humor? Why do we have such a highly developed consciousness? Why do we have two sexes when other forms of life may have many more, or no sex, or both sexes on the same individual? Why are we monogamous and are we necessarily so?

The book is driven by the question - "what is human nature?" - what is it that defines us, that we have in common with each other regardless of our individual differences?

The Red Queen is going straight to my bookshelf because I know I will want to read it again. I just wish it were available on the Kindle so I could use the wonderful note-taking feature of that gadget.

I shouldn't forget a warning - Ridley is no fan of the social sciences. If you think culture makes us what we are, you won't find any support for it here. He's got no time for Margaret Mead or B.F. Skinner and Freud, though he had some good insights, was off to outer space with his theory of the unconscious oedipal drive. For Ridley, evolution is in the driver's seat.(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Mar 31, 2010 Juan Pablo rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biology, evolution, red-queen, science, pop-science, non-fiction, human-nature

As I was reading the first chapter, I kept thinking I was embarking on something written by a geek giggling at the word "sex"; I don't think I was entirely wrong, but if there was any giggling from the author at the mention of sex, it was for truly fascinating reasons.

I disliked the first chapter: anything titled "Human Nature" in this day and age seems preposterous. I kept on reading, nevertheless, hoping I'd find salvageable bits from this.

I was absolutely enraptured by chapter three, at which...more As I was reading the first chapter, I kept thinking I was embarking on something written by a geek giggling at the word "sex"; I don't think I was entirely wrong, but if there was any giggling from the author at the mention of sex, it was for truly fascinating reasons.

I disliked the first chapter: anything titled "Human Nature" in this day and age seems preposterous. I kept on reading, nevertheless, hoping I'd find salvageable bits from this.

I was absolutely enraptured by chapter three, at which point Ridley was on his way in the dissection of one of the most fascinating concepts I've ever encountered. The first chapter was an overture, I'll stick to saying not particularly well written, but should just be understood as such; the opera begins in chapter two.

Mental experiment: Say you have four people, two of them a couple, male and female, who reproduce sexually, and the other two asexually reproducing females (it's called parthenogenesis, bear with me). They reproduce, what do you have? The couple has one offspring, the asexuals have one each for a total of two offspring. Asexual reproduction seems to be twice as efficient as sexual reproduction, so, why sex?

Because it's fun, some might say, but this book, which kicks off with the sex enigma, provides far more informative analysis of the matter, which has been a mainstay in evolutionary biology. Turns out parasites have a lot to do with this evolutionary device...

Remember the Red Queen from Lewis Carroll's wonderland? She runs around but never gets anywhere because the world moves along with her. Well, that's where the title of the book and the name of a fascinating concept come from. A host and a parasite are entangled in a Red Queen situation, where the faster evolving parasite succeeds as he breaks the host's defenses and the host succeeds when he prevents the parasite from doing so, thus running but never getting anywhere because of the changing situation. This may be referred to as an arms race as well in military imagery, but I feel the absurdity of Carroll's character makes Red Queen preferable.

This Red Queen concept, and I'm sure wikipedia will do a much better job of explaining it than me, holds sway in many of evolution's questions and beyond. Ridley is witty and entertaining in his exposition, creating a truly eye-opening experience in this book for anyone with an interest in the ideas that shape our understanding of the world around us and ourselves. The book explores evolution via sexual selection, never missing illustrative examples along the way, and does a fair job at presenting the different views that have historically shaped how science understands sex and its consequences.

Ridley used to be science editor at The Economist, which leads me to believe adds to the conciseness and clarity in his writing. Throughout the final chapters of the book, he delves into human nature, having gained much credibility from the writing that preceded them. His treatment of such a debated subject is incredibly illustrative of the many forces usually ignored by the disciplines that usually deal with such a subject, and provides us with an extensive look at how evolution and the Red Queen can inform.

I think I'll be coming back to this book many times from now on in my thought and in my understanding of everything around me.(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Jun 14, 2009 Jesse B rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: whoever takes the simplest interests in human nature.

Recommended to Jesse by: Leanard Shlain ("Sex,Time, and Power")

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is a pretty compressed but well thought out book. It attempts to point out and understand the mechanics in which people and all living creatures are "hard-wired" to through genetics. This gene-centric view of behavior was suggested ever since their discovery but was introduced to pop-science by Richard Dawkins in the "The Selfish Gene (1974)."

