Awards

• Commended for Independent Publisher Book Awards (Science) 2007

Overview

Males account for roughly 50 percent of the global population, but in America and other places, they account for over 85 percent of violent crime. A graph of relative risk of death in human males shows that mortality is high immediately following birth, falls during childhood, then exhibits a distinct rise between the ages of 15 and 35 - primarily the result of accidents, violence, and risky behaviours. Why? What compels males to drive fast, act violently, and behave stupidly? Why are men's lives so different from those of women? Men presents a new approach to understanding the human male by drawing upon life history and evolutionary theory. Because life history theory focuses on the timing of, and energetic investment in, particular aspects of physiology, such as growth and reproduction, Richard Bribiescas and his fellow anthropologists are now using it in the study of humans. This has led to an increased understanding of human female physiology - especially growth and reproduction - from an evolutionary and life history perspective. However, little attention has been directed toward these characteristics in males. Men provides a new understanding of human male physiology and applies it to contemporary health issues such as prostate cancer, testosterone replacement therapy, and the development of a male contraceptive. Men proves that understanding human physiology requires global research in traditionally overlooked areas and that evolutionary and life history theory have much to offer toward this endeavour.

Full Product Details

9780674022935

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Reviews

The author is well positioned to write this book...His familiarity with the variable ways in which males lead their lives facilitates insightful views of comparative human population biology...Good signs that you enjoy a book include staying awake to finish reading it when you should be sleeping, and smiling while reading alone. In the case of Men , I stayed awake until 3:00 A.M. finishing it, while laughing out loud...Bribiescas' fun, lively, and accessible prose makes for a successful trek into the male wilderness. Words like gonadotropin and catabolize may be new ideas (for some readers) falling from the trees, but you'll see the forest here in refreshing ways. -- Peter B. Gray Journal of Mammalian Evolution (02/15/2007)

Author Information

Richard G. Bribiescas is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Yale University.

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