Rating: 
Summary: Great but not an easy read
Review: Although a talented scientist, Bobbi Low is not a talented writer. This is a great book for those with some foreknowledge of the subjects of sex and evolutionary psychology, but it might be a little obtuse for the casual reader. Her writing style is somewhat stilted and dry, and she quite often assumes the reader is familiar with prior studies and concepts that are germaine to her point, without explaining those concepts, or at best doing so very obliquely. There is a wealth of information here, though, for those willing to decipher what she's saying.
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant, if dense, review of human behavior
Review: Basically, I'm of much the same opinion as most of the other reviewers. It's a thoroughly fascinating book, which actually looks at human behavior as it should be seen: the ecology and interactions of highly inteligent, highly communicate, mostly bald apes. Well worth the read. That said, I must say that without at least some background knowledge in evolutionary biology, you'll find it tough to digest. But such is the way of scientific works, and, frankly, I prefer it as is, rather than loaded down with explanations of things I already know from my classes.Definitely a book worth not only read, but keeping around as a reference.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant, if dense, review of human behavior
Review: Basically, I'm of much the same opinion as most of the other reviewers. It's a thoroughly fascinating book, which actually looks at human behavior as it should be seen: the ecology and interactions of highly inteligent, highly communicate, mostly bald apes. Well worth the read. That said, I must say that without at least some background knowledge in evolutionary biology, you'll find it tough to digest. But such is the way of scientific works, and, frankly, I prefer it as is, rather than loaded down with explanations of things I already know from my classes. Definitely a book worth not only read, but keeping around as a reference.
Rating:
Summary: Sex Differences and More
Review: From the perspective of behavioral ecology, Low explores human sex differences. She shows why females specialize in parental effort and males in mating effort. She examines the implication of this difference, in combination with ecology, to understand mating systems, mate choice, fertility, coalitions, warfare and a host of other topics. Much of the evidence presented takes the form of statistical summaries of cross-cultural summaries; short summaries of other societies are also included. The book contains a considerable amount of information, is enjoyable to read, thought-provoking (I'm still puzzling over the factoid of a 137male/100 female sex ratio at birth in a human population) but not sensational. The book may not leave the reader with a firm grasp on the diversity existing within male and female behavior, respectively, but will make great sense of the statistical differences which exist between males and females throughout the world.
Rating:
Summary: Polygyny in our Future?
Review: I found "Why Sex Matters" by Bobbi Low a worthwhile read. It was both well grounded (fully a third of the book is devoted to references, notes, glossary and index) readable and convincing. Having previously read "The Evolution of Desire" by David Buss, "Making Sense of Sex" by Barish & Lipton, and "Sex on the Brain" by Deborah Blum, I wasn't expecting much new material from Bobbi. I was pleasantly surprised. One topic I found particularly interesting, if somewhat disturbing was her discussion of polygyny, and the factors that influence the choice between polygyny and monogamy. Monogamy is pretty rare as in most species where the female can raise her young alone she usually does so. So should the family values folks campaign against equal pay for equal work? Perhaps. But one of the factors weighing in on the other side is the increasing investment required to ready children to be a success in our modern world.
Rating:
Summary: Special K for the Mind.
Review: I really enjoyed this somewhat involved book. I am not a socio-biologist, and my interest and authority is in the past. Low's book provides lots of debate material and powerful points. This book makes a great contribution to my understanding of drastically conservative beliefs, particularly in regards to male and female attitudes to traditional female roles. It also served to entrench my own opinions, stressing the role of equality and reason, as we have outgrown our original evolutionary drives. Low's book is extremely informative and could easily be a bible for those more conservative than myself. This book is a convincing mix of research and documentation that is obviously a skilled assembly of facts for those like myself who care to argue such political ideas, or for those merely interested in understanding some things we often take for granted. I would not give five stars to a book like this as I wouldn't have the specific background to critic some of the more involved and specialized knowledge to judge certain sections. Low's Book is not a place to start but a great place to end up.