Dawkin's argument, along with many, was that creatures DO NOT work for the good of the whole but are rather "vessels" in which our genes are the capt...more This is a pretty compressed but well thought out book. It attempts to point out and understand the mechanics in which people and all living creatures are "hard-wired" to through genetics. This gene-centric view of behavior was suggested ever since their discovery but was introduced to pop-science by Richard Dawkins in the "The Selfish Gene (1974)."

Dawkin's argument, along with many, was that creatures DO NOT work for the good of the whole but are rather "vessels" in which our genes are the captains driving evolution through ever changing environmental issues and competition. For example: a male crocodile, even on the steady course toward extinction, will kill babies of another male so that his own genes are selected for the next generation of crocs. The more suitable thing to do in order to sustain their species would be to allow all babies to live and mate as well. If they were thinking for the good of the whole, this would be the case.

Cooperation in certain species is looked at as an evolutionary adaptation in order to establish a system in which common goals within a species are met. Monogomy would be a prime example of this adaptation.

Through all the in depth examinations on how genes operate and why, the main point that Matt Ridley is making is that evolution is a treadmill and not a ladder. He references The Red Queen from "Through the Looking Glass," a sequel to Alice in Wonderland in which Alice encounters a character who must run in order to stay in one place. If she does not run, she falls behind. And of course, to move forward she must run even faster. Evolution to Matt Ridley and most evolutionary biologist is a chess-like stalemate.

After finally reaching the last few chapters of the book, I realized that reading the first half was a waste of time because, while his thesis is claimed throughout these chapters, too many references are used for every single little idea that he presents. It was almost as if he was afraid of not using enough citations but got progressively relaxed as the book moved forward.

As soon as I'm done reading this gem, I will leave a more detailed review about the specific ideas that are laid out. Stay-tuned and buy this book if you are interested in the nature of human relationships and are even wanting to improve the way that you interact with the opposite sex. It is even recommended by Neil Strauss ("The Game"). Don't buy it strictly for this cause as it mainly deals with the evolutionary aspect of human relationships.(less)

like · see review

Oct 20, 2010 Mark rated it 4 of 5 stars

In a frenetic effort to stay interesting, Matt Ridley unconsciously finishes his book with a terrific built-in summary by introducing Robin Dunbar's "Scherazade Effect" which is the frenetic effort to stay interesting, with sex and hence reproduction and life itself at stake.

The book's a little like that: Matt's a consummate researcher and very good at explaining, and he's scraped together a mountain of anecdotes in support of his thesis which is, what exactly? It's kind of a little bit lost in...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 28, 2011 Samantha rated it 4 of 5 stars

In The Red Queen, Matt Ridley asserts that sexual selection is more prominent a factor of survival of a species than natural selection in its general form. Ridley cites Darwin, multiple fascinating biological studies, and psychological experiments. The findings of all his data verify his assertion well, though somehow I feel jilted. There is so much more to life than reproduction and procreation of the species. Attraction is not as simple a matter as genetic predilection and instinct, or general...more

1 like · like · see review

Oct 16, 2012 Sofia rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

It took me a while to understand the connection in the title of the book. The Red Queen refers to the character from Lewis Carroll's book Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, in particular the scene where she is running as fast as the wind but everything stays in the same place. This is - apparently - a popular analogy for evolution and progress which can be stated as: "In reference to an evolutionary system, continuing adaptation is needed in order for a species to maintain it...more It took me a while to understand the connection in the title of the book. The Red Queen refers to the character from Lewis Carroll's book Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, in particular the scene where she is running as fast as the wind but everything stays in the same place. This is - apparently - a popular analogy for evolution and progress which can be stated as: "In reference to an evolutionary system, continuing adaptation is needed in order for a species to maintain its relative fitness amongst the systems being co-evolved with". More detail here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Quee...

How does this relate to sex? Well, it takes a while for the connection to become clear. The book starts off by covering the sexual vs assexual reproduction debate, going back to Charles Darwin, J.B.S. Haldane, Ronald Fisher, George Williams, John Maynard Smith, Richard Dawkins and other specialists that have debated this over the last couple of centuries. I'm glad he provided this background, the evolution (no pun intended) of the discussion is interesting.

The author initially covers the three main aspects of the sexual vs assexual debate: biological, genetic and ecological. Some of the explanations offered here reminds me of The Selfish Gene, in particular the discussion of intra-species altruism and why this is a bit of a myth. This is a technical book but not overly complicated. The reasonings are explained and deconstructed clearly and, in my opinion, sufficient anecdotes are provided for those less versed in genetics and biology. For me one of the most effective was the lock-key analogy to describe the attack of pathogens and immune response of our bodies.

