Sex at Dawn

At around 26,000 ft I finished off Sex at Dawn today. It was a very eye-opening book to say the least, and one I would highly recommend to pretty much any other human. Can't really say that about most books I read! I found especially enlightening the parts about the effects of testosterone on men as they age. Cara was at a conference last Thursday and she excitedly called me to tell me about a talk she on a study of testosterone's effects on asthma. Apparently so many little boys outgrow it, myself included, because of their heightened testosterone levels at and after puberty.

After reading the book I really wonder if the depression I sometimes feel is a result of lower testosterone as I age. I really want to learn more on the subject. Sadly, there's no wifi on this plane though. It's really fascinating how much we are driven by our biochemistry.

Also in Sex at Dawn is a cross-species look at mating and sexual dimorphism that really gave me a better understanding of my own sexuality. For example, Cara and I are roughly the same size, but in species like the gorilla where males tend to be much larger that their mates, sex is primarily for procreation. And chimpanzees mate often like we humans do, but it only lasts about 7 seconds on average.

The central thesis of the book, on the other hand, is a much more taboo idea: that humans did not evolve monogamously. The case they make is both a biological one as well as sociological. The former, with examples of other great apes who have similar anatomical anomalies and the evolutionary pressures that likely caused their development. Like, for example, the oversized testicles I share with the chimp and bonobo, but not the gibbon, gorilla or orangutan. The sociological argument that some people live this way now, so all people once lived this way is much shakier. But go read it for yourself and then tell me what you think!