The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World

Amazon.com's Best of 2001

Working in his garden one day, Michael Pollan hit pay dirt in the form of an idea: do plants, he wondered, use humans as much as we use them? While the question is not entirely original, the way Pollan examines this complex coevolution by looking at the natural world from the perspective of plants is unique. The result is a fascinating and engaging look at the true nature of domestication.

In making his point, Pollan focuses on the relationship between humans and four specific plants: apples, tulips, marijuana, and potatoes. He uses the history of John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed) to illustrate how both the apple's sweetness and its role in the production of alcoholic cider made it appealing to settlers moving west, thus greatly expanding the plant's range. He also explains how human manipulation of the plant has weakened it, so that "modern apples require more pesticide than any other food crop." The tulipomania of 17th-century Holland is a backdrop for his examination of the role the tulip's beauty played in wildly influencing human behavior to both the benefit and detriment of the plant (the markings that made the tulip so attractive to the Dutch were actually caused by a virus). His excellent discussion of the potato combines a history of the plant with a prime example of how biotechnology is changing our relationship to nature. As part of his research, Pollan visited the Monsanto company headquarters and planted some of their NewLeaf brand potatoes in his garden--seeds that had been genetically engineered to produce their own insecticide. Though they worked as advertised, he made some startling discoveries, primarily that the NewLeaf plants themselves are registered as a pesticide by the EPA and that federal law prohibits anyone from reaping more than one crop per seed packet. And in a interesting aside, he explains how a global desire for consistently perfect French fries contributes to both damaging monoculture and the genetic engineering necessary to support it.

Pollan has read widely on the subject and elegantly combines literary, historical, philosophical, and scientific references with engaging anecdotes, giving readers much to ponder while weeding their gardens. --Shawn Carkonen

Book Description

Every schoolchild learns about the mutually beneficial dance of honeybees and flowers: The bee collects nectar and pollen to make honey and, in the process, spreads the flowers’ genes far and wide. In The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan ingeniously demonstrates how people and domesticated plants have formed a similarly reciprocal relationship. He masterfully links four fundamental human desires—sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control—with the plants that satisfy them: the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato. In telling the stories of four familiar species, Pollan illustrates how the plants have evolved to satisfy humankind’s most basic yearnings. And just as we’ve benefited from these plants, we have also done well by them. So who is really domesticating whom?

Customer Reviews:

A Fascinating Read.......2007-10-07

The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan challenges the notion that mankind can control the natural world, subjugating plants to the will of the gardener. Through a discussion of four plants closely associated with human cultivation: apple, tulip, marijuana, and potato, Pollan demonstrates that organisms which possess traits desirable to the gardener have been able manipulate humans to cultivate them. Each plant has a different strategy for assuring that humans will continue to include it in their gardens. The apple, for example, is an extremely diverse species whose seeds contain millions of possible variations of both the fruit produced and the tree itself. Whether one is looking to make hard cider or munch on a crisp green fruit, the apple tree has the genetic code to produce the fruit humans look for.
In The Botany of Desire, Pollan focuses on the four plants mentioned above, placing each plant in a category, and explains how plants within that category possess characteristics which make them desirable to humans. The apple and other fruits appeal to our sense of taste, and, if fermented, our desire for inebriation. The tulip appeals to mankind's sense of beauty; marijuana, our desire to achieve an altered state of mind; the potato our need for nourishment and desire to genetically engineer crops. In short, each of these plants is successful in an evolutionary sense because it causes us to cultivate it.
Although Pollan's book is an intriguing read, I found it unsettling that he often rattles off facts and figures without citing a direct source, such as the assertion on page 219: "a potato farmer in Idaho spends roughly $1,950 an acre (mainly on chemicals, electricity and water)." Pollan does include a few pages of sources in the back of his book, but he could make a stronger argument that would stand up to academic scrutiny with the addition of endnotes.
In addition to a vast amount of research and traveling prior to writing this book, Pollan makes The Botany of Desire a quality literary work by using recurring themes to tie the four parts of the book together. Through returning to his garden at many points over the course of the book, Pollan is able to tie all four of his subjects into a common space. Approaching the reader as a fellow gardener gives him or her a sense of connection to Pollan and his garden. By the end of the book, I felt as though I knew Michael Pollan and his garden intimately. Another example of this continuity is Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and revelry. Dionysus appears in both chapters one and three, were Pollan relates him to cider, Johnny Appleseed, and mind-altering substances.
Overall, Pollan's clear style and journalistic narrative flows easily and keeps the reader entertained throughout the book. He makes effective use of descriptive details and personal experiences to relate to the reader as he argues his theme of plants manipulating humans to include them in their gardens. The Botany of Desire is a must read for anyone interested in how plants we encounter on a daily basis cause us to cultivate them around the globe.

Too much information.......2007-09-16

Started out liking the chapter on Apples, less the next and so on. It seemed like I was getting the same story in each chapter only more elaborate and wordy.

Just buy this book........................2007-09-05

I am not a botanist.Yet. But the study of evolution is quite an exciting journey, made more exciting by the mind melting,eloquent ideas posed by Mr. Pollan. Bought the audio book version, and I can't stop listining to it. From the story of Johnyy Appleseed, to Holland in search of the history of Tulips, the Amazing Marijuana Plant, and the control of the Potato. Seemed random to me. Not any more. Incredible book.

