Human Sperm Competition: Copulation, Masturbation and Infidelity [Hardcover]

R.R. Baker (Author), M.A. Bellis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 31, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0412454300 | ISBN-13: 978-0412454301 | Edition: 1

Behavioural ecologists and evolutionary biologists have long been interested in the biological implications of sperm from different males competing for fertilization of the egg in the female tract. This book discusses these implications for human sexual behaviour and human infertility problems.

Editorial Reviews

Review

immense amount of information ... carefully documented - Nature; ...the book is difficult to put down. There can be few people who are not fascinated by their own sexual behaviour and the attempt here is to place the whole thing in an evolutionary framework determined, and driven, by sperm competiton. Baker and Bellis may not be always right, but it is a hell of a good story. - Heredity; Human Sperm Competition: Copulation, Masturbation and Infidelity...opens up a previously unexplored area of research in human sexuality...The result is something remarkable - a genuinely new book about sex. - The Independent; For years I have not read such an important and capivating book which on one hand deals with everyday behaviour and on the other hand connects with the best of the Darwinian approach. - Galileo; Their ideas are novel and their research has taken them into areas where many others have been reluctant to tread. Trends in Ecology and Evolution.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 376 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (December 31, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0412454300
• ISBN-13: 978-0412454301
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,475,001 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

For video interviews and a wider-ranging biography, to read both praise for and criticism of his books, and to see the controversies they have triggered, visit www.robin-baker.com.

Dr Robin Baker was born in Wiltshire, England in 1944, and grew up in the small village of Manningford Bruce in the Vale of Pewsey. The tiny 2-room school he attended had fewer than 30 pupils, with all the under 7s taught in one room and all the 7-11 year olds in the other. Between the ages of 11 and 18 he attended the nearby Marlborough Grammar School where coincidentally, 30 years earlier, the author William Golding had also been educated; all later pupils were expected to be very familiar with Golding's classic book LORD OF THE FLIES.

After obtaining a First Class Honours degree in Zoology, then a PhD, at the University of Bristol, Robin Baker lectured in Zoology at the Universities of first Newcastle-upon-Tyne and then Manchester where, in 1981, he became Reader in Zoology in the School of Biological Sciences. In 1996 he left academic life to concentrate on his career in writing and broadcasting.

He has published over one hundred scientific papers and many books. These include the international bestseller SPERM WARS which was based on his own lab's original research on human sexuality and which has so far been translated into 23 languages. His work and ideas on the evolution of human behaviour have been featured in many television programmes around the world.

His first novel PRIMAL - described by many as an adult LORD OF THE FLIES - was published in the UK and USA in 2009. In 2010-11 it will also be published in translation in Holland, Israel, France, Brazil and the Czech Republic.

Since 2002 he has lived in the foothills of the Spanish Sierras with his partner, the writer Elizabeth Oram, and their family. He has six children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A look at the future, May 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Human Sperm Competition: Copulation, Masturbation and Infidelity (Hardcover)

The accomplishments of Baker & Bellis, summarized nicely in this textbook treatment, are stunning and underappreciated. B&B present a strong case that our reproductive physiology and behavior evidence a degree of adaptive, strategic sophistication that should both thrill and embarass anyone who holds an evolutionary view of human behavior.

Thrill, because rarely in evolutionary literature have this many surprising details been assembled that argue so compellingly for an evolutionary view (and resist so completely the usual alternatives of random culture or passive socialization). Embarass, because this research plainly runs against the grain of the accepted gospel of American evolutionary psychology by showing that the unconsious processing of our evolved neural systems does not always consist of clucky, outdated, Pleistocene if-then routines, but can exhibit genuinely adaptive, environmentally contingent, creative, strategic intelligence -- even in the face of novel technological advances like modern birth control.

The only really unfortunate thing about B&B's work is that they themselves don't draw the psychological conclusions that seem to follow from their work. Here, as well as in Baker's popular books (Sperm Wars, Baby Wars, and the recent Sex in the Future), B&B are content to draw an odd distinction between the conscious agent and its body, and to assign our evolved strategies to the latter (leading to strange statements like "You may want to do this, but your body wants you to do that").

At any rate, mark my words: In 30 years those of us who are serious about evolutionary approaches to human behavior will list B&B's Human Sperm Competition among the most important works of the 20th century (and we will shake our heads the same way we do today about Mendel, wondering how in the world it took everyone so long to figure out that this stuff is a big deal). If you are engaged in research on mating or sexual strategies, do yourself a favor and get this book. And when you read it, keep one question is mind: What has to be true of human minds in order for B&B to have made these findings? It is a rare opportunity to glimpse the future of mind science.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars 10 years on, October 20, 2006

By 

Amanda Dixson "Prof Alan Dixson" (New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Human Sperm Competition: Copulation, Masturbation and Infidelity (Hardcover)

It is now 10 years since this book was published. Surprisingly, it is still cited positively, especially by some evolutionary psychologists, along with citations of the Baker and Bellis papers in "Animal Behaviour", published in the 1990's. I say "surprisingly" because , in the intervening years, a substantial number of publications has appeared which fail to support many of the conclusions reached by Baker and Bellis concerning human sperm competition."Khamikaze sperm" , for example , don't exist in human beings...or at least Moore et al found no evidence to support the view that some human sperm block or interfere with those of other males( the paper was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B...which has stringent reviewing standards). The is no evidence that men with larger testes are more likely to engage in extra-pair copulations ( Simmons et al published a very good study on this in Animal Behaviour in 2004). As for female orgasm , and Baker And Bellis bizarre views on its functions...I recommend Elizabeth Lloyd's book on this topic, as a much needed critique of theories for the evolution of orgasm in women. As a primatologist I could never reconcile the animal evidence with Baker and Bellis ideas either. Over the years reputable experts in the field of sperm competition....such as Birkhead, Gomendio and Roldan, Harcourt, and Short , have pointed out the deficiencies in Baker and Bellis work.
Yet it is still cited, and has entered the textbooks in some cases....presumably to the detriment of students who are exposed to this material as if it represented the established facts of human physiology. A number of evolutionary psychologists are particularly at fault in this respect.The history of science teaches that truth always emerges in the end. Such is the case with human sperm competition....no doubt it occurs, but how often and whether it has shaped human evolution still needs clarification.The reader will not find reliable answers to these questions in Baker and Bellis book.

Alan Dixson D.Sc.

5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The genetic basis for human behaviour demonstrated!, March 9, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Human Sperm Competition: Copulation, Masturbation and Infidelity (Hardcover)

Suddenly sociobiology comes to life! If you had any doubts about human sexual behaviour, or suffered from political correctness, this will set you to rights. It is indeed a seminal book.