Overview

Lampert presents the story of love: when, why, and how love became a central experience of humans. Assuming that our world is built of matter, she states that evolution is the change of this matter, according to the supreme criterion of success in offspring reproduction. Love evolved because of its contribution to reproduction. It first appeared in the mothers of mammals, who used the body's proximity as a main adaptation. Human love expands its borders to include the relationships between women and men, friends, and even nonhuman subjects. Lampert describes motherhood as the source of the genetic, hormonal, brain, and behavioral changes that we call love. In the sexual stage, love enters both as a way to select a partner and as a bonding force. Sexuality is built upon ancient layers of early forms of life, before humanity, and includes strong elements of aggression which interrupt our ability to experience a peaceful sexual life. Maternal love and sexual love combine in the evolution of the family. Lampert also examines homosexual love as a way to look at the fascinating process of growing sexual identity and behavior in an individual. Written in a style suited to any educated person, Lampert uses current scientific knowledge on the brain, hormones, the nervous system, ethology, psychology, and even modern physics to make her case. This book will be of interest to students and scholars alike.

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9780275959074

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Reviews

This is an intriguing book, rich in exciting ideas and information. The author elegantly guides the reader on a tour of the many facets of love and its roots in our evolutionary history. Dr. Lampert does not hesitate to explore such diverse topics as gender differences in parent-child attachment, sexual fantasies, pornography, and romance within a unifying framework of evolutionary theory. This is a brave and imaginative book, likely to provoke great interest and debate about why and who we love. -Dr. Neil Malamuth, Professor of Psychology and Communication Chair, Department of Communication University of California at Los Angeles

The book...does a great deal to sensitize the reader to the importance of biological factors in the evolution of love....The book should appeal to a wide range of readers within the natural and social sciences because of its broad integrative base. -American Journal of Human Biology This is an excellent addition to the Human Evolution, Behavior and Intelligence series. Highly recommended. -Choice Lampert's material is well organized and well integrated, and the range is broad enough that many readers will find something new in these pages....Her style is readable and even poetic. -The Journal of Sex Research ?This is an excellent addition to the Human Evolution, Behavior and Intelligence series. Highly recommended.?-Choice ?The book...does a great deal to sensitize the reader to the importance of biological factors in the evolution of love....The book should appeal to a wide range of readers within the natural and social sciences because of its broad integrative base.?-American Journal of Human Biology ?Lampert's material is well organized and well integrated, and the range is broad enough that many readers will find something new in these pages....Her style is readable and even poetic.?-The Journal of Sex Research This is an intriguing book, rich in exciting ideas and information. The author elegantly guides the reader on a tour of the many facets of love and its roots in our evolutionary history. Dr. Lampert does not hesitate to explore such diverse topics as gender differences in parent-child attachment, sexual fantasies, pornography, and romance within a unifying framework of evolutionary theory. This is a brave and imaginative book, likely to provoke great interest and debate about why and who we love. -Dr. Neil Malamuth, Professor of Psychology and Communication Chair, Department of Communication University of California at Los Angeles

Author Information

ADA LAMPERT is Senior Lecturer in Evolutionary Psychology in the Department of Behavioral Sciences at the Ruppin Institute in Israel. Her research combines the psychology of emotions, sex differences, love, and the family with genetic, hormonal, and evolutionary thinking. Her earlier books have appeared in Hebrew.

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