Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters: From Dating, Shopping, and Praying to Going to War and Becoming a Billionaire-- Two Evolutionary Psychologists Explain Why We Do What We Do (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Satoshi Kanazawa (Author) "This book is about human nature..." (more)
Key Phrases: evolutionary psychological logic, higher fitness ceiling, greater fitness variance, Standard Social Science Model, United States, The Good (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

That mouthful of a title says it all. According to Kanazawa, a media-savvy researcher whose studies of beautiful people have been covered by the BBC and the New York Times, and the late Miller, a professor of social psychology, evolutionary psychology explains almost everything about human behavior. Proponents of what they call the Standard Social Science Model believe that the human mind is exempt from biological pressures, while evolutionary psychologists hold that people are an animal species driven by animal needs. The authors suggest that human evolution stopped when agriculture began changing the world much faster than the world could change us, and now 10,000-year-old impulses to find the right mate and produce healthy offspring control nearly every aspect of our existence, from choosing jobs to religious belief. This accessible book opens the youthful field of evolutionary psychology wide for examination, with results often as disturbing as they are fascinating. (Sept. 4)
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Review

That mouthful of a title says it all. According to Kanazawa, a media- savvy researcher whose studies of "beautiful people" have been covered by the BBC and the New York Times, and the late Miller, a professor of social psychology, evolutionary psychology explains almost everything about human behavior. Proponents of what they call "the Standard Social Science Model" believe that the human mind is exempt from biological pressures, while evolutionary psychologists hold that people are an animal species driven by animal needs. The authors suggest that human evolution stopped when agriculture began changing the world much faster than the world could change us, and now 10,000-year-old impulses to find the right mate and produce healthy offspring control nearly every aspect of our existence, from choosing jobs to religious belief. This accessible book opens the youthful field of evolutionary psychology wide for examination, with results often as disturbing as they are fascinating. (Publishers Weekly)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 252 pages
• Publisher: Perigee Trade (September 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399533656
• ISBN-13: 978-0399533655
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #409,635 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

202 of 206 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most fun I've had with non-fiction in some time , December 31, 2007

By	David J. Lang - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Although some of the theories are still in fledgling stages and research is thin, they are none the less compelling and exciting to read about. Then again, many of the other theories have been well researched, peer-reviewed and tested. The author(s) do a good job of pointing out the evidence, validity, and assumptions regarding each. The format is simple and intuitive, very well put together. This book is basically a primer for people interested in evolutionary psychology with some fascinating insight and entertaining bits of information thrown in. It's excellent and I seriously couldn't put it down. I read the book from cover to cover in less then three days.

Warning: This book is not PC. The author(s) make a well argued case for this up front. Some of the material can be offensive to some people but the true message is the evidence of science, not our emotional reactions to it. If you can let go of your emotional attachments to a few social paradigms and review the evidence logically, you'll be OK. If not, this may not be the book for you. By the way, it does not confirm any particular racial biases or abilities, etc. Quite the opposite. It exposes that the cultural kit and the abilities we share are universal across all of humanity. So no, this is no eugenics revival or anything sad and unscientific like that.

The other issue I've noticed with certain readers is that they apply a very egotistical view to the theories. For example, I don't personally like blonds any more than brunettes. I am a statistical anomaly, just like many other people are. Simply because I don't share the majority view point of subjects tested the world over, does not mean that the results of the testing are invalid or that a trend significant enough to warrant some explaining does not exist. I keep hearing things like 'Hey, I don't like blonds! This is wrong!' Anyway, you can see the fallacy in that.

Take theories and hypotheses presented in this book for what they are based upon the research and evidence presented, not your gut reaction to the outcomes. Of course further rational explanations will evolve as further studies are taken and new evidence is uncovered. That's the nature of the scientific process!

Anyway, very fun read. I really enjoyed it.

214 of 220 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "What would a savanna-raised primate do?", September 3, 2007

By	Robert Schmidt (Honolulu, HI & Logan, UT USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

What happens when two psychologists write a book on why people do the things they do?

It gets a loooong title: Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters: From Dating, Shopping, and Praying to Going to War and Becoming a Billionaire-- Two Evolutionary Psychologists Explain Why We Do What We Do.

This book, written primarily by Alan Miller, has, as its core, a commitment to the Savanna Principle: "The human brain has difficulty comprehending and dealing with entities and situations that did not exist in the ancestral environment" (p. 21).

In other words, look to humans (or early hominids) hundreds of thousands of years ago to get a clue to why, well, if Hillary Clinton is elected President of the US, she will not have an affair.

Intriguing?

This book is going to irritate some, be the subject of water cooler conversations, be involved in harassment complaints (seriously... someone is going to use the "Savanna Principle defense"), and hit the Jay Leno show. How can it not, when it is rich with topics like:

- The human "semen displacement device" (p. 85).
- The "horny sister hypothesis" (p. 181).
- The myth of the midlife crisis (p. 140).
- Why most suicide bombers are Muslim (p. 165).
- Why do children love their parents (p. 187).

The authors revisit early humans in the savanna. What strategies, environmentally and genetically based, lead to humans making more copies of themselves than other strategies ("genetic fitness"). How did natural selection affect humans from the shoulders up?

When I first read the "Savanna Principle" ( "The human brain has difficulty comprehending and dealing with entities and situations that did not exist in the ancestral environment"), I immediately thought of some very non-savanna issues: flying a F-22 Raptor, performing Shakespeare, developing open heart surgery... very non-ancestral environment human activities and accomplishments. I would say that the human brain does not have difficulties here. We are very trainable. Yet the focus of this book is on our interactions with other people, particularly male-female interactions.

I was immediately reminded of an earlier book titled Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine, by Randolph Nesse and George C. Williams. They also took the view that we can better understand human health and sickness with a "Savanna Principle" approach.

The book is really hypothesis based. There are many ideas here, some of which will be found to be untrue, but others will be found to be true. These hypotheses are out there for scientists to investigate. In fact, just this morning there was an article in the newspaper that indicated researchers had proven (this will be debatable) that men are attracted to good-looking women, while women are attracted to good providers.

What would a savanna-raised primate do?

124 of 125 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Explains a Lot, January 9, 2008

By	Mountain Man - See all my reviews

This book is clearly written and a quick, easy read. Many of the main arguments are backed by solid research and logic. Some of the theories seem to be a stretch, which is to be expected in a new, rapidly expanding body of knowledge. This book provides some of the best explanations of human behavior I have come across. The world seems a little less confusing to me after reading this book.