A Taste for the Beautiful: The Evolution of Attraction - Hardcover

"Ryan charms readers with his account of attraction in the animal kingdom, including humans. As he puts it, beauty is in the 'brain of the beholder.'" * Scientific American * "Ryan's book is a balanced, clear, well-written study of factors affecting how sexual selection works."---Egbert Giles Leigh Jr., Evolution: Education and Outreach "How Darwin would have loved a book such as this." * BBC Wildlife * "This is a hugely enjoyable book written with authority, easy charm and a great deal of wit. . . . This is science communication as it should be done: authoritative but never dull, engaging but never dumbed down. I'm in danger of straying into the territory of bad puns, but it really is a beautiful book."---Simon Underdown, Times Higher Education "The author's work with frogs launched a lifetime interest in discovering how beauty is found not just in animals' calls, but in the scents they give off and the colors they show. He argues that certain domains in the brain help determine what is perceived as beautiful. . . . Small, uncaptioned, black-and-white illustrations open each chapter, and what does come through clearly is the diversity of beauty--and the diversity of sexual behavior." * Kirkus Reviews * "Ryan works hard to write for general readers, and the narrative is replete with entertaining stories of the sexual marketplace that we and the rest of the animal world inhabit." * Kirkus Reviews * "A delightful and enlightening review of current laboratory and field research into the aesthetic worlds of dozens of species. . . . If there's a lesson to be learned from Ryan's survey of sexual aesthetics, it's that each species perceives the world through a uniquely tuned array of senses with a unique evolutionary history. Put succinctly, romance among the birds and the bees has one thing in common with romance between men and women . . . It's complicated."---Laurence A. Marschall, Natural History "It is a fascinating study, well written and full of interesting details."---Henrick Hogh-Olesen, Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture "In this appealing book, Ryan, professor of zoology at University of Texas, investigates the potential for a scientific understanding of what makes some biological traits sexually attractive. . . . Ryan leads a thoughtful and enlightening tour of brain function across an array of animals, focusing on three senses: sight, sound, and smell. In each case he presents current research, some of which is his own, detailing the nature of experimental design and the excitement of gaining new insights while discussing what remains unknown. . . . Ryan offers much to enjoy in his provocative book." * Publishers Weekly * "This popular science book presents concepts and supporting research that will not come as any surprise to specialist evolutionary biologists, but it is recommended as an entertaining and very readable introduction to this field of study for the wider reader. And there are enough insect and related examples to keep the entomologist interested."---Andrew Wakeham-Dawson, Entomologist's Gazette "Do read the book. You will see in nature a beauty you had previously failed to appreciate. You will evolve."---David Dobbs, Undark