Men

Males account for roughly 50 percent of the global population, but in America and other places, they account for over 85 percent of violent crime. A graph of relative risk of death in human males shows that mortality is high immediately following birth, falls during childhood, then exhibits a distinct rise between the ages of 15 and 35 - primarily the result of accidents, violence, and risky behaviours. Why? What compels males to drive fast, act violently, and behave stupidly? Why are men's lives so different from those of women? "Men" presents a new approach to understanding the human male by drawing upon life history and evolutionary theory. Because life history theory focuses on the timing of, and energetic investment in, particular aspects of physiology, such as growth and reproduction, Richard Bribiescas and his fellow anthropologists are now using it in the study of humans. This has led to an increased understanding of human female physiology - especially growth and reproduction - from an evolutionary and life history perspective. However, little attention has been directed toward these characteristics in males. "Men" provides a new understanding of human male physiology and applies it to contemporary health issues such as prostate cancer, testosterone replacement therapy, and the development of a male contraceptive. "Men" proves that understanding human physiology requires global research in traditionally overlooked areas and that evolutionary and life history theory have much to offer toward this endeavour.

ISBN 0674022939   Pages 298 ISBN13 9780674022935 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Harvard University Press   Weight (grammes) 494 Imprint Harvard University Press   Published in Cambridge, Mass Format Hardback   Height (mm) 210 Publication date 10 Nov 2006   Width (mm) 150 Library of Congress 2006049542   Spine width (mm) 27 DEWEY 305.31   Academic level Professional / Scholarly DEWEY edition DC22

		Introduction : Chachugi's cap		1
Pt. I		Setting the stage
1		Change happens		11
2		Birth, death, and everything in between		33
3		The ancestral male		51
Pt. II		Human male life history
4		Stacking the deck		67
5		Womb to grow		77
6		Getting a life		99
7		Sex and fatherhood		123
8		The male furnace		149
9		Men and medicine		173
10		The old guard		193
		Conclusion : the solitary male		219

For anyone interested in the evolutionary and life history of human males, this may be just the book to have on one's shelf. Yale anthropologist Bribiescas's task is simple yet elegant: examine human males and determine how they differ behaviorally from both women and nonhuman males. Everyone knows there are physiological differences between men and women, but to what degree are the differences biologically related? Any modern answer to this seemingly perplexing (some would argue unanswerable) question is grounded in both evolutionary and life-history theory. Most readers will be familiar with the first, at least to some degree, but the second is newer and not as well known. Whereas evolutionary theory explains the origin and development of species through time, life-history theory explains the evolution of significant life events such as reproduction. It bypasses the simple, erroneous theorem that organisms attempt to maximize their longevity, substituting instead an emphasis on optim

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