{"product_id":"the-evolution-of-beauty-hardcover-rare-books","title":"The Evolution of Beauty [hardcover] [rare books]","description":"\u003cdiv aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"a-expander-content a-expander-partial-collapse-content\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eA FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eNAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eTHE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eSMITHSONIAN,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e AND\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eWALL STREET JOURNAL\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eA major reimagining of how evolutionary forces work, revealing how mating preferences—what Darwin termed \"the taste for the beautiful\"—create the extraordinary range of ornament in the animal world.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eIn the great halls of science, dogma holds that Darwin's theory of natural selection explains every branch on the tree of life: which species thrive, which wither away to extinction, and what features each evolves. But can adaptation by natural selection really account for everything we see in nature?\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e     Yale University ornithologist Richard Prum—reviving Darwin's own views—thinks not. Deep in tropical jungles around the world are birds with a dizzying array of appearances and mating displays: Club-winged Manakins who sing with their wings, Great Argus Pheasants who dazzle prospective mates with a four-foot-wide cone of feathers covered in golden 3D spheres, Red-capped Manakins who moonwalk. In thirty years of fieldwork, Prum has seen numerous display traits that seem disconnected from, if not outright contrary to, selection for individual survival. To explain this, he dusts off Darwin's long-neglected theory of sexual selection in which the act of choosing a mate for purely aesthetic reasons—for the mere pleasure of it—is an independent engine of evolutionary change.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e    Mate choice can drive ornamental traits from the constraints of adaptive evolution, allowing them to grow ever more elaborate. It also sets the stakes for sexual conflict, in which the sexual autonomy of the female evolves in response to male sexual control. Most crucially, this framework provides important insights into the evolution of human sexuality, particularly the ways in which female preferences have changed male bodies, and even maleness itself, through evolutionary time.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eThe Evolution of Beauty\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e presents a unique scientific vision for how nature's splendor contributes to a more complete understanding of evolution and of ourselves.\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"a-expander-header a-expander-partial-collapse-header\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Best of Used books","offers":[{"title":"Used","offer_id":44270300365057,"sku":"2UV0SXNGH-Used","price":799.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0421\/4299\/0495\/files\/8d187f34-591b-46e8-a6e0-4cffe0fc0778.jpg?v=1697546860","url":"https:\/\/bestofusedbooks.com\/products\/the-evolution-of-beauty-hardcover-rare-books","provider":"Best Of Used Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}