We are the world.......2007-08-31

Pollan's book is a vivid reminder of how intricately human society is woven into the ecological framework of the planet and in particular that of plants. His descriptions of how our societies have affected and been affected by just four plants opens up a series of thought-provoking questions to mull over the next time you find yourself in a garden, at the dinner table, or taking a walk outdoors. It's written with sensitivity towards those he disagrees with, and this gentle touch makes the story he's relating much more effective at prompting you as reader to engage. The weakest part of the book is the chapter on Tulips, but that is hard to criticize since the chapters on apples, marijuana and potatoes are so good.

Read this Book!

human psychology in the garden.......2007-08-02

Human psychology from the plant's perspective? Yep. That's precisely the topic of this book. When our ancestors began breeding plants to serve our desires they inevitably laid those desires bare in the phenotypes in their gardens. Pollan is impressively aware of many current themes in evolutionary biology (e.g., the function of sexual reproduction), and admirably willing to tell a story with the patience and breadth it deserves (hence four 100-page chapters instead of the usual one hundred, A.D.D. 4-page chapters). This book is not for everyone, but if you have intellectual curiosity about why some plants have come to dominate our world, this book will give you many answers and even more tools. There's nothing better I can say about a book.

Our Changing Planet: An Introduction to Earth System Science and Global Environmental Change (3rd Edition)

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Our Changing Planet: An Introduction to Earth System Science and Global Environmental Change (3rd Edition)
Fred T. Mackenzie
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Environmental Science | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0130651729

Book Description

This book offers a general, interdisciplinary discussion of global environmental change oriented toward the non-specialist in science. The unifying theme of the book is consideration of aspects of both natural and human-induced global environmental change. The two part organization according to this distinction allows for easy reading on specific topics. This book is useful for anyone interested in learning more about Earth's systems.

Average customer rating:

Good way to introduce the "birds and the bees"
Offers too much detail in my opinion
Covers the embarressing areas
Where Did I Come From?
Just the facts

Where Did I Come From?
Peter Mayle
Manufacturer: Lyle Stuart
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0818402539

Customer Reviews:

Good way to introduce the "birds and the bees".......2007-09-01

My son and I had the best laughs reading this book; somewhat embarrasing at time but it was all out there, he was able to ask questions and it was a great way to discuss these things with him as it is with any child. I highly recommend this book for 9 or 10 year olds if your ready to discuss such things with them.

Offers too much detail in my opinion.......2007-08-23

Although I believe this book may be suitable for some kids, I do not believe it is suitable for my son and that is why I did not give it to him. Some pages from the book actually made me turn red! It is my opinion that kids do not need to know all the details provided in this book in order to get the message of where they came from. An edited version would work better for me.

Covers the embarressing areas.......2007-08-23

This book does a great job at explaining why grownups like to have sex. It describes the feelings, without getting lewd.

Where Did I Come From?.......2007-08-09

My son read this in addition to another similar book, and said that this book has less information in it.

Just the facts.......2007-07-13

Great book. I had it when I was a kid and bought it for my niece and nephew. It's just the facts. With all the sex in the media and talk on the playground I think kids deserve to know the truth.

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes (Baby Board Books)

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Great Book
Loves reading
Average
Love Love Love!
Buy "Where's My Belly Button" instead

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes (Baby Board Books)

Manufacturer: Child's Play International
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Board book

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ASIN: 0859537285

Product Description

This award winning series has been specifically designed for babies. A great introduction to books through well-known nursery songs and interactive text. By Annie Kubler. Ages: birth - 2 years Manufacturer: Marlon Creations

Customer Reviews:

Great Book.......2007-09-15

My son who is 2.5 years old loves the book and we read it about 10 times a night.

Loves reading.......2007-08-27

My little absolutely loves these books. I have to read one or more of the everyday.

Average.......2007-08-15

This is a cute book, but my 10 month old daughter isn't that crazy about it. She has other books she likes much more.

Love Love Love!.......2007-08-09

I purchased this book for my son when he was 15 months old and he loves this book. He brings it to me to read to him over and over again. The illustrations are fun, he loves the song, and he knows all the body parts now. Many times I have seen him flipping through the book on his own "studying" the pictures. Given I don't usually pay to buy new books that cost more than a dollar or two, this one was definately worth it!

Buy "Where's My Belly Button" instead.......2007-06-13

This is merely a verbatim book version of the old playschool song "head and shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes . . " It could be made a bit more worthwhile if the art was engaging or dynamic in some way, but it's blah (think Precious Moments meets Charlie Brown) and does little to enhance a young childs perception of where to find his/her head, shoulders, knees . . well you get to idea.

Moral Minds: How Nature Designed Our Universal Sense of Right and Wrong

Average customer rating:

Natural Morality
A poor collection of sophomoric philosophy
great idea, poor execution
Placing morals into the biological realm where they belong
It's just not written well

Moral Minds: How Nature Designed Our Universal Sense of Right and Wrong
Marc Hauser
Manufacturer: Ecco
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Ethics & Morality | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0060780703
Release Date: 2006-08-22

Book Description

Marc Hauser's eminently readable and comprehensive book Moral Minds is revolutionary. He argues that humans have evolved a universal moral instinct, unconsciously propelling us to deliver judgments of right and wrong independent of gender, education, and religion. Experience tunes up our moral actions, guiding what we do as opposed to how we deliver our moral verdicts.

For hundreds of years, scholars have argued that moral judgments arise from rational and voluntary deliberations about what ought to be. The common belief today is that we reach moral decisions by consciously reasoning from principled explanations of what society determines is right or wrong. This perspective has generated the further belief that our moral psychology is founded entirely on experience and education, developing slowly and subject to considerable variation across cultures. In his groundbreaking book, Hauser shows that this dominant view is illusory.

