.has written an engrossing, accessible explanation of sperm competition and related elements of animal biology. Birkhead succeeds on two levels at once. He sets out evolutionists' arguments about sperm competition and sexual selection, and shows how their hypotheses have been tested. He also offers a fantastic array of biological believe-it-or-nots. [His] work is solid and intriguing, a clear picture of many out-there phenomena; no one who cares for biology should miss it.
Reviews of this book:
[Darwin] didn't expand on...promiscuity in females...but Tim Birkhead more than makes up for Darwin's omission. Promiscuity
is a fascinating, wide-ranging, erudite, readable journey through some of the weirder stretches of biology.
--A. H. Harcourt, Nature
Reviews of this book:
[A] fascinating story of a revolution in evolutionary biology. Until recently, biologists and cigar-toting males who haunt singles bars would have agreed that the reproductive act is what it's about. That may still be the case for singles-bar louts, but biologists now know the Darwinian struggle to reproduce does not end with copulation. "Generations of reproductive biologists assumed females to be sexually monogamous," Birkhead writes, but recently they've found that in many species of insects, birds and reptiles, females are highly promiscuous...These new findings demolish the idea that reproduction is a warm, romantic collaboration. "This is real sexual conflict: the battle of the sexes," Birkhead says,; males and females are out to get "the best, selfish genetic deal they can get." The battle of the sexes is an old story, but the idea that it continues after copulation, in the microscopic arena of sperm and eggs, is distinctly new...As the battle of the sexes continues, Birkhead's provocative book is a reminder of how little we know.
--Paul Raeburn, New York Times Book Review
Reviews of this book:
Darwin's evolutionary theory, as originally presented, taught the importance of, and the powerful results of, the processes of sexual selection. However, according to...Birkhead, Darwin's attention stopped short at mate selection. This current work takes the study of sexual selection to yet another level...[Promiscuity
is] quite readable and engaging...Birkhead is an excellent, clear writer and this approach allows even non-biologists to learn much about his subject. Certainly, the book will stimulate the reader to consider the meaning of male-female relationships in a new light.
--Keith S. Harris, Metapsychology
A century after Darwin originated the concept of sexual selection, an explosion of research began on the topic. Tim Birkhead has documented a fascinating part of this explosion; a part that Darwin did not discuss--namely adaptations taking effect after mating: sperm competition and sperm selection, and the associated battles of the sexes. Birkhead's account is riveting--it will captivate everyone, not only for its scintillating and easy presentation of the biology, but for its portrayal of some of the dramas, personalities, and social pressures that shaped the directions of the research.
--Professor G. A. Parker, Population & Evolutionary Biology Research Group, Nicholson Building, The University of Liverpool
Darwin explained why males evolve weapons to conquer rivals and ornaments to charm mates. But this is only half the story. Tim Birkhead shows how conflicts continue after copulation inside the female reproductive tract, which provides an extraordinary obstacle course where sperm from different males often battle for paternity. This is a marvellous and lucid survey, from bed-bugs to humans. If you want to know why sex is so complicated, read this book and give your brain a treat.
--Nick Davies, Professor of Behavioural Ecology, University of Cambridge
Tim Birkhead has written an engaging, popular account of the ultimate battle between the sexes, the contest to see whose sperm wins the race to fertilise the egg. This warfare shapes the reproductive lives of the lowly dungfly, the spawning salmon, the mating frog, the flirtatious zebra finch, the sn