Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty

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Uncovering the biological roots of beauty’s allure.

"Survival of the Prettiest" is a compelling dive into understanding our perceptions of beauty. Nancy Etcoff combines her expertise in psychology with evolutionary biology to unravel the intrinsic value of beauty in human behavior. If you've ever wondered why certain features captivate us or how beauty has shaped our evolution, Etcoff's approachable yet scholarly narrative promises an enlightening read. It's a book that might change the way you see beauty, arguing that our pursuit of it is more than skin deep.

Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.

Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty

Regular price RM40.25 MYR
Unit price
per
Compare to estimated retail price: RM80.83 MYR  
ISBN: 9780385479424
Authors: Nancy L. Etcoff
Publisher: Anchor
Date of Publication: 2000-07-11
Format: Paperback
Related Collections: Science, Sociology, History
Goodreads rating: 3.79
(rated by 1890 readers)

Description

A provocative and thoroughly researched inquiry into what we find beautiful and why, skewering the myth that the pursuit of beauty is a learned behavior. In Survival of the Prettiest, Nancy Etcoff, a faculty member at Harvard Medical School and a practicing psychologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, argues that beauty is neither a cultural construction, an invention of the fashion industry, nor a backlash against feminism—it’s in our biology. Beauty, she explains, is an essential and ineradicable part of human nature that is revered and ferociously pursued in nearly every civilization—and for good reason. Those features to which we are most attracted are often signals of fertility and fecundity. When seen in the context of a Darwinian struggle for survival, our sometimes extreme attempts to attain beauty—both to become beautiful ourselves and to acquire an attractive partner—suddenly become much more understandable. Moreover, if we understand how the desire for beauty is innate, then we can begin to work in our own interests, and not just the interests of our genetic tendencies.
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Uncovering the biological roots of beauty’s allure.

"Survival of the Prettiest" is a compelling dive into understanding our perceptions of beauty. Nancy Etcoff combines her expertise in psychology with evolutionary biology to unravel the intrinsic value of beauty in human behavior. If you've ever wondered why certain features captivate us or how beauty has shaped our evolution, Etcoff's approachable yet scholarly narrative promises an enlightening read. It's a book that might change the way you see beauty, arguing that our pursuit of it is more than skin deep.

Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.