Combining his own cutting-edge research with findings in cognitive psychology, linguistics, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, economics, and anthropology, he examines the implications of his theory for issues of bioethics, religion, law, and our everyday lives.

Customer Reviews:

Natural Morality.......2007-09-17

Over the last decade the study of the human brain has moved out of the leafy halls of academia into many different fields, including ethics and the law. If socially unacceptable behavior is being driven by some wiring problem in the brain, is a person legally liable? Or is the brain just one part of the chain of causes with learning and experience playing a larger part? The lion's share of the evidence indicates that genes and the brain determine how we interact with the environment rather than determining how we behave, but there is still a great deal of research that needs to be done.

This book has been getting a lot of attention and for a very good reason: not only is it a well-written account by someone who is an exceptionally clear thinker, but the implications of his book stretch far beyond simple academic discussions: they have implications not only for neuroscience, but for ethics, spirituality and the law.

Marc Hauser is a biologist at Harvard and in this book he argues that the human moral sense is inbuilt and the product of evolution, much like our capacity for language. He suggests that the structure of our minds - or at least our brains - reflect our egalitarian hunter-gatherer past and reveals "left over circuitry from the cavemen."

Hauser begins by contrasting three approaches to moral thinking:
The first was espoused by the philosopher Immanuel Kant in the late eighteenth century, who proposed that we follow a categorical imperative. In Kant's view, we could and should live by the Golden Rule, treating others as we would have them treat us, and never using people merely as a means to something else.

The second approach was proposed by the eighteen century Scottish philosopher David Hume, who came to the conclusion that reason is and ought to be the slave of the passions. So if we do something because we are frustrated or angry, we should be castigated and punished because we failed to express out true nature.

The third approach is that of the political philosopher John Rawls. Rawls - like the Harvard linguist Noam Chomsky - proposed that there are deep similarities between language and morality. Chomsky believes that we are hardwired to understand and produce language, while Rawls believes that we all have an innate moral faculty. What that means is that we are all born with an ability to form moral judgments, and that we do not simply embrace the views of our family, tribe or church. The rub is this: because it is an innate ability bred of countless millennia of evolution, we often have no idea why we hold the views they we do.

The parallels between our innate morality and language are explored in this book.

When a twenty-nine year old Chomsky produced his first book in 1957 it created a firestorm of protest as well as some enthusiastic acceptance. We know that people the world over utter grammatical sentences in their own language, but it had been assumed that it began as simple mimicry: children copied the language, syntax and grammar of their parents and others. But Chomsky proposed that the ability is hardwired into the structure of the brain, and that is why we have little or no insight into how grammar works. By analogy, Hauser proposes that children and adults construct moral codes and make judgments without any insight into their reasons for doing so.

Hauser is an acclaimed academic, and it is no surprise that he supports his hypothesis with an array of thought-provoking examples, some better known than others.

One of the better known has been used in psychology and philosophy classes for years. It is the Trolley Problem, taken from a classic set of moral dilemmas proposed by the philosopher Phillipa Foot. The story goes like this. A bystander named Denise is a passenger on an out-of-control railway trolley, which is speeding down the track with an incapacitated driver. The vehicle is heading directly toward five people on the track ahead, bringing with it certain death. Denise can flip a switch that would turn the trolley onto a sidetrack with just one person on it. That one person will die, saving the other five. Should she flip the switch? Hauser's own intuition is that she should, and he marshals various moral arguments to support him.

But now comes the second part. Consider another bystander named Frank. He is on a footbridge over the same railway trolley with the same five endangered people. On the bridge is a large man whom Frank can push off the bridge and so stop the trolley and save the five. Should he do so? Should he sacrifice one man to save five?

Here Hauser's view is that he should not. But exactly why not? Is it because of Denise and Frank's intentions? Is it because Frank would be using the man as a means? In each case the result is the same, one person is killed and five are saved. This is interesting, not as an academic exercise, but because most people come up with similar responses to the dilemma.

Here is another example: what if a surgeon can save the lives of five dying people by taking organs from one perfectly healthy person? Almost no one says that this action is justified, but why not? In fact when such a thing was actually done during the Holocaust, the prosecutors at Nuremberg considered it to be one of the most egregious of all the crimes committed. The utter breakdown of agreed moral norms during those dark years and continuing depravity in some parts of the world remains a challenge for philosophers and scientists to this day; including the author of this book.

Hauser is evidently a good teacher, and he constructs a number of variations of these themes to show us that, with the kinds of exceptions that I just mentioned, the intuitions of very different people are usually much the same. Second. He shows how difficult it is to provide logical justifications for those intuitions. Like all good teachers he includes some personal disclosures, and tells an amusing tale about his own father, who, despite being an intelligent and well-educated physicist, became confused and frustrated when he tried to find logical justifications for his immediate responses.

Hauser reviews evidence from different cultures and from his own research using an online Moral Sense Test, to show how little judgments vary between people of different backgrounds and cultures.

This leads to another important similarity between language and morality. Languages are not chaotic: they follow certain constraints. All known languages follow a set of universal principles. But there are also a set of variable parameters that include the order of words, different ways of making plurals, gender attributions and all those other nuances that can frustrate anyone trying to master a foreign language. Hauser argues that it is the same with morality: there are universal principles and culture-bound parameters. He continues the parallels to point out that as with a language, once people acquire their specific moral grammar, other grammars may seem as incomprehensible as does Japanese to a native English speaker.

He illustrates his thesis with valuable discussions about murder and manslaughter, the treatment of women in different cultures, attitudes to abortion, euthanasia, pedophilia and incest, together with notions of fairness and punishment.

The book is illustrated by some delightful little drawings that do an excellent job of breaking up the narrative.

