Cover of The Evolution of Beauty

First published 2017

The Evolution of Beauty

How Darwin's Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World—and Us

by Richard Prum

Your shelf

Sign in to keep this book on your shelf and send it to falcon.

Sign in

What can explain the incredible diversity of beauty in nature? Richard O. Prum, an award-winning ornithologist, discusses Charles Darwin's second and long-neglected theory--aesthetic mate choice--and what it means for our understanding of evolution. In addition, Prum connects those same evolutionary dynamics to the origins and diversity of human sexuality, offering riveting new thinking about the evolution of human beauty and the role of mate choice, thereby transforming our ancestors from typical infanticidal primates into socially intelligent, pair-bonding caregivers. Prum's book is an exhilarating tour de force that begins in the trees and ends by fundamentally challenging how we understand human evolution and ourselves. --

Prize history

ISBN 9780345804570 · 9780385537223 · 9780385537216