Why the Reckless Survive and Other Secrets of Human Nature

by Melvin Konner

Assesses the influence of human genetics on personality and behavior, and discusses human sexuality, childbirth customs, mental illness, depression, utopian ideals, lobotomies, and criminal behavior

Genres: Psychology, Science, Nonfiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Melvin Konner, M.D. is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor in the Department of Anthropology and the Program in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology at Emory University. He is the author of Women After All, Becoming a Doctor and Medicine at the Crossroads, among other books.

Reviews

[Sarah Cawlfield · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't rightfully say I finished this book, since I skimmed most of it.

The subject seemed so promising, but this is definitely not a book for the average reader, since the average reading level in the US is fourth or fifth grade.

The author uses a lot of very scientific terminology and "big words." There were times I'd get halfway through a sentence and have to start over because I realized the sheer number of advanced words in a row had mace me lose track of what he was actually talking about.

This book is from the 90's (1990, I think), and it would be interesting to get an update to see how any of the studies cited have been updated or refuted throughout the years.

All in all, I wanted to like and be interested in this book, but it was so dry and boring.

[Victoria Lawler · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book claims to be easy for the every day person to understand - however it is not. Very pretentious. If you want to read this, have your thesaurus ready.
From what I did understand there were some points made that were interesting but also arrogant. There is just a “holier than though” attitude about this book.

[Kim Zinkowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

B. Some interesting stuff.