Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

The Red Queen

Posted by timothy on from the weekend-activities dept.

XenonOfArcticus writes "I first came upon Matt Ridley when Slashdot reviewed Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Parts (here and here ). Ridley's finely-honed technical writing style could make a treatise on the Boston White Pages intriguing and enlightening, and his treatment of the human Genome was simply eye-opening. I had to have more, and went out immediately to order every Ridley book I could find. Luckily, The Red Queen and The Origins of Virtue were already available and his latest, Nature via Nurture was just hitting shelves. Prepare yourself for my ongoing Overview of Ridley in Three Parts." Read on for the rest of Xenon's review. The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature author Matt Ridley pages 405 publisher Penguin Books rating Excellent reviewer Chris 'Xenon' Hanson ISBN 0140245480 summary Why sex is the reason humans are at the top of the food chain.

After laying our souls (and chromosomes!) bare in Genome, Ridley swiftly moves on to a topic that is variously fascinating and taboo: Sex. Every Slashdot user it seems wants more information about it. Ridley immediately tackles the Paradox of Sex: In an asexual organism, every individual of the species can create offspring. In sexual creatures (like people!), only the female can produce young. What's so great about sex then, that overcomes this obvious numerical handicap? In eleven brisk chapters, Ridley unravels the riddles with examples of how and why other species Do It (or Don't It), and what it all means.

Topics explored (though not claimed to be definitively explained) include mitochondrial DNA, dowries, the genetic foundations of harems, how males of a species could develop flagrant 'handicaps' like bright coloration or songs, monogamy, polygamy, adultery and a small species of New Zealand snail that suffers from a parasite named (I'm not making this up) Microphallus. One of the most compelling concepts is that a species' strongest competitor (and driving force behind their evolution) is their own kind, not their foes. In the end it is this argument, called The Red Queen (after a Lewis Carrol character that runs quickly but never gets ahead) that explains so much of our evolutionary hodgepodge of DNA and instinctive behaviour.

Around the world The Red Queen hustles, dissecting the environmental clues given by the mating rituals and biology of various species, asexual, sexual, heterosexual, hermaphroditic and otherwise, comparing them to Homo Sapiens, "the sexiest primate alive" (except for bonobos). As for humans, Ridley divulges how walking upright and our large brains are connected to our comparatively slow maturation, long lifespan and lack of hair. Always in the background is the unquestionable tenet: No one is descended from a celibate organism.

Ridley daringly takes on feminism and gender equality by pointing out that males and females DO differ genetically (duh!) and that in other species the effect of this difference is quite marked. Rather than degenerating into a misogynistic orgy of gender-bashing, he exposes the reasons why (among other differences) men might actually be better at reading maps and women might be more social. Both genders have to get along in order to continue the species, so understanding our differences may be a boon to all. While in the mood for controversy, Ridley delves into the reasons for the genetic-confounding phenomena of homosexuality in a species.

You don't need to have read Genome to read Red Queen, but if you have, you might find all of the puzzles fitting together into an even bigger picture, to be further sketched out in The Origins of Virtue and Nature Via Nurture. This book is not illustrated and probably won't help you get a date next weekend, but it might explain why you're instinctively attracted to those three young blondes at the bar. And why they're all more interested in the cinderblock quarterback of the football team. And despite what my inbox tells me, it has nothing to do with the size of a certain part of your anatomy, but rather the size of ... well, go read the book.

Table of Contents
  • Human Nature
  • The Enigma
  • The Power of Parasites
  • Genetic Mutiny and Gender
  • The Peacock's Tale
  • Polygamy and the Nature of Men
  • Monogamy and the Nature of Women
  • Sexing the Mind
  • The Uses of Beauty
  • The Intellectual Chess Game
  • The Self-Domesticated Ape

You can purchase The Red Queen from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.

9 of 149 comments (clear)

  1. If you don't know by Surak · · Score: 4, Funny

    What's so great about sex then, that overcomes this obvious numerical handicap?

    If you don't know, you're probably too young for me to explain it to you! ;)

    --
    My journal has hot /. gossip.
    1. Re:If you don't know by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      You have to understand - to a Slashbot, this numerical handicap can be defined as "as long as there is any other male on earth, she will never reproduce with me". It is really insurmountable, as far as a Slashbot's concerned.

  2. I need another coffee... by Lord_Slepnir · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...so that when I read "In an asexual organism I don't leave out an "ni", then procede to try to perform one myself.

    1. Re:I need another coffee... by TastelessGarbage · · Score: 2, Funny

      Actually, I think you need a shrubbery. I understand that Roger has some experience in that area.....

      --
      That ain't liver; that's beef kidney!
  3. A few percent by blamanj · · Score: 5, Funny

    males and females DO differ genetically

    It has been noted that the difference between the XX and XY chromosomes in the human males and females amounts to about 3% of genetic material.

    Note also that in general the human species only differs about 3% from chimpanzies.

    From this some have inferred that a human male is more similar to a male chimpanzee than to a human female.

    1. Re:A few percent by nycsubway · · Score: 2, Funny

      Chimps are genetically similar to humans indeed... Thankfuly chimpanzees do not drive. Otherwise they'd have no idea how to get where they were going, would not stop for directions, and would be weaving all over the road with their left blinker on.

      --
      http://github.com/gbook/nidb
    2. Re:A few percent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
      There's also a serious scientific question (I'm /not/ making this up) as to whether humans and chimps could reproduce together.

      Instead of paying someone in a white coat to try to figure this out by staring through a microscope and injecting blue fluid into countless vials, I imagine it would be fairly inexpensive to resolve that question empirically.

      But, darn it, whenever I'm around the chimp, I get so nervous and don't know what to say.

    3. Re:A few percent by bsartist · · Score: 2, Funny

      Thankfuly chimpanzees do not drive.

      You've obviously never been to Boston.

      --
      Lost: Sig, white with black letters. No collar. Reward if found!
  4. Re:Sex by Tackhead · · Score: 2, Funny
    > Desmond Morris has a series on TLC called The Human Animal in which he describes in termendous detail how and why humans have sex. There's even a nipple in the show!

    So? I've got two of the damn things right here on my own chest. Pretty useless if you ask me.

    And nipples get shown during the weightlifting, swimming, or bodybuilding sporting events televised every weekend, to say nothing of all the "beach" sitcoms and dramas on the major networks every night. Nipples on TV? Big freakin' deal.

    Oh, you meant a nipple of a female human. Well, OK, those are pretty neat! :)