Marc Hauser if a very good writer and the book is not a difficult read, despite weighing in at over 400 closely reasoned pages. He makes many points that need to be heard. Not only by his colleagues and by people curious to understand more about themselves and those around them, but also by politicians, lawyers and ethicists.

Highly recommended.

Richard G. Petty, MD, author of Healing, Meaning and Purpose: The Magical Power of the Emerging Laws of Life

A poor collection of sophomoric philosophy.......2007-04-01

In a grand way Marc Hauser represents centuries of philosophy intermingled with anecdotes from psychological, anthropological, and economic research. Unfortunately, what he doesn't do is provide a scientific grounding for understanding moral choice.

To understand why people call things right and wrong you need to start with the biology of learning, expectation, and cognition. Given that we are just barely now scratching the surface of these topics Hauser's attempt was bound to fail. His own morals pervade the book and act as logical starting points for his arguments, but rarely does he act as a scientist and dismiss his own morality to seek out the real question which is, "How does the brain create a sense of right and wrong, and is there any definitive proof that there is a universal biological morality?"

Neuroscience tells us that there are very few things we are hardwired to do that we cannot unlearn or adapt to deal with our environments. Hauser spectacularly fails to convince that any moral code is anything other than a learned societal norm.

great idea, poor execution.......2007-03-31

I agree with Rick: great idea, poor execution. Various moral and social systems have long tried to codify and explain away through religious and other naratives what is only natural to us. Kudos to Mark Hauser for bringing our innate "moral organ" to broad attention.

His writing however is another matter. I suggest, read his introductory chapter "What Is Wrong?" and then cherry-pick from the rest of the book as much of the following material is highly repetitive. This is topic waiting to be tackled again by another, stronger writer.

Placing morals into the biological realm where they belong.......2007-03-23

This book affirms something that I have thought true for some time now - that morality is governed by instinctual paradigms in healthy individuals. Hearing from birth and from right-wing sources on the news daily that our morality can only be saved by a reversion to "biblical" mores, I had always wondered why the statistics do not back this "moral majority" up. For instance, in countries like Sweden and Iceland and many other European nations where secularism is high, they have much lower rates of crime and their citizens are just as happy if not more so than the average Sunday-bible-toting-American who thinks they have a "higher" version of morality than the "godless heathen."

Hauser cites empirical data that shows that morality is often operating at an unconscious level in human beings as evidenced by tests where subjects make a moral choice but then can offer only incoherent justifications. Hauser's parallel to our "Language Instinct" here is spot on, given that most native speakers can form perfectly grammatical sentences, but if asked about detailed grammatical structures and relationships, they fail miserably. This, I think, is one reason that religion enjoys its ascendant status (at least in America) in regards to morality. Religion is an overt manifestation of moral principles, something people otherwise have little or no conscious access to. It doesn't matter how outdated or ridiculous religious "morals" are, people will cling to them because in their minds it is the only available source of a description of morality. The faster that science can describe these principles, the better off humanity will be.

Taking in relevant topics from moral philosophy, economics, psychology, and of course, the meat of his argument, socio-biological findings from our primate and animal cousins, Hauser shows that the precursors of human morality, at least in rudimentary form, are present in many other animals. This presence gives science a strong foothold in the arena of ethics. These findings must be to the chagrin of such writers as Francis Collins who invoked the god of the gaps in "The Language of God" to explain that human morality must be due to divine fiat. Indeed it is not.

It's just not written well.......2007-03-21

I got this book after hearing Hauser give a very illluminating and fascinating interview on NPR. Sadly his book is not as nearly interesting as his interview technique is. He repeats his thesis into the ground many times. His clever examples are sometimes not so clever. The book is too long and wordy. Being a lover of philosophy, I of all people never thought I would say that about a book. That can be a good thing in capable hands, but Hauser is definitely a scientist and not a writer. Some better editing and tightening of the text would've made this book a real winner. Finally, the link to linguistics, a main theme of the book, is a turn off for me personally as the linguistics field in no way interests me. However, one refreshing aspect is that he amdits its a theory. Sometimes I feel contemporary science books are too ready to start claiming themselves to be fact. Only get it if you can find it cheap, and hopefully Hausers honesty, enthusiasm and knowledge will get you past the poor writing, sadly it wasn't the case for me.

The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature

Average customer rating:

Good ideas but a little tough to digest
Essential for philosophers or students of the social sciences
Psychology as a Hard Science
Among the most important books I've read
Very Knowledgeable

The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature
Steven Pinker
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0142003344
Release Date: 2003-08-26

Book Description

In The Blank Slate, Steven Pinker, one of the world's leading experts on language and the mind, explores the idea of human nature and its moral, emotional, and political colorings. With characteristic wit, lucidity, and insight, Pinker argues that the dogma that the mind has no innate traits-a doctrine held by many intellectuals during the past century-denies our common humanity and our individual preferences, replaces objective analyses of social problems with feel-good slogans, and distorts our understanding of politics, violence, parenting, and the arts. Injecting calm and rationality into debates that are notorious for ax-grinding and mud-slinging, Pinker shows the importance of an honest acknowledgment of human nature based on science and common sense.

Customer Reviews:

Good ideas but a little tough to digest.......2007-10-10

This book has some solid ideas, but they get lost in the wording. If the author wasn't trying so hard to use his SAT vocabulary, then I'm sure the book would've been at least a bit more fluent. It seems to be targeted towards a very academic background, and makes references to advanced topics in several areas of scientific research. All in all, an interesting read if you have the necessary background and the time to decrypt it. For me, that wasn't possible.

