very interesting and informative
The Myth of Monogamy - Review

Some reviewers think mistakenly that this book implies that people shouldn't be monogamous. Quite the contrary! The whole point of the book is to show that sexual monogamy (unlike social monogamy) is *unnatural*, when unnatural stands for "rarely occurs in nature", and, in particular, that humans are not *biologically predisposed* to be sexually monogamous. However, the whole point of the last chapter of the book, aptly titled "So What?" is to argue that these insights should in no way serve as an excuse to behave unethically! After all, our difference from animals is that we have a choice. It seems to me that one of the purposes of this book is to try and understand as much as possible the underlying causes of our behavior, precisely in order to be able to better control it! ("Know thy enemy") Thus, much of the criticism of the book here is misguided. (The other half of the criticism comes from people who, apparently, have a weak knowledge of evolution theory, and therefore misunderstood the authors' reasoning. To the authors' credit, they go out of their way to explain it).

My personal problem with the conclusions of the book is that the authors make a case for monogamy by arguing that there are no acceptable alternatives - apparently, all they ever heard about consensual non-monogamy in modern Western society are some "'utopian' social experiments, that failed ... because feelings of interpersonal possessiveness got in the way of the idealized dream of social and sexual sharing". Therefore, they assert, open relationships don't make people happier! Unlike the rest of the book (which is remarkably objective), in this case the authors didn't even look at any data that might cast doubt on this conclusion - data that would be readily available for them, had they bothered, for example, to Google "polyamory"... Open relationships certainly do make *some* people much happier - and are unsuited to other people. Predictably, the authors then present the familiar false dichotomy of "durable, long term relationship" vs. "quick flings with multiple available partners", betraying that they are totally uninformed on the subject - which is disappointing of people who wrote such an interesting and balanced book.

Iconoclasm in fine form
Please ignore the reviews of people here who haven't read the book, or people with an agenda or people talking about "logical fallacies" without seemingly knowing what that means.

This book is an examination of the sexual practices of a wide variety of species of animals, including humans. The book concludes that there are significant evolutionary advantages to non-monogamous sexual relationships and there seem to be very clear bodily adaptations that evolved because of this. These points are just not arguable in good faith.

The book doesn't draw any conclusions about the "naturalness" of monogomy except that it is rare, because that discussion is metaphysics at best; the religious among us use "natural" as a proxy for "our interpretation of gods will" or "how we think society ought to be". We live in a dangerous age where people are willing to deny the truth as it suits them. We have a duty as rational beings to accept objective truth no matter how unpalatable.

I think the book is a very good read if you're at all interested in the topic. I did not however find the writing style very interesting, and I had trouble keeping track of the many many types of animals discussed and their various traits. I also felt the conclusion was far too apologetic towards current societal beliefs and a bit simple minded. Nevertheless, a good read if you're interested in the subject.

Very Enlightening & Entertaining
My recommendation is simple. I kept forgetting that it was a factual work, it was so entertaining. I thought I had picked up one of my pleasure reads! Thanks to both of the writers, what a great book. I need to read it again.

Excellent information
I have been researching human relations for a while and after reading many books about mating, I find this one full of unbiased information about the reality in the animal kingdom. Like the book says,--It is taken for granted that we can learn about human digestion, respiration, or metabolism by studying these processes in other animals, making due allowance, of course, for certain unavoidable differences among different species. The same applies for much, although assuredly behavior.--

Parting from this point the authors brilliantly try to sort what is biological (biochemical, hormonal and electrical) genetically imposed behavior. Sadly, many of our behavior that religions and society have told us that are sinful or illegal are ingrained in our genes and in our biology. The book is provocative and invites the reader to ponder about our behavior.

This is a book worth reading, which will help you understand yourself and you significant other!

Broken Promises or Nature?
Did you know that between 10% and 70% of birds are born "illegally" or out of "marriage", while their "dads" don't know it?... did you know that monogamy in the animal kingdom is the exception and not the rule?.

Actually, according to both authors, only microbiotic species are monogamous if all...

Explanations to matters such as: why is it that more than 50% of marriages end up in divorce (at least in the US) due to "infidelities"?, how come "cyber-infidelity" is a new reality that is even more risky than the actual thing? and why is that 75% of people who marry their lovers ("the other woman" or "the other man") are bound for divorce...? might be found in these pages.

But even more fascinating could be the conclusions of the book, among those: one of the main differences between human beings and the rest of the aninal kingdom is neocortex, or the ability to acknowledge that "yes", I am attracted BUT, I better stop...

A very entertaining book, full of remarkable observations on the subject.