Monkeyluv: And Other Essays on Our Lives as Animals
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Manufacturer: Scribner
Written By: Robert M. Sapolsky
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 612
EAN: 9780743260169
ISBN: 0743260163
Label: Scribner
Manufacturer: Scribner
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 224
Publication Date: 2005-09-15
Publisher: Scribner
Studio: Scribner
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Editorial Reviews for Monkeyluv: And Other Essays on Our Lives as Animals
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How do imperceptibly small differences in the environment change one's behavior? What is the anatomy of a bad mood? Does stress shrink our brains? What does People magazine's list of America's "50 Most Beautiful People" teach us about nature and nurture? What makes one organism sexy to another? What makes one orgasm different from another? Who will be the winner in the genetic war between the sexes? Welcome to Monkeyluv, a curious and entertaining collection of essays about the human animal in all its fascinating variety, from Robert M. Sapolsky, America's most beloved neurobiologist/primatologist. Organized into three sections, each tackling a Big Question in natural science, Monkeyluv offers a lively exploration of the influence of genes and the environment on behavior; the social and political -- and, of course, sexual -- implications of behavioral biology; and society's shaping of the individual. From the mating rituals of prairie dogs to the practice of religion in the rain forest, the secretion of pheromones to bugs in the brain, Sapolsky brilliantly synthesizes cutting-edge scientific research with wry, erudite observations about the enormous complexity of simply being human. Thoughtful, engaging, and infused with pop-cultural insights, this collection will appeal to the inner monkey in all of us.
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Consumer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: creationism takes a beating
Comment: with clarity and humor the author explains evolutionary theories in a scientific and readable manner. thought provoking, entertaining and concise. good for discussion groups and book clubs.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Variable
Comment: This collection of essays starts out by rehashing nature/nurture arguments that ought to be widely understood by now, but then becomes mostly entertaining and occasionally quite informative.
He mentions one interesting study (Cunningham and Russell, "Egg investment is influenced by male attractiveness in the mallard)) which questions sexual selection arguments put forward by Geoffrey Miller and others about animals selecting mates with better genes. The study shows that female Mallards produce stronger offspring after mating with more attractive males because they invest more resources in those eggs, rather than because of anything that seems connected to the genes provided by the males.
He helps explain the attraction of gambling by describing experiments which show larger dopamine releases due to rewards that are most uncertain (the subject thinks they have a 50% chance of happening) than is released when there's more certainty (e.g. either a 25% chance or a 75% chance) of the same reward.
One place where I was disappointed was when he described "repressive personalities", which he made seem quite similar to Aspergers, and made me wonder whether I fit his description. "dislike novelty"? My reaction to novelty is sufficiently context-dependent that any answer is plausible. "prefer structure and predictability"? Yes and usually. "poor at expressing emotions or at reading the nuances of emotions in other people"? That's me. "can tell you what they're having for dinner two weeks from Thursday"? I could probably predict 5 days in advance with 50% accuracy, so I'm probably closer than most people. So I Googled and found another description (mentioning the same researcher that Sapolsky mentioned) in the Sciences and find descriptions of "repressive personality" that seem wildly different from me ("a strong personal need for social conformity" and "agreement with statements framed as absolutes, statements loaded with the words never and always"). Who wrote this competing description? Wait, it's the same Sapolsky! It looks like his current description reuses a small piece of an older article with inadequate thought to whether it's complete enough.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Too much fun for such a serious book
Comment: No one comes colose to sapolsky in having fun with genetics and evolutionary science. This set of essays is just a blast.
Customer Rating:
Summary: no surprise
Comment: It should come as no surprise that Monkeyluv, as with all of Sapolsky's books, is a masterpiece. There is no better science writer of our day.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Delightful
Comment: I have never read anything by Sapolsky before. Now that I have he goes right to the top of my list with Richard Dawkins and Desmond Morris.
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More Information on Monkeyluv: And Other Essays on Our Lives as Animals
Powell's Books - Monkeyluv: And Other Essays on Our Lives as Animals ...
How do imperceptibly small differences in the environment change one's behavior? What is the anatomy of a bad mood? Does stress shrink our brains? What does "People" magazine's ...
Monkeyluv: And Other Essays on Our Lives as Animals -- LENZENWEGER 164 ...
Am J Psychiatry 164:1443, September 2007 doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2007.07071138 © 2007 American Psychiatric Association
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Octavo, dustwrapper, 209 pp. This fascinating collection of essays exposes us as the animals that we are while explaining behaviours that are deeply and recognizably human.
Robert Sapolsky - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Monkeyluv: And Other Essays on Our Lives as Animals By Robert M. Sapolsky in Hardcover at Simon & Schuster Canada
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Monkeyluv: And Other Essays on Our Lives as Animals By Robert M. Sapolsky in Trade Paperback at Simon & Schuster Canada
eBooks.com - Monkeyluv: And Other Essays on Our Lives as Animals eBook
The human animal in all its fascinating quirks of nature is showcased in this thoughtful and entertaining essay collection from America's most beloved neurobiologist/primatologist.