Episode · People I (Mostly) Admire · 2024-07-20
Books mentioned on 136. The World’s Most Controversial Ornithologist
Richard Prum says there's a lot that traditional evolutionary biology can't explain. He thinks a neglected hypothesis from Charles Darwin — and insights from contemporary queer theory — hold the answer.
Steve Levitt recommended The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, and discussed The Evolution of Beauty by Richard O. Prum and Performance All the Way Down by Richard O. Prum. Richard Prum discussed The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, The descent of man by Charles Darwin, and The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The Evolution of Beauty
The Evolution of Beauty by Richard O.
Discussed“but you wrote an extremely popular book on the evolution of beauty that I think intentionally he tries to move away from the sterile scientific version of it where the female birds in particular take on a very active role”
Where to get it
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The Selfish Gene
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins is a foundational work of popular science that presents a gene-centric view of evolution, arguing that natural selection operates primarily at the level of genes rather than individuals or species.
Discussed“The math has supported that for a very long time, but evolutionary biologists are still resistant to it, mostly because many of them grew up reading Richard Dawkins as a teenager, and they feel like their mission in their intellectual life is to rediscover that buzz, and this is the way to do it in birds. So Richard Dawkins is”
Where to get it
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The descent of man
The Descent of Man by Charles Darwin is an 1871 scientific work that expands on evolutionary theory by focusing heavily on sexual selection, human ancestry, and the development of social and moral faculties.
Discussed“because reviewers of The Descent of Man his book on sexual selection in 1871 see the idea of arbitrary evolution of beauty as a traitor to Darwin's true cause”
Where to get it
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The Blind Watchmaker
The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins is a seminal science book arguing that the complex adaptations of living organisms are shaped by natural selection rather than conscious design.
Discussed“you've probably heard of the idea of the blind watchmaker right this is a title of one of Dawkins book is the idea that the beauty of adaptation by natural selection is that there no agents involved”
Where to get it
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Performance All the Way Down
Discussed“so your latest book which is entitled performance all the way down is an attempt to incorporate queer feminist Theory into biology”
Where to get it
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The God Delusion
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins is a prominent polemical work that argues against the existence of a creator deity and critiques the societal impacts of religion.
Recommended“In two weeks, we have an exciting new episode featuring Richard Dawkins, famed author of 'The Selfish Gene' and 'The God Delusion,' amongst others. His name frequently emerges in our discussions, including today’s episode, and I've yearned to meet him for quite some time, which will finally happen in two weeks!”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (5) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“what I really Aspire for in performance all the way down is that queer kids will come into the sciences and have that same experience that I did”
“he's the author of The Selfish Gene and The God Delusion as well as many other influential books”
“he's the author of The Selfish Gene and The God Delusion as well as many other influential books”
“he's the author of The Selfish genan and The God Delusion as well as many other influential books”
“he's the author of The Selfish genan and The God Delusion as well as many other influential books”