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I had always wanted to learn more about Trivers after seeing how often his work was referenced. His foundational ideas have had a lot of power in shaping my views about human nature and life in general. I really enjoyed reading this very personal account of a life with much drama and insight. Trivers lays himself bare with an honesty he has probably cultivated after decades of studying self-deception. The insight into the wacky Jamaican life and the human behavior he witnessed there was likely as important a form of field research as the lizards he went there to study.
Being new to Trivers and his theories, I wasn't sure of what to expect. Some VERY amusing anecdotes and a decent amount of science thrown in -- enough to make me want to look at his more scholarly work. Definitely entertaining and I'm glad I read it.
When I was an undergraduate student, I had a class taught by Robert Trivers. I don't recall the exact name of this course, it was something along the lines of evolutionary biology 101, however I do recall being very fascinated by the subject. The class really opened up my mind to this field and led me to read many other influential thinkers such as Dawkins, Pinker, Wilson, etc.
I was quite pleasantly surprised to have accidentally come across Triver’s autobiographical book The Wildlife. I bought it on the spot and started reading it almost immediately. About a third into the book, I realized that this is not quite what I expected.
What I thought I would be getting was a thorough reflection and exposition on his life’s work, development of his theories, some new ideas, or maybe interesting speculation about the massive influence he had on the field. To be clear, I wasn’t looking for an academic text, but rather something with a more pop sci flavor, directly from the source. What I got instead was largely a collection of amusing anecdotes about his life in Jamaica and various adventures and mishaps. At most, only 15% of the book was devoted to his life’s work and even less to the reflection of his ideas and contributions to the field.
The anecdotes and stories he tells are pretty interesting, albeit quite repetitive in their setting. And the book is generally well written and entertaining, however the content is not at all what I expected. I was also very disappointed that he hasn’t mentioned a single word about his tenure at Rutgers, where he has spent the last 20 years or so.
If you are looking for a collection of entertaining and witty anecdotes and adventures, then perhaps this would be a good book for you. Although the adventure genre is already saturated with much more interesting titles. However, if you, like me, were looking for a thoughtful book about the Triver’s ideas, you are likely to be rather disappointed.
This has to be hardest book I've ever reviewed. Both because of it's highly-effective belligerent attitude and because it matches my own general attitude toward life.
The pervasive attitude is, 'here's all the blood and guts of my life, not that's it's really any of your business'. I have to admire that after wading through so much prose that's trying to soft soap me or put a happy little spin on everything.
As for the content itself, the author does give you interesting glimpses into life among the intellectual elite. His intermittent bouts of bipolar mental illness are also interesting. He also tells fairly interesting stories of his years living in Jamaica. But he's not that great a story teller and his obsession with justice erodes much of the substance of the Jamaica stories. And this also holds true of his account of his time being friends with Huey Newton.
I admired his openness about the years he was a heavy ganja smoker. I went through some years like that myself when I was a young man. It affected my emotional development, it arrested it. I don't know if that happened to Mr. Trivers as well.
The author also sprinkles a few presentations of his evolutionary biology insights and discoveries throughout. This is definitely the weakest part of the book. The material didn't come through for me. Maybe I'm just obtuse. And the chapter toward the end of the book about his brushes with the greats in evolutionary biology was totally dullsville.
The author is such a fierce personality you get the feeling he was born 300 years to late. His real calling would have been as a pirate captain.
The end of the book is quite sad. But then again the author had some pretty good innings, so to speak.
The book's a quick read, which is the best thing about it.
Absolutely no academic guidance for aspiring evolutionary biologists can be taken from this book. Guidance on living an interesting life for everyone absolutely can be.
Thrilling book by my favorite biologist. What a life! You won't be able to lay this book down. Hopefully, this will push readers to rediscover his earlier books. I bought several copies of this new book to give as holiday gifts.
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This item: Wild Life: Adventures of an Evolutionary Biologist
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