Rating: 
Summary: Hm..
Review: 'Dangerous Passion' written by David Buss is a nicely accessible work for the layperson interested in the topic of human sexual jealousy spun with a sociobiological take. Written to emphasize the 'battle of the sexes' in mating behavior, its central message fits in nicely with the goal of writing somewhat sensationalized popular science.What is this message? It's that the fairly socially taboo emotion of jealousy is actually a desirable trait, perfectly natural, and proven to have been an evolutionary adaptation. So what's new? Such an assertion has been a foregone conclusion amongst biologists for many, many years. Rather than a simple emotion that can be suppressed or un-learned (a lame, naive notion often posited by some members of the super-liberal new-age set), jealousy is actually an instinct. Like many other instincts, it has been selected for and gradually honed over the eons of mankind's development. Buss gets this point across in the book very adeptly. Ultimately, however, this book slightly disappoints the reader who is seeking something a bit meatier, something that is able to proceed past that which has already been covered many, many times by many other books on human socio-sexual behavior. Rather than trying to be so much a cursory lesson on Sociobiology 101 with a rehash of all the new theories thrown in, 'Dangerous Passion' could have focused more on integrating sociobiological concepts with detailed observations and field work. When it does do this, it does it quite well. Particularly fascinating was the measured correlation between the likelihood of infidelity and the 'mate value' of different partners. Still, I like how Buss cleanly gets his often-forgotten message across. I'd give it four stars as an introductory work; if Buss had just further explored similar findings and gone out on a limb more with the specifics of mating strategy, I would have given this book five stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting layperson read - not a good justification
Review: An interesting look at why we are jealous from an evolutionary perspective. Find out why jealousy is necessary for reproductive success for both genders. How do men and women differently express their jealousy? Why are some of us more jealous than others? And why does jealousy vary from relationship to relationship? This book does a good job at developing a theoretical framework for jealousy, and it also gives you tools to evaluate the possible biological causation of your possessiveness in relationship. I feel that this is where its biggest strength for me lies, as it allows me to think further and transcend the way my genes have evolved. My only qualm with this book is that is dances the line of positive and normative science, going a bit too far to justify jealousy with evolutionary accounts. Don't let the naturalistic fallacy convince you that this sort of ugly behavior is okay.
Rating: 
Summary: An extraordinary book!
Review: David Buss's new book, The Dangerous Passion, explores the utterly fascinating topic of jealousy. Through a combination of captivating case studies, the results of intriguing research, and compelling insights from the field of evolutionary psychology, Buss conducts an absorbing and provocative examination of what is perhaps our darkest emotion. He is likely the most qualified person on the planet to write this book, having conducted research on jealousy for over a decade. The Dangerous Passion is an absorbing and insightful account of the crucial role jealousy plays in human relationships. Buss unlocks the secrets of jealousy, from its origins in the deep history of our species to its impact on modern relationships-good and bad. The Dangerous Passion is beautifully written and completely engaging. Anyone who has ever loved will see glimpses of themselves amid its pages. It should be required reading for scholars and anyone who desires a clearer understanding of love, loss, and the dangerous passion that binds them.
Rating:
Summary: Good analysis, somewhat redundant, but incisive.
Review: I don't know which book was written first, but this book features a bit of conceptual overlap with his other book, "The Evolution Of Desire." Additionally, Buss seems to like to sometimes pad his writing by overexplaining certain concepts, overexpounding, and/or repeating himself. I get the feeling at times he is trying to fill out the book.
Having got that out of the way, I still believe he is an excellent author. I am pleased to read an author who has the gall to resist the tide of political correctness which infects most pop psychologists, and who instead writes from a flatly evolutionary, analytical standpoint. His focus on the historical development of our animalistic tendencies, needs, and wants, is often quite incisive. His observations, both in this book and the one mentioned above, seem quite intuititive to me.
I particularly enjoy the way he often legitimizes his viewpoints by backing them up with cross-cultural evidence, especially when he references some of the bizarre and brutal practices which take place in primitive cultures. His statistics prevent the reader from coming to suspect that he is just some lazy, armchair pseudointellectual psychologist who is merely sitting around chewing on a pipe, theorizing and abstracting--it reminds us that he is a scientist who has done his homework. Given the controversial nature of some of these concepts, I believe he knew this practice was necessary.
