Product 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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4494 in Books
• Published on: 2003-05-01
• Released on: 2003-04-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Why do we have sex? One of the main biological reasons, contends Ridley, is to combat disease. By constantly combining and recombining genes every generation, people "keep their genes one step ahead of their parasites," thereby strengthening resistance to bacteria and viruses that cause deadly diseases or epidemics. Called the "Red Queen Theory" by biologists after the chess piece in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass which runs but stays in the same place, this hypothesis is just one of the controversial ideas put forth in this witty, elegantly written inquiry. Ridley, a London-based science writer and a former editor of the Economist , argues that men are polygamous for the obvious reason that whichever gender has to spend the most time and energy creating and rearing offspring tends to avoid extra mating. Women, though far less interested in multiple partners, will commit adultery if stuck with a mediocre mate. In Ridley's not wholly convincing conclusion, even human intellect is chalked up to sex: virtuosity, individuality, inventiveness and related traits are what make people sexually attractive. Photos. BOMC and QPB alternates.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
This is a fascinating book filled with lucid prose and seductive reasoning. Freelance science writer Ridley reaches into the literature of genetics; molecular, theoretical and evolutionary biology; ecology; sociology; and anthropology to weave an extraordinary tale of the evolution of human nature, beginning with the evolution of sex. Using Lewis Carroll's Red Queen (who runs as fast as she can to stay in the same place) as a metaphor for evolution, Ridley shows how sex was the result of an evolutionary arms race between hosts and their disease-causing parasites. Ridley covers so much ground that transitions may be abrupt or unclear, particularly in the last two chapters; also, his review of human homosexuality is thin. His occasionally pompous style (including his immediate dismissal of those who do not believe in evolution) may offend some readers. However, Ridley clearly explains many complex and remarkable concepts for a wide audience. Highly recommended.
- Constance Rinaldo, Dartmouth Coll., Hanover, N.H.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
A former editor of The Economist asks how sexual selection has molded human nature. The title here alludes to a scene in Lewis Carroll in which Alice and the Red Queen run as fast as possible to remain in the same place. Ridley looks first at current thinking on why sexual reproduction exists at all, when many organisms manage quite well without it. The answer has to do with disease: a species must rebuild its defenses from one generation to the next merely to keep from falling behind in the race against opportunistic viruses. Sex, by allowing a new shuffle of the genetic material with each generation, improves the chance of survival. But the predators also improve with each generation, so the race (vide Lewis Carroll) is never over. Turning to animals, Ridley describes mating patterns with an eye as to whether mates are selected for health and vigor, or for esthetics. He concludes that both play a role: neither sickly fashion-plates nor healthy wallflowers will pass on their genes as often as those who combine both beauty and health. Given the contrast between a brief sexual act and long years of child- rearing, aggressive males will tend to have more children, while nurturing women will have healthier ones. Those who select mates with these qualities will transmit them to ensuing generations, along with other qualities affecting offspring survival. Ridley contends--not a popular thesis in recent decades--that such genetic programming is far more central to human nature than social conditioning. Extensively researched, clearly written: one of the best introductions to its fascinating and controversial subject. (Notes, bibliography, index; eight pages of photos--not seen) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

The Red Queen
"The Red Queen" by Matt Ridley. A review by Ralph Hermansen.
I would buy Matt Ridley's next book without hesitation, no matter what the topic. He is one of the few authors who thoroughly researches his subject and understands the science underlying it. He then delivers the information to you in an interesting way. You certainly get your money's worth in his books.

"The Red Queen" is about the evolutionary forces which has shaped us as human beings. The significance of Lewis Carroll's Red Queen from the book, "Alice in Wonderland", is that we have to run just to stand still. So it is with evolution. We have to improve our survival skills over the generations to keep pace with the other plants and animals which are also advancing in their survival skills.

Much of what we are as humans has to do with sexual selection. Charles Darwin introduced the concept of natural selection in his book, "Origin of the Species", but he devoted an even greater deal of space to his concept of sexual selection in his book, "The Descent of Man". No matter how superior you are in survival abilities, it is all for naught if you do not pass those traits on to your offspring. Therefore mating is vitally important. You must be attractive to the opposite sex and this manifests itself in diverse ways amongst the animals. Moreover, sexual selection may create traits that seem to work against survivability. The peacock would certainly be better served with a smaller, less ornate tail, which makes him a more obvious target for predators.

Ridley picks up where Darwin left off and explores the sexuality of humans as they have evolved from apes and gradually became a big brained animal over millions of years of evolution. He has incorporated most of the ideas of modern scientists related to this subject. Men are attracted to beauty and women are attracted to powerful men, who can provide for them. In the animal kingdom, the female selects the male with the best traits and the males are willing to mate with most any female in heat. The case has become different for modern humans because human babies are helpless far longer than in normal in the animal kingdom. This is a consequence of out massive brain, which must continue developing outside the womb.

One part of the book did leave me surprised. Ridley got so caught up in his analysis of what women would do in selecting men that he surmised that women would rarely engage in opportunistic sex as it is against their self interest. Mr. Ridley, if you had been single and dating in California in the 1970's, you would soon realize how very mistaken you are. Many women had decided that they were now equal to men and could enjoy the same pleasures and they did. A few years later, fear of AIDS put an end to this libertine period. Alas!

Aside from that mistaken projection, the Red Queen book is excellent and I think you will enjoy reading it. Ralph Hermansen 10/04/08

Superb Book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This book gives us a glimpse of our true nature. It explains us many urges that we have and destroys many myths that we have. Matt Ridley have made a significant contribution toward mankind. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Picking up where The Selfish Gene left off....
With a casual disregard for political correctness, the post-feminist generation is reintroduced to basic human nature. What for millenia was taken for granted as so fundamental that it needed no explanation, became the height of impropriety to mention in polite company. In fact, it's been a bizarre inversion of reality that's taken hold as the popular opinion in society. Because it's soft and cuddly and non-offensive and doesn't threaten to hurt the feewings of the poor widdle wadies out there.

There is no greater testament to our ability to suspend disbelief then the denial of human nature on such an elemental, such a rudimentary level. When Ridley dropped this book like a bomb in the mid-90's at the height of the PC movement, it was like the lone voice of reason in a sandstorm of blather. That we should have to go to such lengths - all the way down to the DNA, just to demonstrate common sense is nothing short of absurd.

A magnificent work of popular science. Instantly a modern classic. Eminently accessible to the laity, well written, engaging and entertaining. Any sex education curriculum would stand to benefit more from the inclusion of this book, then any other save a text on health and safety. Don't expect to see it on your school district's reading list any time soon though. But that doesn't mean you can't give it to you adolescent age child.