Essential for philosophers or students of the social sciences.......2007-10-10

I was a bit surprised to like this as much as I did. I found Pinker's The Language Instinct unsatisfying. Perhaps because it tried to be both an introductory text to linguistics and a polemic in favor of Chomsky's perspective on the field. (A lot of textbooks in linguistics had this failing for a few decades, but I digress...)

Pinker shows he understands why so many people, particularly intellectuals in the social sciences and advocates for social justice, hold tightly to the "blank slate." He understands how crude appropriations of Darwinism led to American and Nazi eugenics, racism in myriad forms, and the like. For all the many topics he addreses, he deals with the empirical research on both sides of the issue. But he also deals with the motivations behind believing one or the other perspective, and shows that a careful understanding of the science of human behavior--or even truly opening our eyes to what we see iin day-to-day life--is liable to be far more conducive to achieving our goals.

That said, he doesn't always acknowledge the large degree of variability in human taste and experience. For just one example, he attributes the failure of modernist artistic forms to their creators' believe that aesthetic desire could be reshaped at will. Yet, he says, we like pastoral landscapes because that was an ideal, sought habitat in our past. Yet he offers as a modernist failure the art of Jackson Pollock. whose work I happen to like. I do agree that our tastes can't vary completely freely, but they do appear to vary more than he allows.

In any case, those who feel they are adamantly opposed to any concrete notion of human nature, particularly the one offered by evolutionary psychology, need to thoughtfully read this book. If they come away still disagreeing, their disagreement will be far more informed.

Psychology as a Hard Science.......2007-09-10

Pinker reviews it better than I can in his introduction:
"When it comes o explaining thought and behavior, the possibility that heredity plays any role at all still has the power to shock. To acknowledge human nature, many think, is to endorse racism, sexism, war, greed, genocide, nihilism, reactionary politics, and neglect of children and the disadvantaged. Any claim that the mind has an innate organization strikes people not as an hypothesis that might be incorrect but as a thought it is immoral to think."

Among the most important books I've read.......2007-08-22

Pinker provides a lucid explanation of the current state of knowledge on genetic influence on human behaviour and definitively debunks the "blank slate" idea that our culture and environment is the dominant factor.

I gained a real understanding of how humanity can behave in such apparently strange and arbitrary ways, and Pinker's exploration of the implications of this was well-reasoned and thought provoking.

I'd recommend this to anyone who wants to understand human behaviour better.

Very Knowledgeable.......2007-05-13

A book on different subjects surrounding people, society, and especially how the genetic makeup of a person has a significant effect on who he/she is in that society. The book also analyzes how those innate predispositions sometimes do not make sense with current government policies as well as some mass public opinion. The author supports his opinions with scientific research and touches on subjects such as conservatives/liberals, art, feminism, violence, and parenting and often provides controversial views. For example, the author does not believe that violence on television has any significant effect on violence in society because most violent people are genetically "programmed" to be violent. He also analyzes many of the genetic predispositions with regard to evolution and selection for fitness such as women being better at language and humanities skills, in order to be better child raisers, and men being better at mathematical and spatial abilities so they could be better hunters.

The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature

Average customer rating:

Great Book
Worth slogging through Part 1 to get to Part 2
So interesting...
The implications to the future human civilization are staggering
Too serious / intense - Not for casual reading

The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature
Matt Ridley
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Evolution | Science | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0060556579
Release Date: 2003-04-29

Book Description

Referring to Lewis Carroll's Red Queen from Through the Looking-Glass, a character who has to keep running to stay in the same place, Matt Ridley demonstrates why sex is humanity's best strategy for outwitting its constantly mutating internal predators. The Red Queen answers dozens of other riddles of human nature and culture -- including why men propose marriage, the method behind our maddening notions of beauty, and the disquieting fact that a woman is more likely to conceive a child by an adulterous lover than by her husband. Brilliantly written, The Red Queen offers an extraordinary new way of interpreting the human condition and how it has evolved.

Customer Reviews:

Great Book.......2007-03-27

I can't add very much to the excellent reviews already posted. I'll just say quickly that I enjoyed very much the fresh insight into mating practices among the "lower animals" and among humans. I've read a lot about evolution and biology and so forth, and still found much new material here. I really enjoyed learning about how scientists finally discovered the rampant adultery among birds and how incredible they are at hiding it.

Several reviewers warn about having to "make it through" the first part, and I certainly understand that if your primary interest is in the evolutionary origins of human sexuality. However, I really enjoyed the first part as well, because it provides a broad understanding of sex in evolution and give lots of fun examples about different behaviors and adaptations.

Although I didn't give the book 5 stars (I reserve that for the best of the best), it showed me that Mr. Ridley is a great writer and I'll check out his other books (I think I'll start with Genome).

Worth slogging through Part 1 to get to Part 2.......2007-01-30

Some of the ideas expressed in The Red Queen are brilliant, and their applicability to the nature of human sexuality are quite interesting. However, Ridley's very methodical approach to categorizing and cataloging the varieties during the first 120-150 pages can be painfully slow.

Once Part II kicked in, I was glad I persevered. After the first part apparently sets the stage for some descriptions related to human beings, I found myself unable to put the book down during second half. No need to add on to what has been written by others, but if I had to do it again, I definitely would have skimmed Part 1.

Still worth the effort and quite a conversation piece. In the month since I finished, I find I bring it up in casual conversation regularly, and even during the course of book club conversations about male and female perspectives to similar actions, perceptions, or mating rituals. Definitely recommended!

So interesting..........2006-12-14

I remember flying on an airplane 6 years ago and having the stranger sitting next to me highly recommend this book. It ended up taking me three years before I finally obtained a copy!