Rating:
Summary: Great information but slightly inaccessible
Review: I've been reading a lot about evolutionary psychology and theory lately, and many of the books I've read cite Bobbi Low as an important resource. And she does indeed explore some important differences between males and females and how these 'play out' in real life. The concepts of resource gathering vs. nurturing vs. reproductive potential are vital to an understanding of the differences - and similarities - between the sexes. She uses graphs and photographs to illustrate some of her points, which is helpful indeed. My one criticism - and it's more of a comment, really - is that I found this book less accessible than the others I've read on the subject. Had I not previously read at least six books on this topic, I might have had a hard time both getting 'into' the book and understanding some of what she talks about, despite the lengths she goes to explain it. She writes in a very straight-forward, scientific voice, which, while clear, is at times off-putting. All in all, however, this is a fascinating book and contributes a great deal to the ongoing discussion of how evolution has affected sex differences and how these differences are relevant in modern society. She also explores how modern society is changing the relevance of some of these evolutionary strategies. I would definitely recommend this book highly, with the caveat that it is probably best for those with some familiarity of the subject.
Rating:
Summary: New book with some new stuff!
Review: The title of this book is a little misleading, because it is an excellent book on evolution in general. That is, it is much broader than the title implies, is very well written, and brings some new perspectives to the subject of human behavior and evolution. It is one of the better books that covers the subject as completely as possible and I would recommend it as an introduction to the subject for the novice or for additional reading for those already versed in the subject. Therefore, rather than giving and overview of the book, I will comment on just a few points Low makes that I found especially interesting. He advances the recent research that has been done on group evolutionary strategies. That is, we have evolved our higher intellect not for dealing with a harsh environment but for the sake of competing with each other. Humans, forming cohesive groups thousands of years ago, cooperated together to compete against other groups. That included genocide, warfare, etc. The smarter and more cohesive the group, the more likely it would win out over the less cohesive or less intelligent group. He also sheds light on our irrationality or our illogical behavior. As a species that evolved in social groups, we are far too responsive to the rare events that we feel threatened by. This means we are quick to pass laws or try to remedy problems that are essentially quite rare but become sensationalized in the press. We as a species are also quick to blame others for their bad behavior based on their flawed character, while our own failures are attributed to circumstances. We have an incredible ability to rationalize our own shortcomings. In addition, we are easily led by people with status, and are easily duped by their explanations of social situations. That is, we believe too readily what we are told by leaders. His covering of war and deception is also rich in explanations and insight. With regards to a one world government he states, "In a major work on the kin selection roots of warfare, after eloquent analysis, the authors are reduced to calling for 'some form of world government, some management force that might stabilize the most immediate threat to humanity --- nuclear destruction.' The entire work, however, is an acknowledgment that the power of in-group amity and out-group enmity would likely force any such world government to be a conquest state, a chilling prospect." It is refreshing to read an evolutionist that both understands our genocidal nature as part of our journey into modernity, but does not fall for the egalitarian solutions that so many of these authors try to put forth to save us. Low understands how such simple solutions will bring us once again into the folds of the totalitarian state.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent analysis of why men and women differ
Review: This book is not as formidable a reading challenge as might be supposed on first perusal. True it is 412 pages long, but the back matter begins with the footnotes on page 258. There follows a glossary, a 57-page bibliography, an author index and a subject index. Also, even though this is clearly an academic tome written by a professional ecologist who is not about to compromise her standing in the scientific community for a shot at popular success, Professor Low nonetheless employs a readable and common sense approach with a minimum of unnecessary jargon. Furthermore, what she has to say is exciting and relevant to our lives, and we can see that she cares as much about communicating to the reader as she does about pleasing colleagues. Reading Why Sex Matters is consequently one very engaging experience. Low, who is a professor of ecology at the University of Michigan, assumes the point of view of an evolutionary biologist as she asks the question, how are men and women different and why? She is particularly focused on how the sexes differentially use resources to further reproduction, and asks which behaviors are ephemeral, due to present conditions, and which are more enduring, having proven adaptive