Book description
From one of the world's leading authorities on animal behavior, the astonishing story of how the brain drives the evolution of beauty in animals and humans
In A Taste for the Beautiful, Michael Ryan, one of the world's leading authorities on animal behavior, tells the remarkable story of how he…
Why read it?
3 authors picked A Taste for the Beautiful as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
The role of the female brain in driving the evolution of animal beauty is so fascinating that I’m recommending a second book on this topic called A Taste for the Beautiful.
Michael Ryan is an animal behaviorist who uses examples not just of birds but from all over the animal kingdom to show how animals—especially females—have a sexual aesthetic that has the power to drive the evolution of their own species.
Ryan is a superb storyteller and makes the material very accessible to his reader. After reading this book, you will never think about beauty in the same way again.
From Deena's list on capturing the magnificence of female biology.
Mingling state-of-the-art research information, Ryan synthesizes major theories about sexual selection with superb clarity and accuracy.
He demonstrates that females of many species have some built-in neural and sensory biases evolved to suit for such basic survival purposes as finding food and escaping from predators.
For males, however, whoever bears a trait that can better stimulate the pre-existing biases in females’ sensory systems would be rewarded with a higher level of success in wooing females. So, males were channelled to evolving such traits, often to a seemingly ridiculous degree, that fit females’ tastes.
It is a compelling idea for the…
From Lixing's list on science in behavior and evolution.
This book is reflecting on the evolution of beauty and attraction. Ryan uses a large number of examples from his own research, including the Tungara frog, a species he has been working on for many decades. He combines this with personal stories about how the research came about and about the people he interacted with. This is a highly readable, fun book on a serious topic.
From Ingo's list on mate choice – in animals.
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