Person
Every book Richard Prum recommended on podcasts
Key facts
- Richard Prum has recommended or discussed 3 books on podcasts, as of July 20, 2024.
- Richard Prum has talked about books on 1 podcast, as of July 20, 2024.
- Those books came up in 1 episode, as of July 20, 2024.
- The 3 books Richard Prum has mentioned in the most episodes, as of July 20, 2024: The Blind Watchmaker, The Selfish Gene and The descent of man.
- The latest episode with a book mention from Richard Prum aired on July 20, 2024.
Updated
Richard Prum appears on People I (Mostly) Admire to discuss evolutionary biology, ornithology, and the historical controversies surrounding the study of evolution and beauty in nature. Prum frequently references seminal scientific texts to critique traditional dogmas and explain intellectual resistance within his field. He discusses Richard Dawkins's The Selfish Gene, noting that many evolutionary biologists grew up reading Dawkins as teenagers and often treat their intellectual lives as an ongoing quest to recapture that initial reading experience. Prum also references Dawkins's The Blind Watchmaker, using the concept of the blind watchmaker to critique strictly adaptationist views in biology that omit cognitive complexity, social choices, and the absence of external agents in natural selection. Additionally, Prum discusses Charles Darwin's The Descent of Man in relation to historical reviews from 1871, explaining how contemporary reviewers viewed Darwin's ideas on the arbitrary evolution of beauty as a betrayal of his true cause. Through these discussions, Prum uses established evolutionary texts to challenge conventional wisdom regarding genetics, adaptation, and aesthetic evolution in nature.
Books recommended by Richard Prum
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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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The Selfish Gene
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins is a prominent 1976 work of evolutionary biology that popularizes the gene-centric view of evolution.
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
Books Richard Prum wrote
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| 136. The World’s Most Controversial Ornithologist | People I (Mostly) Admire | 2024-07-20 | 5 |
Other mentions (1: passing, ad reads, own books)
“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”