Monkeyluv

Monkeyluv: and other essays on our lives as animals by Robert M. Sapolsky

I've just begun reading this book. The sarcastic and funny writing styles reminds me of Genome by Matt Ridley (one of my non-fiction favorites!). The book is divided into three sections: Genes and Who We Are, Our Bodies and Who We Are, and Society and Who We Are. The author's main point of the first section seems to be, "Genes influence behavior, environment influences behavior, and genes and environment interact." I especially like the "notes" after each essay. These notes update the essays (some are several years old) when necessary and provide an interesting bibliography as well. By the time I'm finished with this book, I'll probably have a list of another twenty books!

9/3
Stayed up late last night to finish reading this. The second and third sections are even more interesting and compelling than the first! I'm definitely going to buy this book. Here are a few favorite quotes:

"...one of the classic features of science--in explaining something, you've merely redefined the unknown."

"...here's all of us forgoing immediate pleasure to get good grades to get into a good college to get a good job in order to get into the nursing home of our choice."