Mean Genes, Terry Burnham
Mean Genes, Terry Burnham
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Mean Genes

Author: Terry Burnham, Jay Phelan

Narrator: Pat Woodruff

Unabridged: 7 hr 27 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/31/2000

Synopsis

"The Mean Genes message is optimistic . . . a self-help book for the merely average human being." (The Washington Post Book World)

"An unusual cross between a social Darwinist monograph and a self-help manual." (The New Yorker)

Why do we want-and do-so many things that are bad for us? In Mean Genes Terry Burnham and Jay Phelan argue that we need to stop looking to Sigmund Freud for answers and start looking to Charles Darwin. Mean Genes reveals that our struggles for self-improvement are, in fact, battles against our own genes-genes that helped our distant ancestors flourish, but are selfish and out of place in the modern world. Using this evolutionary lens, Mean Genes brilliantly examines the issues that most affect our lives-body image, money, addiction, violence, and relationships, friendship, love, and fidelity-and offers steps to help us lead more satisfying lives.

About The Author

Terry Burnham, Ph.D., is a visiting scholar at the Harvard Business School. He co-founded Progenics, a publicly traded biotechnology firm with promising treatments for cancer and AIDS.Jay Phelan, Ph.D., is a biology professor at UCLA. His main area of research is evolutionary genetics and aging.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Alex on April 23, 2014

Cute short book of heuristics to overcome human (mis)behaviors/drives that are somewhat surprising but expected outcomes of our evolutionary past. The authors main theme is that many of our sinful habits (e.g. overeating, gambling, over spending, cheating) are expected side-effects of survival strat......more

Goodreads review by Nazimur on March 25, 2021

I would not call this an interesting book but it is readable nonetheless. It doesn't require any effort, you won't put it down and even if you do, you will not miss it. The authors look at Darwinian evolutionary pseudo-science (will explain later) instead of Freudian psychoanalysis to explain our se......more

Goodreads review by Woodge on April 15, 2008

Although this book’s subject is based on evolutionary biology and is written by a couple of Ph. D.s, it’s anything but dry and stuffy. This slim book is written with a chatty flair and is a quick and fascinating read. “Mean Genes reveals that our struggles for self-improvement are, in fact, battles......more

Goodreads review by Jaak on April 28, 2019

Great book, since it is based on science, yet highly readable. Genetically, humans have not changed almost none at all for thousands of years, whereas life around us has. This had led us to numerous challenges in keeping fit, saving money, being faithful, not losing money while gambling, and so on.......more

Goodreads review by Lorenzo on November 30, 2022

I had the pleasure of taking Jay Phelan's LS15 course, and this was one of the readings apart of it. Not only is the class top notch, but so is the book. It has such a digestible and humorous prose, and the authors do such an amazing job relaying information to readers. I love the scientific approac......more

Quotes

"The Mean Genes message is optimistic...a self-help book for the merely average human being." —The Washington Post Book World"An unusual cross between a social Darwinist monograph and a self-help manual." —The New Yorker

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