Monkeyluv: And Other Essays on Our Lives as Animals (original 2005; edition 2005)

A really interesting read. I'm not great with science, but each essay simplified and explained its core concepts in ways that were compelling and relatively easy to grasp (without seeming dumbed-down, at all). In terms of essay collections, this definitely wasn't the strongest I've read in terms of writing quality, but I definitely enjoyed it and learned a lot!

Monkeyluv is a book of essays by Robert Sapolsky on animal (and human) behavior. I really loved A Primate's Memoir - his adventures in Africa studying baboons - so I got this on a whim. It's divided into three sections: the first, and most scientific, discusses the interactions of genes with the environments in which they're placed. The second part talks about the actions of individuals from a genetic/evolutionary perspective, and the third is about the actions of society as a whole from the same perspective.

My favorite essays were "Nursery Crimes," about Munchausen's by proxy, and "The Cultural Desert," how different religions correspond to the environment where they were founded. He acknowledges at one point that a lot of his research is the result of a brief but intense obsession with a subject, so there is a variety of material here to mull over. He takes a relaxed but knowledgeable approach to biology, since most of these essays were originally published in mainstream magazines, so all of the material is very approachable. But he also doesn't condescend to the reader, and you end up having learned a lot when you're done. ( )

It had a really dumbed down explanation of gene expression. So now I finally get it. The Monkeyluv essay and the one about Munchausen by proxy were just heart breaking. I love his writing bcs he'll be all sciency and then say something really human. When he wonders if we are asking the right questions it's like a breath of fresh air. Cool book. ( )

An interesting and entertaining read. Lots of "I-didn't-know-that!" moments. For me, the most important was this: In [William] James's view, your brain assesses the situation too quickly for you to be consciously aware yet of what you are feeling about it and rapidly kicks you body into gear with whatever autonomic response it is going to have. Your brain then canvasses your body to see how it's reacting to the outside stimulus. So conscious emotions don't shape your autonomic bodily response; your autonomic bodily response shapes the conscious emotion you fell. ... Weird; seems ass backward, and it did to a lot of James's contemporaries. But hsi ideas are turning out to be true in a lot of ways.