Mean Genes
From Sex To Money To Food: Taming Our Primal Instincts
About the book
Economist Terry Burnham and biologist Jay Phelan argue that many self-defeating habits come from genes shaped when human ancestors struggled to survive in the wild. Those instincts fit poorly with modern convenience, pushing people to overeat, spend a whole paycheck and cheat on a partner. The authors look at addiction, infidelity, thrill-seeking and eating disorders through the lens of evolutionary psychology and behavior genetics. Their aim is practical: once the workings of these mean genes are understood, people can trick them and build better habits instead. The tone is light and humorous, and the subtitle sums up the range, from sex to money to food.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb praised it in an Amazon review, saying he has reread it a few times, carries a copy on trips, and found its discussion of the happiness treadmill central to the economics of happiness.
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This book has 1 recommendation
Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Flaneur)
I read the book once when it came out. Since then I've had the chance to reread it a few times, discovering more and more layers as my interests take me in new directions(for instance the discussion on the happiness treadmill goes to the core of the current discussions in the economics of happiness). I now carry a copy on my trips as I can kill time in airports by perusing random sections.
The book is so readable as to perhaps set a standard. Yet it is complete in the sense that it covers more of the evolutionary thinking than meets the eye. I didn't realize it until I went to the site [...] and got into the more technical research material.
Reread it.
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