The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature [Paperback]

Referring to Lewis Carroll'sRed QueenfromThrough the Looking-Glass, a character who has to keep running to stay in the same place, Matt Ridley demonstrates why sex is humanity's best strategy for outwitting its constantly mutating internal predators.The Red Queenanswers dozens of other riddles of human nature and culture -- including why men propose marriage, the method behind our maddening notions of beauty, and the disquieting fact that a woman is more likely to conceive a child by an adulterous lover than by her husband. Brilliantly written,The Red Queenoffers an extraordinary new way of interpreting the human condition and how it has evolved.