Perhaps the better way of putting what "Sex and war" is about is quoting a question that the author poses at the last section of the book: "Why do we humans, remarkably social animals with extremely large brains, spend so much energy on one thing--deliberately and systematically killing other members of our species?" In fact, this question that guides the work along its fifteen chapters, from "Sex and war" through "Civilization at its best." And to me at least, the question not only is answered but also re-elaborated in order to propose a solution to this authentic and ominous conundrum.
Our biology emerges in several and disruptive manners. And it does all the time. We need to acknowledge that if we want to save the world, our world, we cannot let biology govern our decisions --biology is not destiny. So the authors give us a guide, a very appealing one, to find a way towards the future. I guess that the lessons of this book, being just a handful, contains the simplicity that normally is the best indicator of truth.
So what the reader should know before deciding if buying or not this book it is that this is a very interesting and entertained essay. But not only that. The book has been written by two authors, both of them with a notorious pedigree on science and journalism. Dr. Potts is the main author and what impressed me more is that he has lived almost any single line he has written. I mean, he has been there, in the same places where the war and the violence it brings has taken place. But as everyone knows, this is not enough. You need, as the author, to have an acute mind and a proper insight to test what you think, once and again, for breaking the thick wall of the prejudices, our own as the others.
Not an easy task, indeed.
Thus, if you expect to find what the title of the book says, you'll find it, believe me. If you are interested in history, you'll feel accomplished. If you read detectives novels, this book will work for you too. If you are a passive citizen, it will shake you (perhaps a little bit). If you are a politician, I hope it will let you think deeper than usual (especially if you are a Chilean politician). If you do not know what to think about birth control, then this is a chance to make up your mind. And if you want to know why women are our last (or almost last) hope for not ruin the world, this book is the place to start.
Five full stars.
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