Recommended books:
The required reading for the lectures will be listed for each day on the course schedule page. The following are supplementary materials that you will find useful in fixing gaps in your knowledge or exploring an aspect of evolutionary psychology in greater depth. Some of the book titles link to comments about the books and/or tables of contents.
(1) An appetizer:
This lurid popular paperback argues that our genes are continually making fools of us; it could help get you hooked on the subject:
Burnham, T. and Phelan, J. Mean genes. From sex to money to food: Taming our Primal instincts. Penguin, 2000
(Sample quote: “Happiness is a tool that our genes use to induce us toward behaviors that benefit them”).
(2) Textbooks:
Barrett, L., Dunbar, R and Lycett, J. Human evolutionary psychology. Princeton, 2002. A broad and balanced survey that stays close to empirical research findings.
Buss, David M. Evolutionary Psychology. The new science of the mind. Allyn and Bacon, 1999.
Bridgeman, B. Psychology and Evolution. The origins of mind. Sage Publications, 2003. More broad than deep, but thoughtful, and less preoccupied than Buss with making converts to the evolutionary psychology religion.
(3) Two books that would be helpful for those unfamiliar with evolutionary theory or the biological mechanisms of evolution:
Dawkins, R. (1976/1989). The Selfish Gene. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Alland, A. (1967). Evolution and Human Behavior. Garden City, The Natural History Press.
(4) A bunch of other books of interest:
Daly, M. & Wilson, M. (1978). Sex, Evolution, and Behavior. North Scituate, Duxbury Press.
Dawkins, R. (1982). The Extended Phenotype. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman.
Softens Dawkins' earlier position, with more emphasis on kin selection
Dawkins, R. (1986). The Blind Watchmaker. New York: W.W.Norton & Co.
Dawkins, R. (1997). Climbing Mount Improbable. New York: W.W.Norton &
Co.
These two basically highlight the surprising results that evolution can
achieve. (Pop version: River out of Eden.)
Kropotkin, P. (1902). Mutual Aid. New York: Garland Publishers.
Maynard Smith, J. (1978). The Evolution of Sex. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Maynard Smith, J. (1982). Evolution and the theory of games. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Classic exposition of evolutionarily stable strategies.
Kitcher, P (1985). Vaulting Ambition. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Valuable, hard-hitting but reasonably fair critique of "pop
sociobology"
Nesse, R. M. & Williams, G.C. (1994). Why we get sick: the new science
of Darwinian medicine. New York : Times Books.
Includes discussion of psychological problems like depression from Darwinian
point of view.
Plotkin, H.C. (1998). Evolution in Mind. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Ridley, M. (1993). The red queen: Sex and the evolution of human nature. New York: Penguin Books.
Ridley, M. (1993). The origins of virtue. New York: Penguin Books.
Ridley's books are literate, witty and well informed. This one has a good
chapter on the origins of war.
Ridley, M. (2003)The Agile Gene: How Nature Turns on Nurture. A convincing demonstration of the complex interaction between genes and developmental history that forms body and mind.
Trivers, R.L. (1985). Social Evolution. Menlo Park: Benjamin/Cummings
A carefully thought out and soundly based account of animal social
organization. Some chapters in reader.
Wilson, E.O. (1975). Sociobiology: the new synthesis. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Main original stimulus behind current interest. Wilson is good on insects, but
the bits about humans earned this book its (arguably disproportionate)
notoriety
Wilson, E.O. (1979). On Human nature. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.