Customer Reviews

Primate Sexuality: Comparative Studies of the Prosimians, Monkeys, Apes, and Human Beings

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Dixson pulls together an unbelievable amount of information in this book. After presenting good background on sexual selection and mating systems, he launches into a review of anything you could want to know about primate mating behavior and the mechanistic basis for it. I read this book for a graduate seminar. It is highly recommended as a resource to anthropologists, biologists, primatologists for info on topics as varied as ovarian cycles in New World monkeys to axillary organs in gorillas.

Dixson's book is a very good collection of the published works of others and makes a very handy reference for students of primate sexuality. The text was thorough and included a review of neuroendocrine systems in nonhuman primates, which is especially useful to anyone considering the molecular basis of sexual behavior. It is a technical, comprehensive text and is especially useful in outlining the gaps in our understanding. All in all, an excellent addition to the library of a primatologist.

"On more than 500 pages, with more than 2000 references, many tables, and hundreds of beautiful illustrations,Dixson provides a fascinating, comprehensive, up-to-date and unparalleled synthesis of our current knowledge about primate sexuality ." Andreas Paul University of Gottingen, Germany.

As far as I am aware this is the only book of its type. The sexuality of primates, including humans, is covered. From evolution to mating systems, copulatory patterns to genitalic morphology, sperm competition to hormones and behavior. There are plenty of illustrations, photographs and tables.

This is an essential reference book for primatologists, providing information from over 2000 sources and a technical depth that is clear and accessible. Highly recommended.

Alan Dixson has drawn together an impressive body of literature in this landmark volume. The book takes a comparative perspective, seeking a seamless review from prosimians through humans, and viewing this taxonomic diversity from a Darwinian and phylogenetic perspective. Primate sexuality is an essential starting point in this field and a must for every primatologist's library.

"It is going to be and extremely important source of information and ideas for many years. There is no other book like it for primates, and I suspect none for any other Order." Professor A.H. Harcourt, UC Davis, USA.