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A review by crispymerola
The Myth of Monogamy: Fidelity and Infidelity in Animals and People by Judith Eve Lipton, David P. Barash
3.0
Fascinating info marred by some chunky sentences and limited scope.
The authors explore and define the concept of monogamy in the animal world, then work their way towards what this means for human beings. The two keep things light and charming, though their sentence structure is exhausting at points. I enjoyed the even-handed analysis on display; a lot of evidence is presented, a lot of counter arguments are considered, and the authors aren't afraid to make claims at the end of it all.
Monogamy as a concept is so interesting to me, and it's analyzed incredibly well here from a biological standpoint. On the psychological/sociological front, we are rarely treated to more than a few quotes from prominent figures to sum up the canon of Western thought. I wish we could have seen more data on monogamy in practice, including open relationships, gay monogamy, and so on. Perhaps the world just didn't have the data at the time this was written.
Either way, the prime biological info makes this a great read on monogamy, though it isn't THE read because of the aforementioned issues.
The authors explore and define the concept of monogamy in the animal world, then work their way towards what this means for human beings. The two keep things light and charming, though their sentence structure is exhausting at points. I enjoyed the even-handed analysis on display; a lot of evidence is presented, a lot of counter arguments are considered, and the authors aren't afraid to make claims at the end of it all.
Monogamy as a concept is so interesting to me, and it's analyzed incredibly well here from a biological standpoint. On the psychological/sociological front, we are rarely treated to more than a few quotes from prominent figures to sum up the canon of Western thought. I wish we could have seen more data on monogamy in practice, including open relationships, gay monogamy, and so on. Perhaps the world just didn't have the data at the time this was written.
Either way, the prime biological info makes this a great read on monogamy, though it isn't THE read because of the aforementioned issues.