over longer periods of time and in differing environments. She faces squarely the unsettling feeling that some people get when they contemplate humans purely as biological entities--or "critters," to use her expression. As she tells us in the preface, there are three themes guiding her work: One, "resources are useful in...survival and reproduction"; two, "the sexes...differ in how they...use resources"; and three, "each sex accomplishes these ends" by reacting to the environment differently. The result of this structured approach is a clear introductory course in sexuality from an evolutionary point of view, and a fascinating read. Because Low employs resources from a wide variety of disciplines, including sociobiology, evolutionary psychology, behavioral genetics, ecology, anthropology, sociology, biology, history, etc., not to mention pop culture and world literature, her work is highly persuasive in a scientific sense. And because she studiously avoids squabbling among the disciplines, her work is psychologically compelling. There is material on cultural transmissions as well as natural selection. Demographers are given currency along with evolutionary biologists. One gets the sense that she has read just about everything and has thoroughly evaluated what she has read. Particular interesting to me is her discussion of the tangled origins of sexuality and the (non-obvious) nature of altruism. The chapters on warfare, "Sex, Resources, and Early Warfare," and "The Ecology of Warfare" are worth the price of the book alone. There we see that women warriors are rare because men can gain reproductive advantage through warfare but women cannot (p. 216). Low suggests that war may be an example of "runaway sexual selection" and its practitioners may have become "unhooked" from the old reproductive rewards, but that the proximate rewards remain. Low soberly faces the prospect of future warfare when small groups of people may acquire monstrous weapons, noting that "given a short-term gain...versus an unspecifiable risk of nuclear warfare...in the future, we do not predict restraint." It should be clear that Low is a professional academician and not a journalist, as some popular writers on evolution are (Matt Ridley and Robert Wright, to name two of the best), and as such careful about her assertions. She doesn't espouse pet theories that may be overturned tomorrow; but she isn't afraid to voice her opinion. To give you a sense of her careful style, note the stunning qualification in the parenthetical in this statement from page 217 (and the sly irony): "Human war can become more complex and varied than intergroup aggression in other species, largely as a result of the development of technology (which itself is probably a product of intelligence)." Probably, indeed! In the chapter on "Politics and Reproduction" we learn that men seek political power for reproductive gain (p. 211) but in the modern nation state may have to settle for proximate gains (which may be an irony not lost on Bill Clinton). Women, however, can gain little or no reproductive advantage directly for themselves, which may be the reason there are relatively few women in the top positions of political power in most human societies. Some of this I admit is tough going. The material on "The Group Selection Muddle" in Chapter Nine is still muddled in my mind, and I couldn't figure out the point of the Summary of Selection Theories (Table 9.1 on pages 156-157). But evolution and the disciplines that address human behavior are complex, in some ways, deceptively so. Professor Low is wise, temperate, thorough and more objective than seems possible in such a vibrant and contentious academic field. I suspect that this book started out as an undergraduate text, but somewhere along the line those reading the manuscript realized that it was so interesting and valuable that it could be published as a trade book aimed at a general readership. If you have time to read only one book on human nature, read this one. You will learn more than you would from half a dozen "popular" expositions, and you will have a sense of having learned something important and valuable. I wish I knew what is in this book when I was one and twenty. I would have conducted my life with a lot more grace and effectiveness.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Exploration of Human Behavioral Ecology
Review: This fine book is an effort to produce a scholarly work that is accessible to the broad reading public. Prof. Low is quite successful in her effort to satisfy both audiences. Her primary preoccupations are to examine the consequences of fundamental differences between men and women in reproductive strategies, and through the examination of these consequences to demonstrate the utility of applying relatively simple Darwinian concepts to the study of human social behavior. She draws on a wide variety of literature, including ethnology, history, studies of other mammalian species, particularly other primates, and political science research. The first 2 or 3 chapters are relatively rudimentary but give a very careful overview of the intellectual apparatus used, and the limitations of that apparatus, for studies of this kind. The chapters on human behaviors specifically are excellent; thorough, well documented, and intellectually honest. This is a convincing book which may upset some but contains very well thought out and very well defended analyses of many aspects of human behavior. There is an excellent bibliography and fine footnotes.
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