Sex at Dawn

How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships

By: Christopher Ryan, Cacilda Jetha

Narrated by: Allyson Johnson, Jonathan Davis, Christopher Ryan (Preface)

Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Earphones Award Winner (AudioFile Magazine)

Since Darwin's day, we've been told that sexual monogamy comes naturally to our species. Mainstream science - as well as religious and cultural institutions - has maintained that men and women evolved in families in which a man's possessions and protection were exchanged for a woman's fertility and fidelity. But this narrative is collapsing. Fewer and fewer couples are getting married, and divorce rates keep climbing as adultery and flagging libido drag down even seemingly solid marriages.

How can reality be reconciled with the accepted narrative? It can't be, according to renegade thinkers Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha. While debunking almost everything we "know" about sex, they offer a bold alternative explanation in this provocative and brilliant book.

Ryan and Jetha's central contention is that human beings evolved in egalitarian groups that shared food, child care, and, often, sexual partners. Weaving together convergent, frequently overlooked evidence from anthropology, archaeology, primatology, anatomy, and psychosexuality, the authors show how far from human nature monogamy really is. Human beings everywhere and in every era have confronted the same familiar, intimate situations in surprisingly different ways. The authors expose the ancient roots of human sexuality while pointing toward a more optimistic future illuminated by our innate capacities for love, cooperation, and generosity.

BONUS AUDIO: Includes a Preface written and read by author Christopher Ryan.

©2010 Christopher Ryan, Cacilda Jetha (P)2010 Audible, Inc

Critic reviews

"A surprisingly non-titillating book about sex among prehistoric people makes for a terrific audio adaptation...With their straightforward approach, the narrators show professionalism and authority in this anthropological discussion of sex." ( AudioFile)

“ Sex at Dawn is the single most important book about human sexuality since Alfred Kinsey unleashed Sexual Behavior in the Human Male on the American public in 1948.” (Dan Savage)

"My favorite book of 2010...it's the only book I read this year that proved that I was badly mistaken about something." (Peter Sagal, host of NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!)

Read with your spouse

Read with your spouse or before you get married and have a conversation about it. It could save your marriage and your well being.

An Unbiased view of Sex

a really good book to understand a great deal about the true nature of human sexuality at a secular level.

Worth every minute

Phenomenal book. A book worthy of being on everyone's 'Must Read' list. Being scientifically based, it has some dry moments where it's necessary to give the reader background facts, but listen through them because there is always something worth it coming up right after.

Great mix of physical and cultural anthropology

Great mix of physical and cultural anthropology - very well read, funny but well researched. Ending is a bit weak but well worth a listen

Religious

Having a much different view of how/where we come from, I don't like this book. If you aren't hung up by that, it is very interesting.

I really enjoyed

I loved sex at dawn to me it makes perfect sense. We as a society are so caught up in what we think is normal . I think it's good to question why we are doing things in our lives . Relationships are so skewed and this book is very eye opening .

I'll be reading this again!

This book must have taken SO MANY hours, days, months and definitely years of research to put together! It's very educational, lots of evidence to support the concepts and theories presented here. It's also funny, thought provoking and it has really changed my perspective on modern Life as a whole, especially relationships and sexuality. I needed that. This book is awesome!

Eye opening

The book flows very smoothly and it's easy to listen to for long periods of time. The author discusses various theories of human sexuality and cites the literature throughout the discussion. The authors also discuss the sexual habits of a variety of recent (but maybe not entirely modern) cultures.

great book

I know have a better understanding of why I am the way I am. be curious to see how thing change overtime

Required listening for everyone

Without a doubt among the most logical looks at the is-ness of sex as we currently and potential historically experience it I've ever set my ears on.

So good!