Snakes, Sunrises, and Shakespeare: How Evolution Shapes Our Loves and Fears

Orians (Life: The Science of Biology), professor emeritus of biology at the University of Washington, addresses how our evolutionary history influences current human behavior. It is not a new question, but he offers an engaging, if not entirely convincing, approach to the answer. He focuses on what he calls “ghosts of environments past,” conditions that dramatically impacted our deep ancestors’ ability to survive and reproduce that remain with us today even though they might no longer confer direct selective value. Unsurprisingly, he spends a good deal of time on the savanna hypothesis, an idea he previously promoted, suggesting that, given human evolutionary roots on the African savanna, this environment holds the greatest sway over us today. Frustratingly, although Orians writes repeatedly about providing testable hypotheses, he rarely offers any and virtually never discusses any of the underlying studies in enough detail to permit readers to form their own opinions. While he argues at length that successful parks and gardens are designed to mimic savannas, he hedges his bets by claiming that “sexual selection can also explain why our gardens and parks and other green spaces don’t always display the features of a savanna.” Orians doesn’t present anything that hasn’t been discussed elsewhere in greater detail. (Apr.)