The Red Queen
Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature
by Matt Ridley · first published 1993
88% recommend13% neutral
Why HN recommends it
A popular-science look at why sexual reproduction exists and how evolution shaped human mating strategies and sex differences; suits readers curious about evolutionary biology who want a lighter follow-up to Dawkins.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Two fascinating questions lie at the heart of The Red Queen: Why is Homo sapiens a sexual species, and what implications does this have for human nature? That man is sexual may seem unremarkable, yet in fact not all plants and animals need to have sex to reproduce; simple cloning is practiced by many animals with much greater efficiency. To understand how life evolves, and what benefit sex provides for humans, we must think like the Red Queen in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, who had to keep running just to stay in place. According to a controversial yet persuasive new theory
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
Related books
2010–2024Sperm Wars
Robin Baker
Recommended by 7 · mentioned by 137 recommend · 13 mention7 recommend · 137 recommend
Mind magic
Bill Harvey
Recommended by 1 · mentioned by 21 recommend · 2 mention1 recommend · 21 recommend
2013–2024Total freedom
Jiddu Krishnamurti
Recommended by 4 · mentioned by 44 recommend · 4 mention4 recommend · 44 recommend
2007–2025The moral animal
Wright, Robert
Recommended by 22 · mentioned by 2822 recommend · 28 mention22 recommend · 2822 recommend
2009–2026Gateless Gate
Koun Yamada
Recommended by 4 · mentioned by 74 recommend · 7 mention4 recommend · 74 recommend
2007–2025The Moral Animal
Robert Wright
Recommended by 23 · mentioned by 2723 recommend · 27 mention23 recommend · 2723 recommend
2009–2020The Mating Mind
Geoffrey Miller
Recommended by 9 · mentioned by 159 recommend · 15 mention9 recommend · 159 recommend
2010–2026Sein und Zeit
Martin Heidegger
Recommended by 2 · mentioned by 92 recommend · 9 mention2 recommend · 92 recommend
I recommend The Red Queen if you want to start learning about this. The short answer: men largely choose mates based on looks; women choose based more on social status. Signalling low social status reduces male attractiveness;…
on “The Secret to a Happy Marriage: Do the Dishes, Put Out, Don’t Talk So Much” ↗Those of you who downgrade my comment should put that PC stuff aside, and consider reading about the evolution of sexuality. Such as "The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature" by Matt Ridley, and "The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature" by Geoffrey Miller. All your wishful thinking will never make women…
on “Widespread sex differences in gene expression in the human brain (2013)” ↗The book "The Red Queen" by Matt Ridley goes into depth about how men and women choose their mates, based largely on evolutionary biology. People treat it like a character flaw for a woman to choose a man based on wealth and…
on “Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?” ↗…survival. This is a profound theory, because it posits a very strong evolutionary foundation for human socialization and behaviour. As discussed in Robert Wright's "A Moral Animal", and Matt Ridley's "The Red Queen", among many other works, recent evidence has made Dawkins' extended phenotype theory extremely plausible. Thus, if we are to analyse religion from the view that it is a set of behaviours which maximizes…
on “Richard Dawkins: A Knack for Bashing Orthodoxy” ↗If you guys are interested in this stuff, I highly recommend "The Red Queen" by Matt Ridley. http://amazon.com/Red-Queen-Evolution-Human-Nature/dp/006055...
on “Analysis of DNA uncovers a rough dating scene after the advent of agriculture” ↗…was pretty skeptical of the book's claims, at least as they were summarized in that thread. So this review was interesting to me. (I had nothing to do with the submission though.) I still recommend The Red Queen by Matt Ridley to anyone interested in this subject.
on “Sex at Dawn -- evolutionary biology misused” ↗…spouses, there are unwilling bachelors. They're willing to take the high-risk road and fight battles to become patriarchs; as a bonus, war casualties increase the female/male ratio. I recommend reading The Red Queen if you're interested by all aspects of mating strategies and risk acceptance, not limited to human beings nor even whole organisms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Queen:_Sex_and_the_Evol...).
on “Starship Troopers: one of the most misunderstood movies ever” ↗…For those who want to understand how evolution shaped women and men, I recommend to start with Dawkins' books (The Greatest Show on Earth, The Blind Watchmaker, The Selfish Gene), and then to read "The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature" by Matt Ridley, and "The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature" by Geoffrey Miller. And, hey, I am talking to the audience here,…
on “Female Founders” ↗…http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2012/02/14/mammals-ma... http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/12/science/12paleo.html For those interested in evolution of sexual reproduction and "viro-biome", I recommend Carl Zimmer's Planet of Viruses and Matt Ridley's Red Queen. I agree the article is a bit sensationalist. Look at it in this way: had it been a boring, academic, science-journaly piece, many of us wouldn't have waded through the article at all... Obviously the…
on “War in the womb” ↗The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature by Matt Ridley is one of the best science books I ever read.
on “Steven Weinberg: Science books for the general reader” ↗Ridley's The Red Queen was a fascinating follow up after having read this. They both completely changed my world view.
on “In Retrospect: The Selfish Gene” ↗Or you could read Dawkins' "Selfish Gene" and or if you want something lighter Matt Ridley's "The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature" to have it debunked.
on “‘I’m Broke and Mostly Friendless, and I’ve Wasted My Whole Life’” ↗It's this Matt Ridley, from "The Red Queen" fame. Immediate add to my list.
on “Book Review: “Viral” by Alina Chan and Matt Ridley” ↗…support other members of the same (or similar) line, then that line as a whole has a better chance of lasting. 2) If anyone's interested in longer discussions of these (and they are interesting): - _The_Red_Queen_ (why we sleep around) http://www.amazon.com/Red-Queen-Evolution-Human-Nature/dp/00... - _The_Dark_Side_Of_Man_ (why we rape, kill) http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Side-Man-Michael-Ghiglieri/dp/073... Note…
on “Why do we rape, kill and sleep around? Don't blame the caveman” ↗I highly recommend "The Red Queen" by Matt Ridley for a really interesting look at what might have caused our species to develop this way. It is not as simple as one might think.
on “Advertising is devastating to my well-being” ↗