Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters

By: Alan S. Miller, Satoshi Kanazawa

Narrated by: Stephen Hoye

Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

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)

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.

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!

Incisive evoloutionary psychology

An outstanding evidence-based introduction to evolutionary psychology. The authors have elegantly combined research studies with relevant daily life examples. Importantly, they have not yielded to the mores that have often stifled the discussion of the evolution of human traits and abilities. Highly recommended.

I LOVED this book

What did you love best about Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters?

I'm a huge fan of evolutionary psychology. This covers all the basics, and more!

What other book might you compare Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters to and why?

I can't say I've read anything quite like it. Closest thing would have to be A General Theory of Love - only because it deals with some evolutionary psychology, but mostly neuropsychology.

Which character – as performed by Stephen Hoye – was your favorite?

Does not apply

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The section that actually explains "why beautiful people have more daughters". It was very in-depth, and even a little hard to follow. I will have to re-read it in order to concretely memorize the concept. But that is not a complaint. I found that section in particular highly interesting.

Any additional comments?

Excellent read.

Absolutely love the connections made in this book

There are so many common sense analogies in this book. After listening to this, it brings so many behaviours into the light. I greatly appreciate the work these authors. I will spread word and will also listen to this book again.

Very Interesting Perspective

The title alone made me want to read it, but I didn't realize how more more in depth the authors would go in explaining the root of human behavior. This book falls in line with "The Evolution of Desire" in many ways but also goes deeper down different subjects, but I enjoyed both reads.

Not bad but didn't live up to the reviews

From reading some of the other reviews, I thought that this book was going to be great cover to cover. While it did contain some good thought provoking stuff, I found that it became repetitive and took some license with the statistics that it was using (where it bothered to use them) to prop up their position. While I feel there is good logic to much of what is put forward in this book, I think the approach is a little too simplistic and not sufficiently supported.

Captivating, clever, and very well read

An excellent introduction to evolutionary psychology. Well written, in terms both of clarity and style, and peppered with moments of robust humor and startling, albeit tentative, conclusions. The narrator is excellent, sounding well rehearsed (all too rare) and possessed of a delightful sense of humor, served very, very dry.

Worth mentioning as well, the dedication to the co-author was, at least for me, genuinely moving and memorable.