The Red Queen comes in as the crowning glory (no pun intended - again) of this debate. After covering other arguments and demonstrating why they are not quite right, Ridley offers the Red Queen explanation for preference of sexual over assexual reproduction (i.e. overcrossing of multiple gene sources rather than fabricating copies): the evolutionary race of individuals against their parasites. I don't want to go into much more detail (that's what the book is for!) but it's an interesting take on the problem.

He goes into some detail as to why there are (usually) two genders and reasons for difference in their interaction. The last half of the book focuses more on the human aspect of this and how all the points above have led to the type of society we have today. Other subjects were touched upon such as homossexuality and why it exists, why and how beauty is perceived, and even the evolution of intelligence as an attractive trait. In short, the scope is fairly large and ambitious.

The second half of the book is more accessible as technicalities decrease significantly and logic-based arguments increase. Oddly, despite being more complicated, I liked the first part better (judging from other reviews, this is the opposite of what most people felt). I also appreciated the epilogue as it is extremely humble and offers the Red Queen as a contribution to the endless sex debate but recognising that it is by no means a final solution.(less)

like · see review

Mar 27, 2013 John Knowles rated it 4 of 5 stars

There are some surprising mistakes in this book. However the interweaving of empirical findings and theoretical debates makes it an excellent summary of the deep questions, the evidence, and the raging battles between the theorists. Why do sexual organisms thrive, when asexual reproduction is so much more efficient? The answer seems to be that sex is a useful mechanism to fight parasites because it "changes the locks" of cellular defense mechanisms (the arms race again) without throwing away the...more

like · see review

Apr 05, 2012 Tony Mulhern rated it 4 of 5 stars

Why sex over asex is a question I've never considered before. This book presents a really fascinating in-depth examination of this question. New ideas to me that have ample scientific backing get 4 stars! Well written non-fiction and well presented.

There are many, many parts of this exploration that I found interesting and informative. Here are a few.

@ The general question [posed at the beginning of the book) -> if asexual reproduction is so efficient (one being producing twice as many offspr...more Why sex over asex is a question I've never considered before. This book presents a really fascinating in-depth examination of this question. New ideas to me that have ample scientific backing get 4 stars! Well written non-fiction and well presented.

There are many, many parts of this exploration that I found interesting and informative. Here are a few.

@ The general question [posed at the beginning of the book) -> if asexual reproduction is so efficient (one being producing twice as many offspring as two beings) why is it that sexual reproduction has dominated life on Earth's center stage?

@ The section in chapter 3 entitled "The similarity between sex and vaccination"

@ The section entitled "Gossip's Grip" in chapter 10.

"The Alexander-Humphry theory, which is widely known as the Machiavellian hypothesis, sounds rather obvious, but is could never have been proposed in the 1960s before the "selfish" revolution in the study of behavior or by anybody steeped in the ways of social science, for it requires a cynical view of animal communications. Until the mid 1970s zoologists thought of animal communication in terms of information transfer: It was in the interests of both the communicator and the recipient that the message be clear, honest, and informative. But as Lord Macaulay put it, "The object of oratory alone is not truth but persuasion." In 1978, Richard Dawkins and John Krebs pointed out that animals use communication principally to manipulate one another rather than to transfer information. A bird sings long and eloquently to persuade a female to mate with him or a rival to keep clear of his territory. If he were merely passing on information, he need not make the song so elaborate. Animal communication, said Dawkins and Krebs, is more like human advertising than airline timetables. Even the most mutually beneficial communication, like that between a mother and a baby, is pure manipulation, as every mother who has been woken in the night by a desperate-sounding infant who merely wants company knows. Once scientists had begun thinking in this way, they looked at animal social life in an entirely new light."

@ How modern male humans find female humans attractive in chapter 9's brief section entitled "Skinny Women". It's all breast to waist ratio, not actually skinniness. Hence the seemingly maladaptive practice of post-industrial men preferring the skinny women over the more Rubenesque girls. Skinny these days = wealth (generally speaking) while skinny in the past = poverty.

There are, of course, piles more, but I just picked a few at random to highlight. All in all, what I want to say is the following:

Hooray for good, well-presented science!(less)

like · see review

Mar 27, 2012 Tanja Seppä rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science, evolution

This book one star deducted because of the long-winded introduction. I almost added it at the end though, because that was so brilliant. This is a lucid, immensely readable book about the evolutinary foundation of human nature. It starts out with animals and covers much the same ground as "the Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins that I read not long ago. However, it as soon as it moves into the deeper waters of human nature it becomes vastly more interesting.

