Evolutionary Psychology: A Critical Introduction

Rating:
Summary: Excellent introduction that holds the attention
Review: This was the first book on evolutionary psychology I read, and it was an easy-to-understand and engaging introduction that gave me the background I needed to tackle more difficult works such as _The Adapted Mind_. Badcock explains the history of the movement well, treats most issues with healthy skepticism, and explains natural selection in such a way that most readers, even those without preexisting knowledge of evolution, should find quite easy to understand.

That being said, I had a couple of problems towards the end of the book, Badcock's strange fascination with Freud being first among them. He takes some very interesting data on unconscious processing and treats it as evidence that Freud was right on about all the defense mechanisms and so forth. He also seemed too set on the goal of reframing the mother/fetus relationship as an "arms race", although this is a more minor criticism. If it weren't for the Freud apologetics, I'd give this book 5 stars.