Eros and Evolution, A Natural Philosophy of Sex

Helix Books, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1994. First edition. 8vo. green paper covered boards with cream colored cloth spine. 241 pp. Book is fine./Jacket is fine.. For organisms, sex is not just a bother, it is downright dangerous. If not the harbinger of death, as it is for the century plant, the praying mantis, or the mouse Antechinus, sex hastens the journey to the grave for all of us. If the direct costs of energy and time don't get you, the parasites and infections elements that, like the AIDS virus, have seized this chance to transfer themselves will. In spite of the immense pleasure and satisfaction we derive from it, sex is not good for us. Nor is it meant to be, sex is for genes. Of course, all organisms must die. Being born, dying, and having offspring in between: this is the biological imperative. Reproducing is, after all, what organisms are about, genes invented organisms as a means for their own perpetuation. We will discover that, as far as the perpetuation of genes is concerned, sex is a good thing; cleansing the genome of life-stopping damages, purging deleterious mutations, perhaps even providing hopeful variations for new environments. Although organisms come and go, genes are forever. - from Eros and Evolution.