Humang beings are just another animal sp...more

like · see review

May 02, 2011 Valia rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: popular-science

В конце концов мне оказалось лень писать полную рецензию.

По большому счету, я с главной мыслью автора согласна. Но раздражает заметное количество лажи, которое он утверждает таким тоном, как будто это факт и только дураки будут спорить.

Самые неудачные главы— восьмая, «Sexing the Mind», и девятая, «The Uses of Beauty». В этих двух главах было очень много единичных случаев, которые преподносились как повсеместные.

Один из примеров, из главы про красоту. Автор говорит, что под универсальной красотой...more В конце концов мне оказалось лень писать полную рецензию.

По большому счету, я с главной мыслью автора согласна. Но раздражает заметное количество лажи, которое он утверждает таким тоном, как будто это факт и только дураки будут спорить.

Самые неудачные главы — восьмая, «Sexing the Mind», и девятая, «The Uses of Beauty». В этих двух главах было очень много единичных случаев, которые преподносились как повсеместные.

Один из примеров, из главы про красоту. Автор говорит, что под универсальной красотой стоит понимать молодость и здоровье — и с этим трудно не согласиться. Но при этом он утверждает, к примеру, следующее.

1. Блондинки — вечный и повсеместный эталон красоты, потому что с возрастом светлые волосы темнеют, и по блондинкам легко определить возраст. Он говорит, что даже в древнем Риме были женщины, которые красили волосы в светлый цвет. Однако он не говорит, сколько было таких женщин или сколько было женщин, которые красили волосы в другие цвета. Или вот он говорит типа в подтверждение, что в английском fair означает и «светлый», и «красивый». А в других языках? При том, что подавляющее большинство населения планеты даже рядом с блондинами не стояли.

2. Самая предпочтительная фигура для женщин — «песочные часы» (в одном месте книги) или неважно какая, лишь бы отношение обхвата талии к обхвату бедер было как можно меньше (в другом месте). Это тоже преподносится как универсальный стандарт. Однако реально это отношение, например, значительно ближе к 1 в одних странах и значительно ближе к 0,5 в других. Да что далеко ходить, Венера Боттичелли весьма и весьма пузата, а вот эта девушка с большим животом и узкими бедрами даже как-то больше похожа на ромб, чем песочные часы. С фигурой автор вообще как-то часто путался в показаниях, и под словом thin подразумевал в разных местах как девушек с анорексией, так и «песочные часы».

Ну или вот он говорил про гомосексуалистов. По поддерживаемой им теории, гомосексуалистами становятся носители определенных генов, у которых при этом не было достаточного уровня тестостерона в определенном возрасте. А откуда берутся, например, лесбиянки? А бисексуалы? Складывается впечатление, что про лесбиянок и бисексуалов просто не было удобных результатов, вот они и не упоминаются вовсе.

Возможно, если б он писал эту книгу сейчас, а не двадцать лет назад, она бы удалась ему лучше.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Feb 16, 2013 Steven Beales rated it 4 of 5 stars

Excellent and thought-provoking book with interesting hypotheses -

Our large brains evolved specifically because of sexual selection. Men and women needed to be wittier and more charismatic to attract mates, the wittiest and most charismatic had larger brains and produced more children. This selective pressure works in the same way that a peacock's tail feathers get larger and larger. Peahen's are attracted to the large tail feathers and each generation has larger and larger tail feathers despite...more

like · see review

Jul 27, 2008 -uht! rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: science

My God, I loved this book. Extremely accessible, yet very substantial. I don't think I can ever think about sex or human nature the same way. I feel that this is one of those seminal books that a person can't go back from.

And it certainly does make it strange to go to a party and watch all the humans hooking up.

2 likes · like · see review

Dec 05, 2010 Will rated it 3 of 5 stars

It's uneven in places, but it gives a good overview of evolutionary psychology, and shines some interesting light on the historical patterns of how men with high status do what they can to get as many offspring as possible. The details on harems are especially fascinating, partly because it's so utterly politically incorrect.

However, there are parts of the book that just plain fallover. He claims to have no answer for fashion (given that men don't care about it, why do women do so much work?) wi...more

1 like · like · see review

Nov 24, 2012 Bob rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction-audio

Full of all sorts of ideas about sexual selection and why so many forms of evolution are a Red Queen's race: primarily any predator-prey/host-parasite relations and any within-the-species conflict for limited resources, especially sex.