This book is phenomenal. Starting from the first organisms on the planet and building up to modern day human beings, this book gives a detailed account of evolution and covers numerous theories, supported in great detail, as to how humans are they way we are.

The only reason this book gets 4 stars from me is because it is written in text book language and it can be hard to follow at some points. But stick with it - the end of the book is where most of the interesting points emerge.

The implications to the future human civilization are staggering.......2006-11-10

Science writer Matt Ridley's book "The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature" is outstanding. I have read at least 20 other books by various authors on this subject, and yet Ridley's book contains a vast amount of original work and brilliant viewpoints.

His language is accessible, witty, and moving. His explanations and arguments are well researched, and elegantly written.

Ridley takes you on a journey, for those willing, into nature's infinite world of sexual evolution using existing species as examples. You'll end up realizing how constricted our society is in relation to our nature. The book opened my mind to how diverse our society can be, and how we limit and restrict ourselves. I find this book to be one of his best works.

Experts in every field of living systems should read this book, the implications are staggering. Although written entirely from a biological / genetic / nature point of view, anyone could use the material to develop an improved system. For example, improved political systems, draft laws that make sense, market products more successfully, understand the criminal mind-set, raise children better, better discern the cause of war and violence, etc.

In a nut-shell, if you want to understand the infinite possibility of human potential, this book gives you the "theory of operation" and should be considered the bible on how central sexuality is to the nature of humankind and our modern civilization.

Too serious / intense - Not for casual reading.......2006-11-06

This is interesting only if you want to do a very detailed study on Sex and Evolution of Human Nature. Not something I would recommend if you are just looking for some dating techniques or How to....type suggestions.

Average customer rating:

An Awful Edition, Full of Typos
philosophy as social science
Misadvertised/mis-linked to different edition
A thought-provoking book
Great Principles on Understanding, Emotions, & Morals

A Treatise of Human Nature
David Hume
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Consciousness & Thought | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Modern | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0198245882

Book Description

A Treatise of Human Nature (1739-40), David Hume's comprehensive attempt to base philosophy on a new, observationally grounded study of human nature, is one of the most important texts in Western philosophy. It is also the focal point of current attempts to understand 18th-century philosophy. The Treatise first explains how we form such concepts as cause and effect, external existence, and personal identity, and to form compelling but unconfirmable beliefs in the entities represented by these concepts. It then offers a novel account of the passions, explains freedom and necessity as they apply to human choices and actions, and concludes with detailed explanations of how we distinguish between virtue and vice and of the different kinds of virtue. Hume's Abstract of the Treatise, also included in the volume, outlines his 'chief argument' regarding our conception of, and belief in, cause and effect. The texts printed in this volume are those of the critical edition of Hume's philosophical works now being published by the Clarendon Press. The volume includes a substantial introduction explaining the aims of the Treatise as a whole and of each of its ten parts, extensive annotations, a glossary of terms, a comprehensive index, and suggestions for further reading.

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It is therefore certain, that the imagination reaches a minimum, and may raise up to itself an idea, of which it cannot conceive any sub-division, and which cannot be diminished without a total annihilation. When you tell me of the thousandth and ten thousandth part of a grain of sand, I have a, distinct idea of these numbers and of their different proportions; but the images, which I form in my mind to represent the things themselves, are nothing different from each other, nor inferior to that image, by which I represent the grain of sand itself, which is supposed so vastly to exceed them. What consists of parts is distinguishable into them, and what is distinguishable is separable. But whatever we may imagine of the thing, the idea of a grain of sand is not distinguishable, nor separable into twenty, much less into a thousand, ten thousand, or an infinite number of different ideas.

Customer Reviews:

An Awful Edition, Full of Typos.......2007-10-05

If you are looking to buy Hume's Treatise of Human Nature, buy another edition. In addition to making poor font choices, this edition's editors have let an unconscionable number of typos slip through. There are so many, perhaps as many as one per page, that sometimes Hume's meaning is obscured, and reading is made difficult.

philosophy as social science.......2006-11-25

Hume's `Treatise on Human Nature', the book, which, in the report of the author "fell stillborn from the press", and yet remains of continuing interest to us four centuries hence, is, among all else, the primordial exposition of a systematic psychology in the West. Hume's elevation of "the passions" ("Reason is and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.") and centralization of intentionality in the study of ourselves, are as significant contributions to the modern turn, more specifically, the transition to late modernity, as are the fruits of his more notorious skeptical detachment and trenchant empiricism and naturalism. Of all the so-called classical empiricists, none prefigures those characteristically late modern naturalist, positivist, analytic, and, to an extent, pragmatist, and even (surprisingly) existentialist outlooks as clearly as Hume. Also, the profound impact of Hume, the social scientist, on social organization and social forms is indisputable. In this work, Hume fathers the concept of rule utilitarianism (he was the original modern occidental utilitarian), the most influential articulation of which is found in the U.S. Constitution, established little more than a decade after his death in 1776.

The celebrated Selby-Bigge/Nidditch edition is, for the general reader or undergraduate, at under $5, still a terrific value. Why? First and foremost, the Index: among the best ever! Hume is complex. While his initial presentation is often (intentionally, I'd say) disarmingly direct, the justifications for and commentary on the ramifications of his assertions often engender and weave into vast and subtle conceptual patterns, which meander over a 662 page corpus of text. The index locates and situates the basic concepts and allows the individual to structure the reading. Incredibly useful -- as one may not wish to read all of Hume or all of Hume at once! More likely, the prospective reader is searching for a very specific concept or issue, and the precise and comprehensive Index makes penetration of what is in many places a difficult and arcane text quite doable.

