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The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating

The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating

Current price: $20.99
Publication Date: December 27th, 2016
Publisher:
Basic Books
ISBN:
9780465097760
Pages:
368
Usually Ships in 1 to 5 Days

Description

A “drop-dead shocker” (Washington Post Book World) that uses evolutionary psychology to explain human mating and the mysteries of love If we all want love, why is there so much conflict in our most cherished relationships? To answer this question, we must look into our evolutionary past, argues prominent psychologist David M. Buss. Based one of the largest studies of human mating ever undertaken, encompassing more than 10,000 people of all ages from thirty-seven cultures worldwide, The Evolution of Desire is the first work to present a unified theory of human mating behavior. Drawing on a wide range of examples of mating behavior — from lovebugs to elephant seals, from the Yanomamö tribe of Venezuela to online dating apps — Buss reveals what women want, what men want, and why their desires radically differ. Love has a central place in human sexual psychology, but conflict, competition, and manipulation also pervade human mating — something we must confront in order to control our own mating destiny.

Updated to reflect the very latest scientific research on human mating, this definitive edition of this classic work of evolutionary psychology explains the powerful forces that shape our most intimate desires.

About the Author

David M. Buss is professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and the author of many books, including When Men Behave Badly, Why Women Have Sex, The Murderer Next Door, The Dangerous Passion, and the textbook Evolutionary Psychology, now in its fifth edition. He has written for publications including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Psychology Today. He lives in Austin, Texas.

Praise for The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating

"David Buss examines that most quintessential of biological desires in the context of modern biology—the ultimate explanations for why we have the thoughts and feelings we do. It is a book filled with insight, surprises, and lucid explanations of the latest ideas and discoveries from the sciences of love and sex."—Steven Pinker, author of How the Mind Works

"A drop-dead shocker."—Washington Post Book World

"Clear, coherent, and convincing…[What] makes it intriguing are the insights it offers into our behavior and the behavior of our partners, lovers and friends."—Philadelphia Inquirer

“Ambitious.…Buss is refreshingly evenhanded.”—Elle