Y: The Descent of Men

by Steve Jones

Book Overview

In his highly entertaining and enlightening book, the acclaimed geneticist and author Steve Jones offers a landmark exploration of maleness. With effervescent wit, Jones argues that men, biologically... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0618139303
• ISBN13: 9780618139309
• Release Date: May 2003
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

MUCH BETTER THAN THE OTHER REVIEWS REPORT.

Beards and baldness and belching are Nature's ways of saying "Youre manly." The Y chromosome has only 20 genes on it, but theyre important genes that code for things like fornicating, flirting, fighting, feeding, football, farting, etc. Everything a real guy needs in life, in a small wallet-size package. Y:The Descent of Man is a general survey of facts, lore, and mythology about males. Jones segregates the information into distinct chapters about topics like baldness, erections, length, fidelity, aggression, development, etc. I learned a lot. The book is well-written, and easy to read and digest. I suspect the other reviewers are girls or girly-men.

Interesting and fun

I feel puzzled to see that this book has invoked sharp hostilities among some (mainly US) readers, ascribing "Feminist propaganda at its finest" or "Written by Chicken Little?"I don't believe Dr Jones "deserves" such fanatical labeling. What he is talking about is how a mollusk biologist views the human (or mammal in general) reproduction mechanism, and nothing more, nothing less.IMHO, the book is simply interesting and fun as a bedtinme reading (like his other books.)Or is it that the authour's British writing style never catches on in the US?

Down for the count?

An episode in Star Trek - The Next Generation portrays the Enterprise crew encountering a planet populated entirely by androgynes. The cast representing these creatures is clearly composed of only women. As clones, their appearance and outlook is nearly uniform and gender becomes a social ill. If Steve Jones is correct, this condition is the future of the human species. In this book Jones gives a full account of the rise and descent of masculinity, from the formation of the Y [male] chromosome to the current decline in sperm count in human society. As Jones makes clear, we all start in the womb as neuters, but various processes dictated by the father's chromosomes, turn some of us into males.Jones opens his account with a touch of irony - it was a woman, Nettie Stevens, who identified the male chromosome in 1905. It took nearly a century to perceive the gene controlling sex determination - the SRY [sex recognition gene]. From there Jones explains the role of that short, 20 gene DNA string and its impact. Embryo development relies on sperm-borne chemicals. This input is part of the reason maleness drives the pace of evolution. Sperm is an invader, and the body resists invaders. The chemical changes reflect that fundamental dichotomy and there's nothing universal about male sperm. Its variety reflects the rapid evolutionary pathways taken by various organisms. And few species have evolved as rapidly as humans, Jones reminds us.That haste, however, has led to vulnerability. Male lines, particularly in our own species, die out quicker. Jones' example is expressed in the recognition that all the family lineages since William the Conquerer had died out. Nor are his examples confined to humans. Hermaphroditic slugs in the French Pyranees are exhibiting an increase in female-only lines. Given his evidence for this happening in modern men, one can only wonder at the cause of this unisex phenomenon.For it's modern men that are the target of this book. Whatever forces in evolution have reduced the size and impact of the Y chromosome, modern civilization has exacerbated its decline. Clinics in various nations record reduced sperm counts, notably in Italian taxi drivers, American businessmen, Scots shopkeepers. Jones isn't applauding these trends as some proto-feminist. He wants, through this book, for males to become aware of the fate their descendents will confront. Maleness is likely to disappear, and offers pointers to prevent that extinction. More focus, he stresses, needs to be made on the impact of various foodstuffs and industrial chemicals. Depressing as much of this sounds, there is much to be learned from this book. Jones' ability to impart good science in a readable style makes this book an ideal acquisition. While facts galore are presented here, pedantic stumbling blocks are not. He has no more axe to grind than the desire to increase our awareness of ourselves, both male and female. As he notes, understanding of the