Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: Absolutely brilliant and meticulously researched. This groundbreaking work should dispel many half-baked theories about homosexuality as exclusively human and 'unnatural'. Particularly relevant in today's charged climate of anti-homosexual bashing
Rating:
Summary: Prediction: This book will outlive us all.
Review: Anthropology, geology, and even most all religions have all "updated" their views on the way the world works, based on our ever-unfolding knowledge and new discoveries. It's time that zoology has done the same! In Biological Exuberance, Bruce Bagemihl exposes the data that cries out for a new acceptance and understanding of animal behavior.In the first part of the text, he systematically builds a case for "updating" our views. He explains why we can no longer continue believing that the very core of animal nature is based on scarcity and reproduction. By compiling the reports written by hundreds of scientists all over the world who have been "into the field to peek under the rocks," Bagemihl demonstrates without question that we must awaken to a new set of theories about wildlife, if we are to remain honest with the facts. A most interesting portion of this work is his uncovering of several reasons why these reports have been misused, overlooked, edited for content, or simply "tucked away" over the course of history. The last section of this part of his book is a dance into "the possible," in which he eloquently proposes some modifications we ought to consider to the traditional evolutionary theory. He has titled the book after these revolutionary ideas, and declares them merely a starting point for a dialogue he hopes he has initiated. Seemingly unending descriptions of individual animals compose the second part of the book. Bagmihl has created the world's first sourcebook for future reference on the subject. (Try asking any librarian for a book on animal sexuality! This one's the only one you'll find!) This book has been reviewed in dozens of mainstream city newspapers, in TIME Magazine, and has been featured in many radio programs across the U.S. All that I've seen are outstanding reviews. This book has become a gift from my heart to many of my friends and relatives. But sadly, I have a deep suspicion that Bagemihl's work might only become truly popular--first in the academic fields--long after we have all passed on.
Rating:
Summary: Prediction: This book will outlive us all.
Review: Anthropology, geology, and even most all religions have all "updated" their views on the way the world works, based on our ever-unfolding knowledge and new discoveries. It's time that zoology has done the same! In Biological Exuberance, Bruce Bagemihl exposes the data that cries out for a new acceptance and understanding of animal behavior. In the first part of the text, he systematically builds a case for "updating" our views. He explains why we can no longer continue believing that the very core of animal nature is based on scarcity and reproduction. By compiling the reports written by hundreds of scientists all over the world who have been "into the field to peek under the rocks," Bagemihl demonstrates without question that we must awaken to a new set of theories about wildlife, if we are to remain honest with the facts. A most interesting portion of this work is his uncovering of several reasons why these reports have been misused, overlooked, edited for content, or simply "tucked away" over the course of history. The last section of this part of his book is a dance into "the possible," in which he eloquently proposes some modifications we ought to consider to the traditional evolutionary theory. He has titled the book after these revolutionary ideas, and declares them merely a starting point for a dialogue he hopes he has initiated. Seemingly unending descriptions of individual animals compose the second part of the book. Bagmihl has created the world's first sourcebook for future reference on the subject. (Try asking any librarian for a book on animal sexuality! This one's the only one you'll find!) This book has been reviewed in dozens of mainstream city newspapers, in TIME Magazine, and has been featured in many radio programs across the U.S. All that I've seen are outstanding reviews. This book has become a gift from my heart to many of my friends and relatives. But sadly, I have a deep suspicion that Bagemihl's work might only become truly popular--first in the academic fields--long after we have all passed on.
Rating: 
Summary: At 800 pages, it exceeds my interest, but good
Review: As a straight person, I guess I only have so much interest in the animal homosexual behavior - and this book exceeds it. It is 800 pages and I really didn't finish all of it. But, I have some amount of interest as I at least used to hear Christians claim that homosexuality is "unnatural" which this books seems to show fairly convincingly otherwise. I enjoyed the chapters discussing possible reasons for the existence of homosexuality. The author agrees that it doesn't serve any obvious purpose. However, he discusses a few possible theories. One theory about at least one species of bird is that male pairs do better at gathering food and protecting territory. So, a male pair, so long as at least one of the males engages in some heterosexual activity to produce an offspring, could have some evolutionary advantage. But the author admits the evidence for this or other theories is scant at best. The conclusion seems to be that much sexual behavior, in animals and people, serves no obvious purpose - it just is. So, if you have some interest in the subject, I'm sure you'll like it. But if your interest is only moderate, it may be too much.
Rating:
Summary: At 800 pages, it exceeds my interest, but good
Review: As a straight person, I guess I only have so much interest in the animal homosexual behavior - and this book exceeds it. It is 800 pages and I really didn't finish all of it. But, I have some amount of interest as I at least used to hear Christians claim that homosexuality is "unnatural" which this books seems to show fairly convincingly otherwise. I enjoyed the chapters discussing possible reasons for the existence of homosexuality. The author agrees that it doesn't serve any obvious purpose. However, he discusses a few possible theories. One theory about at least one species of bird is that male pairs do better at gathering food and protecting territory. So, a male pair, so long as at least one of the males engages in some heterosexual activity to produce an offspring, could have some evolutionary advantage. But the author admits the evidence for this or other theories is scant at best. The conclusion seems to be that much sexual behavior, in animals and people, serves no obvious purpose - it just is. So, if you have some interest in the subject, I'm sure you'll like it. But if your interest is only moderate, it may be too much.
