The Red Queen_ Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature - Matt Ridley [1]
When I was a working zoologist, friends would sometimes ask how I could possibly spend three years studying just one species of bird. Could there be that much to learn about the common pheasant? To this I would reply, with what I suppose was irritating conceit, that mankind is just one species of mammal and two thousand years of inquiring into the nature of human beings have not apparently exhausted the subject. We are just another species – albeit a rather peculiar one. And we will never understand ourselves unless we understand how our natures evolved.
For that reason, the first third of this book is about evolution, and only then does it tackle human nature. The evolutionary foundation is important, but for those unexcited by the doings of genes, it may also be a little hard work. Do not be put off. I was brought up never to eat chocolate cake until I had finished the bread and butter. To this day I feel (and ignore) a twinge of guilt when I eat chocolate cake. But I will quite understand if some readers find the middle and later chapters of this book more digestible than the early ones and decide to skip ahead to the cake.
This book is crammed with original ideas – very few of them my own. Science writers become accustomed to the feeling that they are intellectual plagiarists, raiding the minds of those who are too busy to tell the world about their discoveries. There are scores of people who could have written each chapter of my book better than I. My consolation is that few could have written all the chapters. My role has been to connect the patches of others’ research together into a quilt.
But I remain deeply indebted and grateful to all those whose minds I raided. I have interviewed more than sixty people in the course of researching this book, and have never met with anything but courtesy, patience and infectious curiosity about the world. Many became friends. I am especially grateful to those whom I interviewed repeatedly and at length until I had almost picked their minds clean: Laura Betzig, Napoleon Chagnon, Leda Cosmides, Helena Cronin, Bill Hamilton, Laurence Hurst, Bobbi Low, Andrew Pomiankowski, Don Symons, John Tooby.
Among those who agreed to interviews in person or by telephone, I would like to thank: Richard Alexander, Michael Bailey, Alexandra Basolo, Graham Bell, Paul Bloom, Monique Borgehoff Mulder, Don Brown, Jim Bull, Austin Burt, David Buss, Tim Clutton-Brock, Bruce Ellis, John Endler, Bart Gledhill, David Goldstein, Alan Grafen, Tim Guilford, David Haig, Dean Hamer, Kristen Hawkes, Elizabeth Hill, Kim Hill, Sarah Hrdy, William Irons, William James, Charles Keckler, Mark Kirkpatrick, Jochen Kumm, Curtis Lively, Atholl McLachlan, John Maynard Smith, Matthew Meselson, Geoffrey Miller, Anders Møller, Jeremy Nathans, Magnus Nordborg, Elinor Ostrom, Sarah Otto, Kenneth Oye, Margie Profet, Tom Ray, Paul Romer, Michael Ryan, Dev Singh, Robert Smuts, Randy Thornhill, Robert Trivers, Leigh Van Valen, Fred Whitam, George Williams, Margo Wilson, Richard Wrangham and Marlene Zuk.
My sincere thanks also to those who corresponded with me, or sent me their papers and books: Christopher Badcock, Robert Foley, Stephen Frank, Valerie Grant, Toshikazu Hasegawa, Doug Jones, Egbert Leigh, Daniel Perusse, Felicia Pratto, Edward Tenner.
Other minds I raided more subtly, even surreptitiously. Among those who have given advice or helped to clear my thoughts in many conversations are: Alun Anderson, Robin Baker, Horace Barlow, Jack Beckstrom, Rosa Beddington, Mark Bellis, Roger Bingham, Mark Boyce, John Browning, Stephen Budiansky, Edward Carr, Geoffrey Carr, Jeremy Cherfas, Alice Clarke, Nico Colchester, Charles Crawford, Francis Crick, Martin Daly, Kurt Darwin, Marian Dawkins, Richard Dawkins, Andrew Dobson, Emma Duncan, Mark Flinn, Archie Fraser, Peter Garson, Steven Gaulin, Charles Godfray, Anthony Gottlieb, John Hartung, Joel Heinen, Nigella Hillgarth, Peter Hudson, Anya Hurlbert, Michael Kinsley, Richard Ladle, Richard Machalek, Patrick McKim, Seth Masters, Graeme Mitchison, Oliver Morton, Randolph Nesse,