Sperm Wars: The Science of Sex

by Robin Baker

Book Overview

This classic work on the rules of sex -- updated for a new generation -- is still as provocative as the day it was published, providing simple explanations for any and all questions about what happens... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0465081797
• ISBN13: 9780465081790
• Release Date: October 1996
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

To those questioning the science, you're wrong.

To those who are rather desperately clinging on to their world view despite this book (and it's 1996 earlier version) by criticizing it for lack of scientific rigor, you should realize that this is the popular press version of Baker and Bellis' research and not the academic text. The subject matter is only contoversial by its socially explosive conclusions and not by any questions of its science. If you really want the solid data to convince you that virtually everything you want to believe is wrong, you should get a copy of Human Sperm Competition: Copulation, Masturbation and Infidelity which is the academic text of their groundbreaking research. The proper scientific documentation really is there. Our physiology is wildly more complex than most people had believed and clearly did not develop in a sexually pair bonded environment.

Probing the mysteries of female sexuality

We all marvel at the unpredictable nature of female sexuality, and often wonder why women do the things that they do, and are equaly shocked at the things they DON'T do. Why are women so crazy about teenaged boys that they will risk life and limb to be with them sexualy ( i.e-the current huge runaway phenominon of female teachers having illicit relationships with their male teen students ), while they all but totaly ignore men over 20? Why do women suffer such sexual attention span deficit one day and are at least as sexual as any man the next? Are women truly less attracted to men than men are to women? Why is the realm of female sexuality such a matrix of insanity and seemingly bizzare behaviour? Why can't women explain what they really want? The answers to these questions will shock you....and are contained within the brilliant, extensively researched pages of this book. It will not only give you more insight into the dynamics of female sexuality, but will give you more understanding of your own male sexual physiology as well. Reproduction is truly EVERYTHING !!!! Sex is life itself, and the importance of this transference of life from one generation to the next is a staggering existence we take totaly for granted. Not after you read this book!!! You will never view reproduction the same again.

Updated Book Even Better than the First!

This updated version of Baker's landmark book has provided readers with updated statistics, new research that further proves that attraction and passion has less to do with flowers and more to do with chemical reactions actually taking place within the body. Baker's research and analysis will give men pause, and realize how important it is to integrate the best of the 'bad boy' into the terrific, redeeming qualities of a great, confident man! I wish these books were out 10 years ago! - GiddyupGuy.com

Mostly a rebuttal to the negative reviews

There's a lot of silly stuff in some of the negative reviews below (quotations are paraphrased):1) "Baker's soft porn examples only deal with seedy, sleazy minority behavior. What about the vast majority who are monogamous?" This is multidimensionally silly. Firstly, statistics show that there is no such vast majority; to the extent that there is, it's a vast majority of people who are socialized into paying lip service to one set of ideals while furtively doing something else as their subconscious constructs rationalizations and excuses for why their bodies didn't follow the socialization to do X and went and did Y instead. Secondly, even if a set of circumstances is somewhat atypical, it can still exert decisive evolutionary pressure on a population, given millions of years to operate. If only 1% of people die in car wrecks, over time this will select against people who are bad drivers for genetic reasons (slow reactions, bad eyesight, weak attention span, etc.), though it may take many generations. Thirdly, if a minority trait or a tendency to a particular reproductive choice exists in a population to any significant degree (e.g., bisexuality, or women conceiving ~10% of children through cuckoldry), there *must* be an evolutionary reason for that trait or tendency to have not been eradicated by natural selection pressure. Baker's "soft porn" examples merely work through some of the concrete reasons and situations for why these traits and tendencies might be preserved. Agree or disagree with them if you will, or suggest your own reasons, but merely dismissing them as minority cases is a cop-out.2) Several reviewers complained about "no hard data or bibliography." As another reviewer stated, the book written for academics by the same authors (Human Sperm Competition) has tons of hard data and a reference/bibliography section that goes on for twenty pages. "Sperm Wars" is written for the general public, so they (wisely) kept all the academic clutter out of this popularization.3) "It's partly speculation and/or partly-unproven theories." Yes, the authors included some of their more daring ideas in the book (and it's usually obvious where they do, sometimes because they say so); the authors speculate on the reason bisexuality exists, for example, and every educated reader should know without explicit disclaimers by the authors that there is no unanimity within science as to why it exists. Ditto on the authors' ideas about why semen contains many different sperm types. However, I don't agree with those who think that the layman should be excluded from reading about science that remains unfinished or getting the opinions of the various protagonists. The most interesting parts of science are often those where there is vigorous debate; covering the public's ears while the scientists thrash it out is like sequestering the jury just when the lawyers are getting to the juicy stuff. And in this case, the issues being discussed affect everyon

Astonishing, but plausible, explanations of sexual behavior

This book bowled me over. If one believes in evolution, one should be prepared to believe that the body has reasons that the mind can never know, or couldn't until now. The complaint from many reviewers that no research is cited to back up the astonishing claims merely shows their lack of attention to the Introduction, where the research book is named: Human Sperm Competition, by Mark Bellis and R. Robin Baker. Unfortunately, it costs about $85