Book Review - Dr Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation

 Dr Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation
 - The Definitive Guide to the Evolutionary Biology of Sex
 Olivia Judson 
 Vintage 2003
 308 pages, notes, bibliography, index
 
 A book review by Danny Yee
 http://dannyreviews.com/h/Dr_Tatiana.html

_Dr Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation_ mimics a write-in advice column,
in which anthropomorphised animals of all kinds ask for help with their
sex lives.  That is just the framework, however, for an entertaining tour
of the natural history and evolutionary biology of sex.  Pretty much every
aspect of animal sex is at least touched on, though the "all creation"
of the title is an exaggeration -- there's only the occasional reference
to plants and bacteria, with nothing (for example) on the fascinating
topic of pollination.

The columns are grouped thematically in thirteen chapters, divided into
three parts.  Part one covers the "expenses" involved in sex, female
promiscuity, conflicts between males, and alternative strategies for
those who are poor and small.  Part two covers sex and cannibalism,
sex and violence (male and female), love potions and homosexuality,
and monogamy.  And part three looks at incest, at hermaphroditism,
facultative sex and other variants, and at asexuality and theories for
the evolution and persistence of sex.

Each column typically runs to four or five pages, beginning with a
question.
        
        _Dear Dr Tatiana,

        I'm an Australian redback spider, and I'm a failure.  I said
        to my darling, "Take, eat, this is my body," and I vaulted
        into her jaws.  But she spat me out and told me to get lost.
        Why did she spurn the ultimate sacrifice?_
        
Dr Tatiana never answers directly, but looks around first at other
species with similar or related problems
        
        "... most guys prefer not to be eaten at all. ...  In the scorpion
        _Paruroctonus mesaensis_, the male whacks his partner several
        times before racing off; in the wolf spider _Lycosa rabida_,
        the male tosses his lover in the air, leaving her in a crumpled
        heap as he hurries away.

        ... In the bristle worm _Nereis caudata_, something similar goes
        on but for once it's the man who eats his wife.

        ... Do other males eat their mates?  I have never heard of it.
        But note: this is not to say males don't eat females.  They do.
        Just not during sex.  Platonic cannibalism is a problem for
        creatures from apes to amoebae.  It's depraved out there."
        
and sets the question in a broader context
        
        "... It goes without saying that such a death wish can evolve
        only in special circumstances.  That is, being eaten must mean
        you leave more offspring than if you are spared.  So far,
        your species is the only one known to meet this criterion.
        A male redback who gets himself munched fertilizes more eggs
        than a male who survives.  Why? ... it turns out that sex
        takes longer when she's chewing away on you, which gives you
        the chance to deliver more sperm and thus fertilize more eggs.
        So your challenge is to make yourself more appetizing."
        
before finishing with the answer, if there is one.
        
        "The secret is picking your moment.  Female redbacks aren't
        greedy; when they're not hungry, they don't eat.  If you offer
        yourself right after she's feasted, forget it.  You've got to
        wait until she gets that mean and hungry look in all eight of her
        beady little eyes.  And then, for what you are about to receive,
        may your kiddies be truly thankful."

Links to many different areas of biology are explored.
        
        "Lysin, the protein that determines whether an abalone sperm can
        enter an abalone egg, is evolving at record speed.  Tantalizingly,
        abalone are also splitting into new species at a startling rate."
        
And for those who want to follow up specific topics in the technical
literature, there are thirty pages of notes, giving annotated references
for each column, with pointers into a forty page bibliography.  (Though a
short recommended reading list of non-technical popular works on evolution
would have been a more useful inclusion for most readers.)

_Sex Advice to All Creation_ assumes no background in biology, and there's
the occasional wordy or repetitive explanation.  But even scientists
for whom the evolutionary biology is old hat are likely to find some
new details in the natural history.  The chatty tone and the framing
conceit of an advice column -- extended in the last chapter to a mock
television show -- remain entertaining and decorative, never pushed so
far they become annoying or distort the science.
        
        "If you are not a hermaphrodite, incest is best if you come from
        a species where males have only one set of genes.  If you're
        not a member of such a species, I urge you to avoid sex with
        your nearest and dearest."

--

%T      Dr Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation
%S      The Definitive Guide to the Evolutionary Biology of Sex
%A      Judson, Olivia
%I      Vintage
%C      London
%D      2003
%O      paperback, notes, bibliography, index
%G      ISBN 0-099-28375-1
%P      viii,308pp
%K      sex, evolution, popular science
%W      http://www.drtatiana.com/

27 October 2003

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        Copyright (c) 2003 Danny Yee       http://danny.oz.au/
        Danny Yee's Book Reviews      http://dannyreviews.com/
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