Misadvertised/mis-linked to different edition.......2006-02-24

This was not the edition I wanted, as follows: I initially found the desired edition, including a photo of the cover, followed the links for available copies, including this one which I purchased (which, BTW, did not have a photo of cover, but I assumed it was same edition as on the initial page). Was dismayed to receive this different edition. It matters because it was for a friend's college course. Professors often reference pages in the assigned edition, which do not correspond to another edition's page numbering. Please minimize such confusion by more accurate advertising (include a cover photo on every linked page, to ensure it matches the initial one) or more accurate linking--i.e. don't show a specific search result but then link to other books that are not the same one, unless again, there are cover photos or other info displayed to distinguish them.

A thought-provoking book.......2005-04-03

Another book I read while getting my BA in Philosophy at UCLA. Hume, and not Freud, is sometimes credited with being the father of modern Psychology. Read this book, and you'll understand why.

Great Principles on Understanding, Emotions, & Morals.......2005-03-23

According to David Hume, the mind and body are integral units, with one unable to exist or operate without the other. There are no "innate" ideas, nor logically a priori knowledge, only sense impressions that arise out of direct experience of the five senses and concomitant sense ideas that arise in the imagination. The imagination (i.e., mind) then makes associations. From these various sense impressions and ideas, the imagination commingles the ideas with inferences from resemblance, contiguity, and causality. Examples: The imagination relates one sense impression and its concomitant sense idea with another when they share similar characteristics or resemble one another, such as in shape, height, weight, distance, proportion, color, etc. The imagination associates one sense impression and its concomitant sense idea with another when they are in close contiguity, such as proximity in time, place, situation, connection, succession, etc. Lastly, the imagination associates one sense impression and its concomitant sense idea with another when there appears to be some cause and effect, for example when one turns on a wall switch, and a light appears, or one turns a key in an ignition, and a car starts, or other causal inferences. Only from the sense ideas and impressions, commingled with the imagination's inferences of resemblance, contiguity, and causality, can any opinion or belief or knowledge be known. The difference between an opinion, belief, or knowledge is only one of degree, namely, how strong, convincingly, and lively (Hume uses the word "vivacity") the senses, their ideas, and the inferences work themselves out in the imagination. Generally, knowledge is reserved only for the strongest of degrees of inference, such as those verifiable and not refutable by inferential (cf., deductive) logic or experimentation; all else is either opinion or belief. But no knowledge, no matter how often repeated and examined inductively, is absolute; all knowledge, like opinion and belief, is contingent. For "absolute" knowledge once held the earth to be flat, to be the center of the universe, and non-rotating. Even Einstein's Theory of Relativity had to be revised by a Special Theory of Relativity. We still don't understand how the universe can be "full" and still "expanding," yet both are true (so far!). Only knowledge, belief, and opinion derived from the senses, their ideas, and imaginative inferences have merit; all other "imaginations," such as the deductive existence of a "God" or Supreme Being, absolute morals, or correct emotions, are merely speculative imaginations, and ultimately all such speculation leads to nothing more than myth or superstition, false dogmas, and irrational beliefs.

The passions, better known as either sensations or emotions, are derived from sense experience as well and are derived from the other sense impressions and sense ideas. Sensations are those experiences that arise within the imagination itself, based on something the body itself produces, such as hunger, pain, thirst, pleasure, and uneasiness. Emotions are those experiences that arise from the sensations and sense impressions and their concomitant sense ideas. The four principle emotions are: (1) Pride, and its opposite (2) Humility; (3) Love, and its opposite (4) Hatred. Pride and Love are desirable, whereas Humility and Hatred are undesirable. All other emotions are derived from, or are in one degree or another, always reducible to these four. Beauty, for example, is the love of something well-figured and loved for its own sake, while ugliness is something disfigured or ill-figured and hated. Anger is a form of hatred, while happiness is a form of either Pride or Love or both. Jealousy is a form of hatred (of another), while compassion is a form of Love. All emotions, when considered in their origins, have these four emotions as their foundation; it's all a matter of degree and kind.

There is no absolute morality; no moral principle can be deductively arrived at (except to be pure speculation). Morals can only be inferred from the two principles of (1) maximize pleasure and (2) avoid pain. These principles are natural inclinations of the body itself, not derived from logic or reason (i.e., speculation), but by verifiable experimentation, inferred from experience itself, especially the emotions of pride, humility, love, and hatred. We like to be loved, we despise to be hated, so we do those things that maximize these natural inclinations, because we want pleasure and to avoid pain, and they alone are what count as "moral." All virtue is that which brings us pleasure; all vice is that which brings us pain. For example, we are just to one another, not because we ought to be, but because we desire that being just toward others will merit other's affection, whereas being unjust will cause others to avoid us; the first is pleasurable, the latter is painful. We respect each other's property because it brings us mutual pleasure to enjoy the fruits of our own labor, whereas it causes us pain to have our property taken from us. The origin of government is from the experience where doing things socially imparts pleasure, whereas doing things in isolation causes pain. No one is an island, is true. Warding off an enemy as an individual forces the individual to bear all the weight, thus causing pain. Fighting the enemy together fosters our mutual interests (i.e., pleasure), and allows all to participate in the fruits of individual endeavors. We benefit from mutual cooperation, which good government ought to foster, whereas we lose and experience pain when we try to fight all battles by our own selves. There really is benefit in "numbers," to having more people in favor of the things we collectively sponsor and work hard for, and are opposed to those things that oppress. Showing how "each person benefits by collective effort" is how to operate good government; showing "how each person loses by individual effort alone" is another good reason for government. Government's sole function and purpose is to advance the collective cooperation, wherein each individual ultimately flourishes (and brings pleasure).