Asks great fundamental questions that I as a non-biologist certainly never think of, like "Why sexual vs. asexual?" or "Why precisely two sexes?" or "Why two different sexes, instead of all hermaphrodites?" and gives the either the authoritative answer where it exi...more

like · see review

Jul 02, 2010 أحمد rated it 4 of 5 stars

اسئلة كثير جدا طرحها هذا الكتاب كلها اسئلة اساسية و نأخذها نحن عبر العصور كمسلمات بديهية
لماذا الحب؟
لماذا نوعان فقط (ذكر و انثي) و ليس ثلاثة او اكثر؟
لماذا يوجد تكاثر جنسي؟

و السؤال الاخطر
طبيعة الانسان هل يوجد طبيعة خاصة للمرأة و الرجل؟

الكتاب رائع فهو يطرح الاسئلة بلا كلل و يستعرض العديد من الكائنات الموجودة علي الارض من خلال ابحاث نشرت تحاول الاجابة عن الاسئلة

يمكن فصل الكتاب لجزئيين جزء خاص بالبيولوجيا و جزء خاص بالتطور الاخلاقي و طبيعة الانسان

1 like · like · see review

Apr 29, 2011 Ahf rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was wrong: Upon completion I'd say this. This started out so dry that I almost gave up, but I ended up really liking it. Very scientific review of why humans have 2 genders and aren't hermaphrodides, what advantages procreating through sex rather than one of the many other ways has etc. Once you get past the first 1/3 it becomes much more understandable and interesting. Rule 1 for all humans, "success in life equals having grandchildren survive to adulthood" (read - pass on your genes). Approa...more

1 like · like · see review

Jul 27, 2012 Kevin Zeck rated it 4 of 5 stars

Meandering and unfocused for most of the book, but the last chapter brings the book together nicely. Main point of the book: sexual selection by humans has provided a much more significant evolutionary pressure than external conditions (e.g., weather, food supply, etc.). That is, men and women have been "dog-breeding" each other for 300,000 years. Women have selected traits in men they (women) desire and these traits have become more pronounced over time - much like the peahen's desires affected...more

like · see review

Jul 29, 2012 jo marked it as not-to-read

i should like to express my disapproval for this book's existence and content, though i have not read it. here goes: i disapprove of this book. someone at my university has assigned it in a psychology class and it's messing with my students' minds.

1 like · like · see review

Dec 24, 2008 Halle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Overall, the Red Queen is a great introduction (and coverage) of the Red Queen hypothesis in evolutionary biology/sociology. Ridley uses examples, research, and plain english to describe what others are unable to put in [understandable] words.

At times, he's a bit too loquacious. One story is enough to pound home an idea. And the theory itself is a tad depressing, and discredits (or rather, forgets) any tenderness or love that works into the equation of reproduction. I suppose reproduction on a...more

like · see review

Feb 05, 2011 Susan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

Writing in 1993, Matt Ridley argues that much of human nature has been determined by the struggle of our genes to perpetuate themselves, in a never-ending contest against bacteria, parasites, and other humans. The analogy of the Red Queen comes from Alice in Wonderland, where the red queen had to keep running constantly to stay in the same place.

Ridley summarizes the current state of knowledge and speculation at the time he wrote, quoting scientists in many fields. And he uses numberous example...more

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (13)

More editions...

Genres

Science

310 users

Non Fiction

206 users

Biology > Evolution

82 users

Science > Biology

66 users

Psychology

33 users

Sexuality

25 users

Anthropology

22 users

Sociology

16 users

History

14 users

Science > Popular Science

13 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Matt Ridley

The Hon. Matthew White Ridley (born 7 February 1958, in Northumberland) is an English science writer, businessman and aristocrat. Ridley was educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford where he received a doctorate in zoology before commencing a career in journalism. Ridley worked as the science editor of The Economist from 1984 to 1987 and was then its Washington correspondent from 1987 to 1989...more

More about Matt Ridley...

Books by Matt Ridley

Genome: the Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters

The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves

The Origins of Virtue: Human Instincts and the Evolution of Cooperation

Francis Crick: Discoverer of the Genetic Code

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About The Red Queen: Se...

10 trivia questions

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from The Red Queen: Sex and...

“Life is a Sisyphean race, run ever faster toward a finish line that is merely the start of the next race” — 5 people liked it

“Sex is not about reproduc-tion, gender is not about males and females, courtship is not aboutpersuasion, fashion is not about beauty, and love is not about affec-tion. Below the surface of every banality and cliche there lies irony,cynicism, and profundity.” — 4 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature
avg rating	preview: The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature Goodreads rating: 4.05 (4794 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16176.The_Red_Queen?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348554818l/16176.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16176.The_Red_Queen?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature by Matt Ridley[/url]

The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website