Once again, intuitive writing. I can scarcely recall a concept from either book which I flatly disagreed with. When you're talking about jealousy in primitive cultures, you're talking jealousy latent in first world humans as well. You are talking about pervasive commonalities in human nature, thus you're talking about animal nature. And if you're talking about animal nature, a good scientist can pinpoint it. Buss is that scientist for jealousy and desire. I just wish he wouldn't apologize for some of his more controversial viewpoints on topics like the causes of battery and rape. Yeah, they're terrible things, but any person whose title ends in "-ologist" ought never have to apologize for thinking through problems, even if the outcome is cold, scientific, or unpopular.
One warning, if you enjoy the delusion of Snow White or Rapunzel type crap, this man will smash it for you. I personally am addicted to books such as this one, books which tinker with the workings of the mind, and the preconceptions of human nature. If you're like me and you don't really mind having your love life reduced to a negotiation between survival resources and reproductive value, if you prefer the truth inherent in evolutionary logic to storybook self-deceptions, then you ought to have this man's work on your shelf.
Let's face it, the Storybook people eventually get hit by a truck driven by themselves anyway.
Rating:
Summary: right on the money
Review: I first ordered this book to help me overcome jealousy. When I first started reading it, I soon found out the book explains jealousy and why it exists, rather than teaching you how to overcome it. I learned that my jealous feelings were somewhat justified, and normal. This book was painfully truthful: it hit the nail on the head in regards to me marrital situation at the time.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent content but unfortunate attempt to popularize
Review: I like David Buss and his books are always based on solid analysis. This book is no exception. However, the one thing I like less about this one, is that it seems as if he (or maybe his publisher) is trying to reach a bigger audience by making it more popular beginning with the title "Jalousi, the Dangerous Passion". It doesn't go with Buss' general analytical thinking and professional analysis and I think it is a mistake. Readers who want popular, juicy stuff will not be pleased to read this book anyway even though it has a juicy title and a catchy cover and has phrases like (on the subject of swimming sperm): ".. the Mark Spitz of sperm". A lot of talk of Dangerous Passion and Sinister Side of Passion and Dark Side of Passion etc seem misplaced in this otherwise excellent and sober and anytical book. Please go back to the style of "Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind" 5 stars for content, 3 for style gives 4 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Very original and interesting take on an old topic.
Review: I liked this book much more than Buss's earlier "Evolution of Desire". He seems to have matured immensely as both a thinker and a writer, so this book has many more insights into behavior in intimate human relationships. The basic thesis here is that rather than being pathological, such things as jealousy and concern about a mate's fidelity (and other items we'd wish didn't exist) are evolved behaviors which gave our ancestor's a reproductive advantage. These things are especially important to males, who have no certainty of paternity. By flipping the view around from sickness and disdain to a response to reproductive risks, many things which once seemed to make no sense all of sudden become clear and understandable, even reasonable to some extent. Of course this doesn't make Buss an apologist for bad behavior since his take is that certain types of relationship problems can't be solved without grasping their underlying motivation. And Buss does all this with writing which is both easily accessible and illuminating of the depths of psychology. As a (physical) scientist I have no problem taking ev-psych as a working model of reality rather than The Truth. Since I understand it's just a way of looking at things, I don't have the trouble with it that some do. In that sense, this book is some of the best ev-psych, combining science with obvious personal insight and a plausible amount of extrapolation. It deals expertly with topics which are difficult to write about from a fresh perspective.
