Reviews for National Gem Collection

The average rating for National Gem Collection based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-10-06 00:00:00 Asdf Asdf This is the holy grail for understanding the complex interplay of ethnicities and politics in the former Yugoslavia. This was the first book I read before doing my college thesis, and it has completely shaped my beliefs and study of the region. This is history at its best, Banac is the man!

Review # 2 was written on 2015-04-26 00:00:00 Bryant Sweeney 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.