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The Myth of Monogamy: Fidelity and Infidelity in Animals and People
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 th...more
Paperback, 240 pages
Published
May 1st 2002
by Owl Books
(first published 2001)
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I took a human sexuality course to fulfill my sciences requirements freshman year of college, along with about 500 other dazed freshman (it was an 8 AM class), and retained about 2% of the course content, I'm embarrassed to say. This book is written by professors from my alma mater -- as it turns out, the UW is a hotbed of sexual behavior research. I was just fascinated by this book, Professors Lipton and Barash (married, by the way) are great story tellers. I have to warn the females out there:...more
I found this book to be a fascinating study on why humans do and do not remain monogamous. This book explores all the various findings to support both why it goes against our evolutionary nature to remain monogamous, as well as why it remains a societally favored way of life. I happened upon this book entirely by coincidence, picked it up to flick through it and see what it was about, and found I couldn't put it down. It did take me a little while to get through in it's entirety, but it was a...more
If you cut this book directly in half, you would have two separate books. The first would be called "Why and How Ducks Gang Rape One Another." The second would be called "Are Humans Meant to be Monogamous? F*ck If We Know, But This Is What Other People Say." I also wondered while reading if the authors (not just Dave, but also his wife Judith Eve Lipton) supported monogamy or extramarital affairs...
I did not find this book as interesting as I expected. The title is not very honest; around 70 percent of the book is about animals and for pages and pages you will see reports about monkeys, fish, birds, and even flies and cockroaches, some which are indeed interesting to read, but not what you expect from reading a book by such a title.
The last two chapters that are talking about human beings are very shallow and does not provide an interesting discussion beyond what you can more ...more
The last two chapters that are talking about human beings are very shallow and does not provide an interesting discussion beyond what you can more ...more
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Well, I basically stopped reading this book halfway through. I just got bored. I was wondering, where's the juicy stuff?? I guess maybe if I kept reading I might find more info that pertains to humans and not just birds but... eh, I had other good stuff to read. now it's time to return it to the library and I don't have much motivation to finish it first. oh well...
Well-written, thoroughly researched and not nearly as dry as one might expect from such a biologically-steeped book. The countless studies cited of sexual behaviour in so many different species illustrate the point - over and over - that the concepts of fidelity, monogamy and the benefits and pitfalls of infidelity are complex. Most interesting is the way that one can see the parallels between human sexual behaviour and animal sexual behaviour, and brings us uncomfortably close to the real dri...more
This book was recommended on the Savage Love podcast, and it was at the library, so I gave it a try. Frankly, it was boring. It was like a dry journal article in a wildlife biology publication, but spread out for hundreds of pages. They made all their points in the first chapter, and really only the last chapter was interesting. Here's the point they made a million times: monogamy is not a biologically natural state, so don't be shocked that it's so difficult to maintain among humans.
I read this after reading "Survival of the Prettiest". This book was dry & boring compared to "Survival of the Prettiest".
this book goes around of (not only) human extra-marital sexual relationships from perspective of biology and games theory. authors dare to ignore completely social prescriptions of modern modelled-after-religion society (like monogamy as the natural character of human being) and help you to see it from the angle of science not blinded by morality & church. this book _will_ put you in questioning moral basics of your own, and unless you are sanctimonious churchgoer and/or hypocrite, your point of...more
This book was fairly interesting as long as I kept reading it steadily. At some point I wasn't reading it at all and it took me months to just finish it already.
It's not bad, although the chatty pop culture references grated after awhile. I learned some stuff, which now I mostly don't remember. If you want a well-researched book about animal mating habits and what they may or may not suggest about human patterns, this is it.
It's not bad, although the chatty pop culture references grated after awhile. I learned some stuff, which now I mostly don't remember. If you want a well-researched book about animal mating habits and what they may or may not suggest about human patterns, this is it.
I found this book very interesting and very readable - the writers are funny and personable. It was fun to read something different - animal biology and it gave me a lot of things to think about.
Fascinating and surprisingly humorous given the potential for this book to be agonizingly didactic. I thought the authors provided a balanced analytical assessment of their findings however, I wish they had addressed modern couples who engage in ECPs (extra pair couplings)in the form of open relationships or swinging. I thought this was a disappointing oversight for an otherwise in depth study.
Angela
rated it
Recommends it for:
anyone who has a lot of time on his/her hands and enjoys stories about animal sex
the subject matter was interesting, but the writing was cringe-worthy. there was a distinct 'tee-hee!' feeling about the descriptions of female animals who copulated outside their social coupling, and an equally repellent disapproval toward males who did the same thing. if the goal is to describe how monogamy is unnatural, then why the snickering?
Excellent book. If you like genetics, evolution, or the study of the natural world, you will like this book.
Note: the last chapter makes a surprisingly strong argument for monogamy amongst humans, although only the reader who has read the entire book will appreciate them
Note: the last chapter makes a surprisingly strong argument for monogamy amongst humans, although only the reader who has read the entire book will appreciate them
This book shows how people are not naturally monogamous, but I think it cops out by stopping short of recommending that people explore nontraditional relationship options. Still very useful, however.
Nancy
added it
Strongly recommended... for all the times that someone on the radio says that pigeons or swans or whatever bird are monogamous... or that humans are...
Lively and fun. It doesn't exactly make a rock-solid case against monogamy, but is filled with interesting stuff about mating in the Wild Kingdom.
Very interesting commentary with surprising findings about mating.
tehehe tehehe now i have science to back me up. tehehe
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