Ever since Adam and Eve: The Evolution of Human Sexuality [Paperback]

Malcolm Potts (Author), Roger Short (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 28, 1999

Eminent scientists Malcolm Potts and Roger Short view the broad panorama of human sexual and reproductive behaviour to reveal an inextricable mixture of nature and nurture - a combination of innate actions which have evolved over the millennia to adapt us to a nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle, overlain by more recent cultural constraints imposed by civilization. For each of life's milestones - sexual intercourse, conception, pregnancy, birth, puberty, love, marriage, parenting, menopause and death - they describe the biology behind our actions and consider how pressures imposed by various historical and contemporary cultures have further influenced our behaviour. By looking back at the past they attempt to make sense of the present, to see how and why these cultural modifications arose, how they have contributed to the richness of human sexual behaviour, and what our biological and cultural inheritance can teach us about safeguarding the continuation of our species.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"Many people have sex in mind a great deal of the time." Authors Malcolm Potts and Roger Short spent more than 15 years trying to understand and explain these passions. While not fully embracing biological determinism--that destiny is simply written in the genes--Potts and Short believe that evolutionary biology can help explain human behavior. In this book they focus on milestones in life's cycle, such as love, marriage, sex, pregnancy, birth, parenting, divorce, and death. Each of these complex behaviors is studied in turn and analyzed for its biological foundations and centuries of cultural modifications. Nearly 100 illustrations lend support to the authors' theories, and dozens of fascinating sidebars go into greater depth about everything from Siamese twins and cloning to wet-nursing and Viagra.

The book is not without its flaws: the authors' belief that most behaviors are biologically based leads them to make sexist conclusions at times--for example, they argue that a woman's interest in sports must primarily stem from a desire to please her man. They also maintain that evolutionary biology can suggest solutions to some of our most difficult problems, without suggesting what these solutions (or, indeed, problems) may be. That said, the authors do an excellent job of teasing out the twisted strands of nature and nurture that make us who we are. Though scholars may find the lack of footnotes frustrating, Ever Since Adam and Eve will pique the interest of educated readers. --C.B. Delaney

From Library Journal

Potts (public health, Univ. of California, Berkeley) and Short (perinatal medicine, Univ. of Melbourne) "hope to show that there is little in the natural world that cannot be explained by biological evolution." Beginning with Darwinian theory and applying findings from the field of primate behavior, the authors attempt to make sense of the complexities of human sexuality for the lay reader. examining birth, puberty, love, marriage, sex, conception, pregnancy, parenting, menopause, and death. Unfortunately, they add little to the existing literature. Peculiarly organized, often blithely superficial and incomplete, filled with repetition and redundancy, unsupported generalizations, and stereotypes, their book is also peppered with errors of fact and interpretation and opinions masquerading as science, e.g., "Individuals with a homosexual orientation must be continually recruited by some process from parents with a normal heterosexual orientation." Not recommended.?James E. Van Buskirk, San Francisco P.L.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 268 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (February 28, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521644046
• ISBN-13: 978-0521644044
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #707,553 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning summary of the human condition from then to now, July 12, 1999

By 

Donald A. Collins "Free Lance Writer" (Washington, DC, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ever since Adam and Eve: The Evolution of Human Sexuality (Paperback)

Of course there is nothing new under the sun...or is there? Better read this often funny, frequently irreverent book with remarkable sexual pictures and graphics. New syntheses must draw on past information. Like any masterpiece, these authors took lifetimes to acquire and understand the knowledge they now offer us in this complex, yet easy to read scientific recitation of human and other sexual histories. The book tells you about our evolutionary hsitory, that we are indeed descended from earlier animals and even earlier forms of life. They document that the main evolutionary drive for humans and mammals generally has been and is SEX, for the key to our existence is the need to produce the BEST next generation. For many this book will prove an epiphany of understanding, a creation of more reverence for life, but one not based on the mythology of religion, but on the clear facts of science. Don't miss it.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ever Since Adam and Eve, March 20, 2000

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Alison M. Mcdonald (Toowoomba, Qld Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ever since Adam and Eve: The Evolution of Human Sexuality (Paperback)

This book is a MUST for anyone who considers themselves an unbiassed thinker. If only there were a text like this when I was in college. It will appeal to anyone interested in anthropology, sociology and/or zoology. You don't have to agree with the arguments of the authors as they are the flavour enhancers of the proverbial "food for thought". The beauty of this book is it's personal affect of invading your waking and sleeping hours with questions. Wonderfully stimulating, the best thing I have read in AGES. What a legacy.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful, easily readable overview of human sexuality., May 17, 1999

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[e-mail] (Pasadena, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ever since Adam and Eve: The Evolution of Human Sexuality (Paperback)

"Ever Since Adam and Eve: the Evoluation of Human Sexuality" presents a comprehensive and fast reading review of the biological, cultural, historical and religious context in which sexuality and sexual practices have evolved over time. The text traces the origins of sexual practices from prehistory to the latest developments in genetic and human reproduction advancements. The authors have pioneered in breast feeding research, public health, family planning, population and AIDS prevention programs. The book is full of good humor. Anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, historians, public health professionals, demographers and biologists will want to use this book in their course curriculum.