Rating: 
Summary: So Much Written, So Little Conveyed...
Review: Bagemihl belongs to the genre of writers who write a great deal but convey very little. His huge book is divided into two parts; the second part describes case studies of homosexual behaviors among several animal species, and the first part provides what could-with great difficulty-be called an analysis of these reports.
Bagemihl groups sexual behavior in terms of five broad categories: courtship, affection, interactions involving mounting and genital contact, pair-bonding, and parenting activities. Such broad categorization risks confounding social interactions with sexual behavior, possibly leading one to mistakenly assume that a preference for specific social partners is a sexual preference for these partners.
Bagemihl alleges same-sex sexual partner preference in at least some individuals in over 50 bird and mammalian species, based on five types of interactions: intersexual competition for same-sex sexual partners, sexual interactions between the object of intersexual competition and a same-sex competitor, repeated pair-bonding with same-sex individuals or repeated selection of same-sex sexual partners, reuniting with same-sex partners following prolonged separations with opposite-sex individuals, and engaging in sexual activity with same-sex individuals in the presence of opposite-sex individuals. Whereas these criteria are consistent with a same-sex sexual partner preference, none of them definitively prove a same-sex sexual partner preference, and an examination of the examples presented by Bagemihl reveals that the majority of the cases of same-sex courtship, mounting, and genital contact can be explained without assuming a same-sex sexual partner preference [see P. L. Vasey, Ann Rev Sex Res 13, 141 (2002)]. Besides, the large number of case studies cited by Bagemihl notwithstanding, his book cannot be used to claim that homosexual behavior is widespread in the animal kingdom because Bagemihl's case studies are drawn from a less than miniscule non-random fraction of the millions of animal species out there.
Bagemihl, failing to find themes behind homosexual behaviors among animals, offers a concept of biological exuberance, whereby homosexual behavior is pursued for pleasure and is a goal by itself that need not serve any purpose other than pleasure. Whereas this may be true, it is difficult to believe that this could be the result of normal developmental processes. Even among humans where much heterosexual behavior is non-conceptive, non-conceptive heterosexual behaviors typically occur as a prelude to or in conjunction with conceptive sexual behaviors. Additionally, the pleasure that accompanies orgasm not only prompts heterosexuals to repeatedly indulge in conceptive intercourse but also facilitates pair-bonding, which would come in handy if an offspring results from the union. Bagemihl's thesis on homosexuality, within a paradigm that he calls non-Darwinian biology, is meaningless for species that are capable of sexual reproduction only.
On the other hand, whereas Bagemihl fails to provide evidence for a same-sex sexual partner preference among the animal studies he cites, it has been proven that homosexual behaviors and a same-sex sexual partner preference are natural (i.e., occur irrespective of human intervention) in some individuals in some breeds of some animal species. However, nobody, let alone Bagemihl, has shown that homosexual behaviors are normal in some animals, i.e., result from development in accordance with design. Whereas the question of the normality of homosexual behaviors among some individuals of various animal species remains unanswered, a considerable amount of information shows that human homosexuality results from abnormal development, specifically prenatal developmental disturbances. See a newly published book in this regard: "The Nature of Homosexuality: Vindication for Homosexual Activists and the Religious Right."
Rating:
Summary: I agree: this book will outlive us all!
Review: Don't want to repeat the many excellent comments, but maybe comment on the significance of this book. As was noted, we can't just model human behavior on animal behavior, sometimes because it is disgusting, but mostly because there is no "animal behavior." !! Each species is different, as you will discover while reading this book. However, the book succeeds BRILLIANTLY at presenting the sexual landscape from which we emerged. We are mammals, you and I. We are primates, or at least evolved from primates. And it is now absolutely clear that we evolved from other creatures who had all kinds of exuberant sexuality in their lives. The phony old model of animal "husband-and-wife" entering Noah's Ark is demolished forever. A wonderful book!
Rating:
Summary: A highly important, foundational study.
Review: Dr. Bagemihl presents us with information neglected or even suppressed for decades. The book is somewhat repetitious and longer than it might have been, but the author is determined to break through barriers of denial and resistence and to establish the scientific basis for his presentation. He does so convincingly and challenges the scientific establishment to a new examination of the facts and a letting go of cultural prejudices regarding human and animal sexuality. A extremely important book.
Rating:
Summary: This book is necessary!
Review: Finally, a research effort that illuminates the truth of biological activity.
Rating:
Summary: A wealth of information
Review: I first saw this book being discussed on television. Then I bought a copy for a friend's birthday gift. I've now read through some of the book, and it is amazing how much information is in this book. It full of "did you know" information. It's not a book you'd read cover-to-cover, but instead you might pick through it, sharing information and laughs as you go.
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