One of the first and most thorough as well as perhaps the most serious treatment of the (then) new and fledgling field of Evolutionary Psychology (EP).



Primarily as a result of this book (and certainly as a result of the research of its contributors, beyond just their contributions here in this volume), I have become a firm believer in the EP cultural worldview. Today, it is seen as a natural, and further elaboration of the Darwinian paradigm: that explains the connection between evolutionary biology and evolutionary developments in human behavior, including developments in cognitive processes.



The key hypothesis allowing this connection to flow rather seamlessly is of course the central idea introduced in the book: that brain architecture is inherited and thus is too (like everything else biological) a product of Darwinian processes. In particular, the brain too has evolved through Darwinian specialization or natural selection. (Why it has taken us so long to accept this rather obvious biological fact says a lot about how we ourselves have been socialized culturally.)



Thus, what these authors do here is set the EP ship upright by basically showcasing what they have learned in the EP laboratory since Dawkins' first two trail blazing books "The Selfish Gene," and "Sociobiology." Both of which were controversial -- not just because of what they implied about human behavior -- but also and most especially, for the fear many felt that social planners might do as a consequence of the content of Dawkins' new Socio-biological paradigm and framework.



Thus this book, along with others that subsequently leaned on it (such as Robert Wright's "Moral Man," and Marc D. Hauser's "Moral Minds"), proves that Dawkins' framework and paradigm are robust and durable and are likely to endure since as this book so aptly demonstrates, they have also survived the rigors of the scientific method -- as well as the doubts of potential social policy makers and armchair social scientists. That is why this book is so important and is THE seminal work in the field of EP. For my work on race and racism, it is an invaluable resource, especially the section on mate selection and its impact on cultural development. An easy Five Stars