Sex and War: How Biology Explains Warfare and Terrorism and Offers a Path to a Safer World

I came to this book with many searing questions of my own, particularly concerning the evil men perpetrate on women. Malcolm Potts & Thomas Hayden make a clear case for the existence of such unnecessary brutality in our day, neither excusing it nor making men out to be devils. When such acts are aired out in the clarity of evolution and genetics, as well as the human psyche, the male gender gets a second chance at being understood while not being let off such behavior. The authors also make a commendable effort to picture the world led by a feminine hand, and the stability and hope that lies therein. An engaging read recommended for all, including school-age discussion.

It was a new perspective for me to link sex and war to evolution. It provides another avenue for hope about peace since it is no longer an evolutionary positive trait. How we overcome our caveman responses to events seems like the next step.

Took me longer to listen to than others but for the most part I would rate this as probably top 20

This is a good work by author and narrator. I did find this of interest and had some great fascinating moments. It is dry to listen too but worth the listen

The main hypothesis of the book is that humans evolved by selecting males that killed most successfully non-related humans from other groups ("outgroups"), while at the same time were most supportive and emphatic towards members of their own group ("ingroup"), which gave them a reproductive advantage.

This theory is well documented by hard data from biology, archeology, sociology and gives a concise picture of human behavior, which is applied to recent political events, such as the response to 9/11.

The authors promote the idea that empowering woman by allowing them to control the number of their children through access of contraceptives is the most effective way of war prevention.
Although their theory cannot be fully proven like models in physics or molecular biology, it is worth considering, as it explains so many aspects of human behavior.
One aspect that could have been investigated in more detail is "paternity fraud", where a woman gives a man the false impression that he is the father of her child. Several studies estimate this number to be around 10% (but there are studies with a higher and lower rate). This suggests that woman developed a strategy to escape strict male dominance and genetic traits underpinning this 'cheating' strategy will be in our current gene pool. Thus even if contraception reduces the number of humans on earth and their fight for resources, this world might not be as peaceful as the authors hope.

This book was very well written and narrated, enjoyed listening/reading to it and fully recommend it.

The goal of the book is admirable. In the early part of the book it is well documented with citations. As it moves to more modern examples the authors just get the facts wrong I think to prove a point.

The best example is the 9/11 hitchackers none fit his profile. Another example would be the the idea after 9/11 to ignore or not repsond to the attack. He fails to "recall" the number of attacks we did not respond to before 9/11 so the time between decrease but the deaths increased with each.

The value is the understanding of male and female groups he based on chimp studies. That was useful and well done.