The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature (ISBN 0-140-16772-2) is a popular science book by Matt Ridley exploring the evolutionary psychology of sexual selection. The Red Queen was one of seven books shortlisted for the 1994 Rhône-Poulenc Prize (now known as the Royal Society Prizes for Science Books), that was eventually won by Steve Jones' The Language of the Genes.
The Red Queen argues that few, if any, aspects of human nature can be understood apart from sex, since human nature is a product of evolution, and evolution in our case is driven specifically by sexual replication.
Read more about The Red Queen: Sex And The Evolution Of Human Nature: Contents
Famous quotes containing the words human nature, red, evolution, human and/or nature:
“Men are not to be told anything they might find too painful; the secret depths of human nature, the sordid physicalities, might overwhelm or damage them. For instance, men often faint at the sight of their own blood, to which they are not accustomed. For this reason you should never stand behind one in the line at the Red Cross donor clinic.”
—Margaret Atwood (b. 1939)
“All those girls
who wore the red shoes,
each boarded a train that would not stop.
Stations flew by like suitors and would not stop.
They all danced like trout on the hook.
They were played with.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“Like Freud, Jung believes that the human mind contains archaic remnants, residues of the long history and evolution of mankind. In the unconscious, primordial “universally human images” lie dormant. Those primordial images are the most ancient, universal and “deep” thoughts of mankind. Since they embody feelings as much as thought, they are properly “thought feelings.” Where Freud postulates a mass psyche, Jung postulates a collective psyche.”
—Patrick Mullahy (b. 1912)
“The notion of a universality of human experience is a confidence trick and the notion of a universality of female experience is a clever confidence trick.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)
“Deceit is the game of petty spirits, and that is by nature a woman’s quality.”
—Pierre Corneille (1606–1684)