Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters

By: Alan S. Miller, Satoshi Kanazawa

Narrated by: Stephen Hoye

A lively and provocative look at how evolution shapes our behavior and our lives.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, our brains and bodies are hardwired to carry out an evolutionary mission that determines much of what we do, from life plans to everyday decisions.

With an accessible tone and a healthy disregard for political correctness, this lively and eminently readable book popularizes the latest research in a cutting-edge field of study: one that turns much of what we thought we knew about human nature upside-down.

Every time we fall in love, fight with our spouse, enjoy watching a favorite TV show, or feel scared walking alone at night, we are in part behaving as a human animal with its own unique nature: a nature that essentially stopped evolving 10,000 years ago. Alan S. Miller and Satoshi Kanazawa reexamine some of the most popular and controversial topics of modern life and shed a whole new light on why we do the things we do.

Beware: You may never look at human nature the same way again.

©2007 Alan S. Miller and Satoshi Kanazawa (P)2007 Tantor Media Inc.

Critic reviews

"A lively excursion into the new, and still disputed, field of Evolutionary Psychology." ( Kirkus Reviews)
"This accessible book opens the youthful field of evolutionary psychology wide for examination, with results often as disturbing as they are fascinating." ( Publishers Weekly)

Mommy's baby, daddy's maybe?

I absolutely loved every part of this book. I liked is so much I listened to it twice, back to back. I had never heard of Evolutionary Psychology before, but everything it professed to be true or speculated upon really rang true for me. This is a fascinating topic, whether you buy into all of it, some of it, or none of it. It just makes so much sense to me. It is written in a light-hearted manner and was an easy listen that frequently elicited smiles from me, as I shook my head and said, "Yes!".

The format involves the author stating a question about human nature and answering the question according to the new science of Evolutionary Psychology. In very simple terms, this science posits that human culture or human nature is the same for all people worldwide. It evolved thousands of years ago and our prime directive is to reproduce ourselves. This influences and directs every aspect of male and female behavior. It so clearly explains how the differences between the sexes evolved and what drives men and women.

At the end of the book, the author presents questions that are not yet answered by the new science and some possible explanations that have been put forth.

I highly recommend this book. It is fairly short, expertly narrated, and guaranteed to make you smile!

Best book on the subject

The best book out there on evolutionary psych regarding mating and other topics of human behavior presented without bias.

Interesting and can't stop thinking about it

It was really thought provoking and explained a lot of reasoning behind how and why men and women do what we do that I hadn't thought of before. Great read/listen!

Interesting worldview

Would you listen to Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters again? Why?

Yes. I was intrigued by the theories of evolutionary psychology to which I had never previously been exposed. I would probably listen again at 2X speed (thanks Audible player) for a refresher. Although I felt the authors went out of their way to avoid placing any moral or value-based judgement on the outcomes and motivations of the decisions we make in our human behavior, I did feel a critical dimension was missing from the book:How do we account for those individuals ho overcome evolutionary tendencies to make decisions that showmahigher human nature?

What about Stephen Hoye???s performance did you like?

Well articulated and kept the listener engaged.

Very good overview of major evolutionary psychology themes

I really enjoyed how much they covered evolutionary psychology, topics related to dating sex relationships, etc. I found it very interesting