Harvard University Press
Men: Evolutionary and Life History
Key Metrics
- Richard G Bribiescas
- Harvard University Press
- Paperback
- 9780674030343
- 8.1 X 5.4 X 0.9 inches
- 0.85 pounds
- Social Science > Anthropology - Physical
- English
Secure TransactionBook Description
Males account for roughly 50 percent of the global population, but in America and other places, they account for over 85 percent of violent crime. A graph of relative risk of death in human males shows that mortality is high immediately following birth, falls during childhood, then exhibits a distinct rise between the ages of 15 and 35--primarily the result of accidents, violence, and risky behaviors. Why? What compels males to drive fast, act violently, and behave stupidly? Why are men's lives so different from those of women?
Men presents a new approach to understanding the human male by drawing upon life history and evolutionary theory. Because life history theory focuses on the timing of, and energetic investment in, particular aspects of physiology, such as growth and reproduction, Richard Bribiescas and his fellow anthropologists are now using it in the study of humans. This has led to an increased understanding of human female physiology--especially growth and reproduction--from an evolutionary and life history perspective. However, little attention has been directed toward these characteristics in males. Men provides a new understanding of human male physiology and applies it to contemporary health issues such as prostate cancer, testosterone replacement therapy, and the development of a male contraceptive.
Men proves that understanding human physiology requires global research in traditionally overlooked areas and that evolutionary and life history theory have much to offer toward this endeavor.
Author Bio
Richard Bribiescas is Professor of Anthropology, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and former Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Diversity. He is also a Primary Investigator in the Yale Reproductive Ecology Laboratory. His most notable research involves the evolutionary biology and endocrinology of human and comparative life histories, reproduction, aging, and metabolism. He has conducted field research among the Ache people of Paraguay as well as populations in Venezuela, Japan, Ecuador, and the United States as well as various species of non-human primates. He is presently collaborating with Professors Larry Sugiyama and Josh Snodgrass of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Oregon, as well as Professor Felicia Madimenos of the Department of Anthropology at Queen’s College CUNY on the Shuar Health and Life History Project in Ecuador.
Bribiescas received his B.A. in Anthropology and Psychology (double major) from the University of California, Los Angeles, afterwards earning an A.M. and Ph.D. in Anthropology from Harvard University. Prior to his position at Yale, he was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Reproductive Endocrine Unit of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He is the author of two books; Men: Evolutionary and Life History (Harvard University Press, 2006), a comprehensive examination of the evolutionary biology of human males which was awarded the 2007 Bronze Medal in the category of science by the Independent Book Publishers Association and How Men Age: What Evolution Reveals about Male Health and Mortality (Princeton University Press, 2016), winner of the W.W. Howells Prize for best book in biological anthropology by the American Anthropological Association. In 2007, he was awarded the Medal of 600 Years Anniversary of the Restoration of the Krakow Academy by Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland, for his research in human reproductive ecology. In 2018 he was named an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Professor Bribiescas serves on the editorial board of the American Journal of Human Biology and is also Associate Editor for the journal Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health. Google Scholar list can be found here.
Source: Yale University
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