Review by Choice Review
The traits of all organisms have been influenced by evolutionary selection, and most organisms have some element of mate choice, opting to pick the strongest, most fit, and "best" mate. Ryan (Univ. of Texas) illustrates that this choice involves some form of aesthetic preference akin to visual, auditory, or olfactory "beauty." If a female selects a loud, strong male as mate, their offspring are likely to be louder and stronger. The author asserts that this phenomenon is fundamentally similar across organisms: humans and frogs practice the same preference for traits perceived within the species as beautiful. The receptive neurons in the receiver's brain evolve to be optimally tuned to the also-evolving signals. This book presents concepts in evolution to a popular, non-scientist audience, and tends to be more anthropomorphic in places than most scholarly books. After introducing readers to fundamentals in sex and sexual selection, eight more chapters cover topics such the role of vocal traits in sexual selection among frogs, the brain's evolution alongside definitions of beauty, and concepts of beauty as they relate to various senses. This work handily combines neuroscience, psychology, ethology, and ecology with sensory physiology and psychophysics in the context of evolutionary change and adaptation. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers. --Joanna Burger, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this appealing book, Ryan, professor of zoology at the University of Texas, investigates the potential for a scientific understanding of what makes some biological traits sexually attractive. He argues that, contrary to what other researchers have postulated, "instead of the brain having to evolve to detect beauty, the brain determines what is beautiful, and all of its constraints and contingencies give rise to a breathtaking diversity of sexual aesthetics throughout the animal kingdom." In other words, "to understand beauty, we need to understand the brain." Ryan leads a thoughtful and enlightening tour of brain function across an array of animals, focusing on three senses: sight, sound, and smell. In each case he presents current research, some of which is his own, detailing the nature of experimental design and the excitement of gaining new insights while discussing what remains unknown. Ryan argues that the main driver leading males to develop characteristics that females find beautiful (such as peacock tails, specific frog calls, or surfperch scale patterns) is sensory exploitation, which first evolved to aid in food finding and predator avoidance. By stressing the links between humans and other animals, Ryan also provides glimpses into mate choice in humans. Ryan offers much to enjoy in his provocative book. Illus. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Another look at Darwin's once-controversial theory of sexual selection, in which the author argues that sexual beauty is in the brain of the beholder.His study of the sexual behavior of the tungara frog led Ryan (Zoology/Univ. of Texas, Austin), a senior research associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, to develop an explanation of how the brain is involved in mating behavior. The calls, whines, and chucks of male frogs are designed, he found, to inform, charm, and seduce the females, but they can also attract hungry predators. The author's work with frogs launched a lifetime interest in discovering how beauty is found not just in animals' calls, but in the scents they give off and the colors they show. He argues that certain domains in the brain help determine what is perceived as beautiful. Thus, understanding the biology of the brain is vital to understanding the biological basis of sexual aesthetics, and those aesthetics drive the evolution of sexual beauty. This is not simple stuff. Ryan works hard to write for general readers, and the narrative is replete with entertaining stories of the sexual marketplace that we and the rest of the animal world inhabit. "Survival is secondary to sex," he writes, "merely an adaptation to keep animals alive so they can have a shot in the sexual marketplace." However, many of Ryan's descriptions of his and other researchers' work demand close reading and some background in scientific vocabulary, including such terms as "major histocompatibility complex" and "asymetrically dominated decoy." Small, uncaptioned, black-and-white illustrations open each chapter, and what does come through clearly is the diversity of beautyand the diversity of sexual behavior.Despite its appealing title, this is one primarily for the academic marketa good choice for classrooms. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