The Dog Listener: Learn How to Communicate with Your Dog for Willing Cooperation

Average customer rating:

Best training book ever!
7 IMPROVEMENTS
"Must have" for any dog owner!!
Effective. Helps establish foundation for training your dog!
New perspective for me!

The Dog Listener: Learn How to Communicate with Your Dog for Willing Cooperation
Jan Fennell
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0060089466
Release Date: 2004-01-20

Book Description

In The Dog Listener Jan Fennell shares her revolutionary insight into the canine world and its instinctive language that has enabled her to bring even the most delinquent of dogs to heel. This easy-to-follow guide draws on Jan's countless case histories of problem dogs—from biters and barkers to bicycle chasers—to show how you can bridge the language barrier that separates you from your dog.

This edition includes a new 30-Day Training Guide to further incorporate Jan's powerful method into every element of pet ownership, including:

Understanding what it means to care for a dog
Choosing the right dog for you
Introducing your dog to its new home
Overcoming separation anxiety
Walking on a leash
Dealing with behavioral problems
Grooming
And much more

Customer Reviews:

Best training book ever! .......2007-10-04

This book was reccomended to me by a friend when I bought my two puppies and I had them trained before they were 3 months old. You have to remember that the tecniques in this book are a way of life and you must continue to do them at all times. You get used to it and it becomes second nature and the outcome is very rewarding. Puppies can be very frustrating to train but by using this book, I am actually enjoying the energy of my pups and they are respecting me.

7 IMPROVEMENTS.......2007-09-19

Jan Fennell deserves high accolades for this book and 30-day training manual! I have 7 dogs and after 4 weeks, the change is very noticeable. I have largely achieved the behavior I want with 7 dogs inside the home and they are much improved in the back yard. Soon I will move on to the car and the world outside. Traditional dog training classes just didn't cut the mustard - there was little if no discussion on how to have your dog look to you as its leader. I so enjoyed Jan's informative, fast-reading, couldn't-put-it-down book that I am reading it a second time. It's almost as if she could read your mind as to problems and questions we owners have with our dogs and the frustration we are faced with not knowing how to solve them. I only wish more people in the U.S. knew about Jan like they do about Cesar Millan. Maybe her time is coming!

"Must have" for any dog owner!!.......2007-07-03

This book was recommended to me by my dog trainer, and I am so glad! I use this book so much - Jan really understands dogs. She has the solution to any training issue or behavioral difficulty you can think of. It's all about thinking like a dog, and trying to relate to them in order to understand and work with them more effectively. Training is so much easier and quicker when you apply her methods! And the dogs seem happier and more relaxed, just like she says! I would highly recommend this book to anyone who owns a dog, or is thinking about buying a dog!

Effective. Helps establish foundation for training your dog!.......2007-04-16

A must read for all dog owners. Helps you to establish leadership within your "pack" using her 4 basic principals. I used this book as a building block to understand my dogs and establish an "Alpha" position within my pack. Once this is established, it makes training a lot easier. Other good books for understanding your dogs are "Other End of the Leash" and "Power of Positive Dog Training". For basic training I recommend "Clicking with Your Dogs" and Karen Pyor's "Clicker Training for Dogs."

New perspective for me!.......2007-04-03

We are expecting a new puppy later this year and I've been educating myself on being a responsible and informed owner. We always had dogs, cats, lizards, rabbits and such growing up. I didn't think about it until I read this book but several of our dogs had, shall we say some interesting habits. Jan Fennell shares a little of the common history man shares with our beloved dogs, as well as what happens in a wolf pack in the wild. I have to say that my entire perspective regarding dogs behaviour and training have changed. Now, I see people walking their dogs or rather the dogs walking their human and I understand what their relationship is all about. I can't wait for our new puppy and so look forward to a happy and healthy life for her. If you want to know and love your dog on a whole new, healthier level this is a must read.

p.s. If you haven't already, please read up on a raw diet for your dog.

Man and Nature in the Renaissance (Cambridge Studies in the History of Science)

Average customer rating:

A chronicle of Science

Man and Nature in the Renaissance (Cambridge Studies in the History of Science)
Allen George Debus
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Science | Subjects | Books

General | History & Philosophy | Science | Subjects | Books

History of Science | History & Philosophy | Science | Subjects | Books

General & Reference | Technology | Science | Subjects | Books

History of Technology | Technology | Science | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Science | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0521293286

Book Description

Man and Nature in the Renaissance offers an introduction to science and medicine during the earlier phases of the scientific revolution, from the mid-fifteenth century to the mid-seventeenth century. Renaissance science has frequently been approached in terms of the progress of the exact sciences of mathematics and astronomy, to the neglect of the broader intellectual context of the period. Conversely, those authors who have emphasized the latter frequently play down the importance of the technical scientific developments. In this book, Professor Debus amalgamates these approaches: The exact sciences of the period are discussed in detail, but reference is constantly made to religious and philosophical concepts that play little part in the science of our own time. Thus, the renewed interest in mystical texts and the subsequent impact of alchemy, astrology, and natural magic on the development of modern science and medicine are central to the account. Major themes that are followed throughout the book include the effects of humanism, the search for a new method of science, and the dialogue between proponents of the mystical-occult world view and the mathematical-observational approach to nature.

Customer Reviews:

A chronicle of Science.......2000-02-07

I almost never read books about man and nature in the renaisance, and this was one of the best ones I have read, if not one of the very best. Read up!

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