Rating:
Summary: right on the money
Review: I recently read 'The Red Queen' and 'Why is Sex Fun?' and I was disappointed in both with their justifications of sexual behaviour as evolutionarily driven. These book suggest that sex is fun to make sure we keep having it, and thus perpetuate the species. And male and female sexual behaviour is justified (if it needs it) so that individuals can promote their own specific genetic material. This is all back-to-front to me - we are here because sex is fun (well, partly - it may be that we would have been here anyway, there is no way of knowing, but the fact that other species are here when 'fun' is not a concept we expect them to experience suggests 'fun' is not necessarily a primary requirement). To me it seems that our individual behaviour is for our individual pleasure (which extends beyond our bodies and in extreme cases maybe in exclusion to our bodies). There is a 'law' of science called Occam's Razor - the simplest explanation is to be preferred over more complex ones. On page 123 Mr Buss explains the EHMT proposal to explain why jealousy (or more exactly infidelity - this book is almost exclusively about infidelity - not jealousy) sometimes leads to homicide. EHMT clearly fails Occam's Razor, as does the opposing theory called 'slip-ups'. It's simple to me. When people have pleasures withdrawn they get angry and anger sometimes leads to violence which sometimes leads to homicide. There is no need to propose elaborate theories to justify a particular proposal that our behaviour is an evolutionary function which controls our lives. Mr Buss ends up abhorring male violence but at the same time explains it is something that the individual can do nothing about - it's in their genes. I wonder if this evolutionary theory for behaviour is a hangover from the time when we had to have a conscious planner as creator - God. A power that put purpose into every aspect of our existence. I have no trouble with God, but do not see any need for there to be a creator who designed every feature of our existence, which would include things like disease. I much prefer to think that people act on the basis of threats to themselves rather than threats to their potential offspring.
Here are a few other points that I felt aggrieved with about the message proposed in this book:
Children are seen to be vital - the continuing of your dna into the next generation - but some parents abandon children, and parents of adopted and assisted-fertilisation children love their children as much as natural children
Far too often there are statements following a couple of anecdotes like 'These two anecdotes, of course, do not add up to scientific evidence.' (p166) I'm sure the average reader will be swayed nevertheless. My view of this book is almost entirely negative and I hope I have shared some of my reasons with you so that you can avoid a disappointment. If you disagree with what I have written, go ahead and read the book - you may find it useful.
Rating:
Summary: A scientific analysis of the dark side of human sexuality
Review: In his latest book, Buss uses evolutionary logic to explain the sexual double standard. Jealousy, infidelity, and murder have been with us since the dawn of time, long before the advent of the media, Hollywood films, and other modern phenomena, which are often blamed for the more horrific aspects of the human psyche. In the book, Buss does a much better job of explaining how he estimates the rate of infidelity than he does in The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating. He averages numerous studies to come up with the estimate of how many men and women engage in "at least one affair" during a marriage. This allows the perceptive reader to reason that there must be a heck of a lot more extrapair nooky going on than we would like to believe. Buss also points out that many men do not limit themselves to just one extramarital partner when engaging in clandestine liasons, a fact that many women do not always seem to realize. The most humorous aspect of the book is in regards to the "derogation of competitors." Didn't we all want to know that female intrasexual catfighting was adapative and psychologically therapeutic in raising self-esteem? On a more serious note, it was sad to read that the work done by Buss and his colleagues is often met with "outrage" and viewed as controversial by those who fear misuse of such information about differences between men and women. Truth exists in the world regardless of discovery by scientists, and human behavior existed long before it was ever named as such. Knowledge of what makes us tick helps us to understand ourselves and our relation to each other in the "co-evolutionary spiral." There will always be someone who misuses or exploits new information just as previous information continues to be misused and exploited. This is nothing new and is as much a part of the dark side of human nature as is jealousy. Science cannot hide because some information turned up is psychologically threatening or has the potential to be misused. Buss does a great job ending the book by pointing out that we may gain "emotional wisdom" as a result of scientific discovery.
Rating:
Summary: An Instant Classic
Review: In his latest book, The Dangerous Passion, Dr. David M. Buss provides a clear and crisp overview of past and current research and thinking on jealousy, infidelity, and conflict in romantic relationships. In addition, Buss provides the reader with an introduction to the exciting new discipline of Evolutionary Psychology, and presents a powerful case for jealousy being the output of evolved mechanisms of the mind. Buss's engaging writing style and broad coverage of a tremendous amount of fascinating research make this book an instant classic for anyone interested in relationships. Very few active researchers have the ability to descend the Ivory Tower and write in a way that sings to academics and non-academics alike. Buss is one of them. This book should be on the shelf of anyone who studies romantic relationships, and will be delightful and informative reading for anyone who has been in a romantic relationship, is currently in a romantic relationship, or hopes to be in a romantic relationship.
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