Product Description

From the author of the widely acclaimed Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers, an enlightening perspective on the peculiar drives and intrinsic needs underlying human behavior, and how they link us to -- and separate us from -- the rest of the animal kingdom.

In this wide-ranging collection of witty essays, Robert M. Sapolsky brings a touch of humor and compassion to the world of cutting-edge science. His subjects range from explanations of the neurological bases of human individuality to discussions about the philosophical and political implications of recent findings in biological research. Ultimately, Sapolsky confirms that human beings are -- with unnerving frequency -- just another kind of primate.

"Sapolsky is one of the best scientist/writers of our time....What emerges in these brilliant, wide-ranging essays is a rich picture of human individuality and how it is both constrained and liberated by biological fate". -- Oliver Sacks, M.D.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3898 in Books
• Published on: 1998-04-24
• Released on: 1998-04-24
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .80" h x 5.50" w x 8.49" l, .59 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

From Amazon.com
As a professor of biology and neuroscience at Stanford and a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant," Robert Sapolsky carries impressive credentials. Best of all, he's a gifted writer who possesses a delightfully devilish sense of humor. In these essays, which range widely but mostly focus on the relationships between biology and human behavior, hard and intricate science is handled with a deft touch that makes it accessible to the general reader. In one memorable piece, Sapolsky compares the fascination with tabloid TV to behavior he's observed among wild African baboons. "Rubber necks," notes the professor, "seem to be a common feature of the primate order." In the title essay of The Trouble with Testosterone, Sapolsky ruminates on the links, real or perceived, between that hormone and aggression.

From Library Journal
Ask fans of popular science to name the best science essayists today, and the name of Sapolsky should not immediately come to mind. This book should help to change that. Sapolsky, a biologist at Stanford and a contributor to Discover magazine, writes on the biological aspects of human behavior. Subjects in this provocative and highly literate collection include male aggression, the onset of puberty, the psychology of guilt, and possible connections between madness and religious experience. The author implicitly invites readers to ponder two recurring themes: there are no simple answers to questions of why people act the way they do, and even the most deviant behaviors can be seen as "normal" behaviors taken to extremes. This book offers lots to think about. Highly recommended.?Gregg Sapp, Univ. of Miami Lib., Coral Gables, Fla.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
A sparkling set of essays by MacArthur awardee Sapolsky (Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers, 1993; Biology and Neuroscience/Stanford), who is not at all afraid to go out on a (primate) limb to discuss biology, brain, and behavior. As a veteran baboon watcher, he has much to say on stress and hormones, adolescence, and other fascinating topics. In some essays he is merely out to set the record straight. So we learn in the title essay that higher testosterone levels do not increase aggression, but that aggression increases testosterone levels. Even if you give massive amounts of hormone to a monkey who, let us say, is number three in a dominance hierarchy, he will tyrannize numbers four and five but still kowtow to the two above him. Other baboon-based essays become springboards for discussion of commonalities between them and us, for example, in voyeurism: Baboons like to watch, too. They are easy targets for junk food, and adolescence is a markedly stress-filled period in which male baboons appear to be programmed to leave the troop and join another, invariably as low man on the totem pole. In other essays Sapolsky makes perturbing leaps: Are the sundry neurological disorders he glibly describes (epilepsy, Huntington's disease, Tourette's syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder) truly representative of a continuum of behavior? Are the founders and leaders of religion ``schizotypal'' personalities? Arguable, certainly, but always interesting. Elsewhere Sapolsky, who summers in Kenya, writes of the predicament of the African middle class- -infatuated with Western diets and cultures while trapped in the persistent rhythms of the old ways. In the end it is the refreshing honesty of this scientist- teacher, his zeal to speculate as well as to clearly present the facts, that engages the reader. That, and a deft and often witty way with words. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.