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The Evolution of Beauty

How Darwin's Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World - and Us

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The Evolution of Beauty

By: Richard O. Prum
Narrated by: Dan Woren
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About this listen

 A FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, SMITHSONIAN, AND WALL STREET JOURNAL

A major reimagining of how evolutionary forces work, revealing how mating preferences—what Darwin termed "the taste for the beautiful"—create the extraordinary range of ornament in the animal world.

In the great halls of science, dogma holds that Darwin's theory of natural selection explains every branch on the tree of life: which species thrive, which wither away to extinction, and what features each evolves. But can adaptation by natural selection really account for everything we see in nature?
Yale University ornithologist Richard Prum—reviving Darwin's own views—thinks not. Deep in tropical jungles around the world are birds with a dizzying array of appearances and mating displays: Club-winged Manakins who sing with their wings, Great Argus Pheasants who dazzle prospective mates with a four-foot-wide cone of feathers covered in golden 3D spheres, Red-capped Manakins who moonwalk. In thirty years of fieldwork, Prum has seen numerous display traits that seem disconnected from, if not outright contrary to, selection for individual survival. To explain this, he dusts off Darwin's long-neglected theory of sexual selection in which the act of choosing a mate for purely aesthetic reasons—for the mere pleasure of it—is an independent engine of evolutionary change.
Mate choice can drive ornamental traits from the constraints of adaptive evolution, allowing them to grow ever more elaborate. It also sets the stakes for sexual conflict, in which the sexual autonomy of the female evolves in response to male sexual control. Most crucially, this framework provides important insights into the evolution of human sexuality, particularly the ways in which female preferences have changed male bodies, and even maleness itself, through evolutionary time.
The Evolution of Beauty presents a unique scientific vision for how nature's splendor contributes to a more complete understanding of evolution and of ourselves. Animals Biological Sciences Evolution Evolution & Genetics Science Natural History
All stars
Most relevant
The theory advanced in this book is I think wonderful and hugely plausible, it solves a number of explanatory challenges while presenting a much richer, deeper and more pleasing view of the world and our place in it than the conventions I grew up with. I have long found the common insistence on ignoring or denying the experience of animals frustrating and inexplicable, and by taking mate choice seriously the author gives this solid footing and delivers a number of very resonant and satisfying insights.

I did struggle slightly at first with a lot of descriptions of birds and their behaviour, and the narration is not amazing (some misleading inflections and no particular life brought to the reading, but basically fine.. may be more enjoyable as an actual book perhaps), but for me it was well worth it in the end. I will definitely be bringing the ideas and insights up in future conversations!

Profound and beautiful insights

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