The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex: 2 Volumes.

by Charles Darwin

Hardcover, 1998

Status

Available

Call number

QH365 .D2

Genres

Publication

The Classics of Science Library / Gryphon Editions, 1998 (1998)

Description

In the current resurgence of interest in the biological basis of animal behavior and social organization, the ideas and questions pursued by Charles Darwin remain fresh and insightful. This is especially true of The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, Darwin's second most important work. This edition is a facsimile reprint of the first printing of the first edition (1871), not previously available in paperback. The work is divided into two parts. Part One marshals behavioral and morphological evidence to argue that humans evolved from other animals. Darwin shoes that human mental and emotional capacities, far from making human beings unique, are evidence of an animal origin and evolutionary development. Part Two is an extended discussion of the differences between the sexes of many species and how they arose as a result of selection. Here Darwin lays the foundation for much contemporary research by arguing that many characteristics of animals have evolved not in response to the selective pressures exerted by their physical and biological environment, but rather to confer an advantage in sexual competition. These two themes are drawn together in two final chapters on the role of sexual selection in humans. In their Introduction, Professors Bonner and May discuss the place of The Descent in its own time and relation to current work in biology and other disciplines.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member P_S_Patrick

This is a difficult book to read in some ways. The main one being that it is so dense, the amount of information, observations, and evidence presented to the reader is staggering, all of it with the purpose of supporting the central theories of the book. These being that sexual selection plays a

part in evolution as well as natural selection, with the former being a specific mechanism of the latter. The book is about man, and his evolution, but the majority of the examples are from other species, which support homologous principles in human evolution. There are quite a few pictures, which aren't bad. Some readers may be put off by the authors regard of different races of people, which will be considered "non p.c" by many, though it is really just scientific observation, despite it getting some geneticists into trouble to this day. The main problem is that this book is very long, and the evidence in support of the theory is greatly in excess to what would have been sufficient. At the time the theories were not things which were going to be readily accepted, and this is probably why the book goes into so much detail. I would struggle to recommend this book to anyone, as it seems so long and unnecessary, and does not make fascinating reading, as you can tell where a chapter is going when you start reading it, and then it seems like a painful slog to finish it. I have no doubt that this book made good reading when first published, but today it just seems like flogging a dead horse to read it as we don't need convincing of the theories. Maybe an evolutionary sceptic would enjoy it much more than I.

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LibraryThing member Britt84

Very interesting to read, and definitely a very important work of science, though nowadays somewhat outdated...

I do very much enjoy and appreciate Darwin's writings. He is very thorough and really delved into his subject. Sometimes this makes the reading a bit difficult because there's so much

information, but mainly it greatly strengthens his theories. He also relates his ideas to the findings of other scientists and gives elaborate descriptions of examples, observations, and readings.
I do feel that this book is less 'strong' than his 'On the Origin of Species'.
One important part from a modern perspective is his ideas on inheritance and his theory of pangenesis. As we now know this theory to be incorrect - and scientifically speaking not to be able to explain the issues he discusses - this actually weakens his argument. In 'On the Origin of Species' he leaves the system of inheritance somewhat in the dark. He acknowledges that this is problematic, but this admittance of the problem works better than an incorrect theory - again, from a modern perspective. I do understand that he felt a need to provide this theory, since evolution doesn't work without some theory of inheritance, but the incorrectness of his theories makes this book less convincing.
Furthermore, I found the build-up of this book somewhat less structured than 'On the Origin of Species'. There, Darwin takes you by the hand and leads you along all the evidence he has collected, making for a coherent, logical whole. The problem with 'The Descent of Man', I think, is the fact that he is really writing about two things, namely the origins of the human species and sexual selection. He discusses both ideas pretty much separately, which means the book is less of a whole. It might have been nicer had he split up the subjects and discussed both more extensively in separate volumes.

Aside from these issues, it is still a great pleasure to read, full of interesting facts and great descriptions.

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LibraryThing member jwhenderson

This is Darwin's final major book with a focus on man. The primary focus is on man's origin in Part I, and sexual selection in Parts II & III. I found the discussion of moral sense and social instincts to be particularly enlightening with his focus on "sympathy" and "habit" as discussed by the

Scottish philosophers (cf. Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments). Notably he rejects God as the source of conscience. The bulk of the text, however, contains detail examples and discussion of the process of sexual selection.

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