National Health Service A Political History Book

A curious and quirky little book looking at the diversity of sexual behaviors and adaptations throughout the breadth of life and delving into the biological and physiological reasons for their existence and/or persistence. Although examples are drawn from animals great and small the majority of cases cited are centered around invertebrates of various dispositions, both because they exhibit the widest variety of mating systems and because (I assume) of the ease of studying an animal with a short generation time. Chapters each explore an encompassing facet of sexual reproduction, from sperm competition to role reversal, including some more morally challenging topics like abortion/infanticide and incest. Each chapter brings one or more examples to the table and explores why/how such a system might benefit the organisms discussed, and then toward the end applies the reasoning to human systems where applicable. Of course virtually all of the human-related discussion is theoretical, but it still makes good brain food. At nearly 10 years old some of the theories are starting to show their age, but it's a good (and fairly quick) peek into the complexities of sexual reproduction.