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archytas's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed Zuk's [b:Paleofantasy: What Evolution Really Tells Us about Sex, Diet, and How We Live|13707578|Paleofantasy What Evolution Really Tells Us about Sex, Diet, and How We Live|Marlene Zuk|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1356113438s/13707578.jpg|19340160] very much, so was inspired to pick this up as a result. I didn't resonate as much: partly because so much of the science has been outstripped by discoveries driven by DNA analysis (quaintly referred to in this 2004 book as 'DNA fingerprinting') and partly because Zuk is a strong adherent to the primacy of individual gene competition, and tends to underemphasise the role of interspecies competition, particularly when discussing the development on non-reproducing individuals in a species.
Zuk's intense irritation - so amusing in Paleofantasy - also perhaps wears a bit thin when directed at ecofeminism (which certainly deserves it, but has failed to become a major force in society) and the poor hippie from the 70s, whose "Farewell Brother Loon" clearly annoyed her beyond belief, and keeps reappearing.
But the book is thought provoking, and interesting, and I generally agree with Zuk's insistence that other animals do not exist to contrast with, or provide the basis for, our understanding of ourselves. She uses plenty of examples to show that the variety of sex and parenting arrangements in the animal world is dizzying, and that understanding that, shouldn't change our own moral universes. This thinking is better refined in Paleofantasy, however, which feels like a much stronger and clearer version of her argument.
Zuk's intense irritation - so amusing in Paleofantasy - also perhaps wears a bit thin when directed at ecofeminism (which certainly deserves it, but has failed to become a major force in society) and the poor hippie from the 70s, whose "Farewell Brother Loon" clearly annoyed her beyond belief, and keeps reappearing.
But the book is thought provoking, and interesting, and I generally agree with Zuk's insistence that other animals do not exist to contrast with, or provide the basis for, our understanding of ourselves. She uses plenty of examples to show that the variety of sex and parenting arrangements in the animal world is dizzying, and that understanding that, shouldn't change our own moral universes. This thinking is better refined in Paleofantasy, however, which feels like a much stronger and clearer version of her argument.
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