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Michael Ghiglieri studies the roots of male violence from a unique vantage: he's a former combat soldier and longtime primate researcher, a protégé of Jane Goodall. In The Dark Side of Man: Tracing the Origins of Violence, Ghiglieri uses this background, accompanied by copious scientific and statistical evidence, to construct an explanation of male violence that is often at odds with popular preconceptions.
Central to Ghiglieri's argument is that violence is a deeply entrenched behavioral strategy--especially among males--that simply emerges when other strategies fail, a thesis he reinforces convincingly with both anecdotes and hard numbers. And while he recognizes that culture and socialization play important roles in encouraging violence, he maintains that ignoring the powerful biological and evolutionary forces at work is "the single most useless--and dangerous--approach one could take in trying to explain human violence."
With extensive sections on rape, murder, war, and genocide, Ghiglieri methodically details our grim heritage, from wilding New Yorkers to wild gorillas. Some of his conclusions are surprising but persuasive--that the goal of rape is actually copulation, not control, for instance. But Ghiglieri's assessment is ultimately a hopeful one: he believes that by understanding and admitting to the biological origins of violence, we are better prepared to deal with it. --Paul Hughes
Book Description
"This book should be read by anyone concerned about violence-that is, by everyone."
-George B. Schaller, author of The Last Panda, The Serengeti Lion, and The Year of the Gorilla
"Michael Ghiglieri takes on a topic-male aggression-that many researchers try to avoid, and he takes it on with honesty, with grace, and with a real sense of hope. And it's a startlingly good read; Ghiglieri is a natural storyteller in addition to being a fine researcher."
-Deborah Blum, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Sex on the Brain
Customer Reviews:
Mean People evolved to be that way........2007-06-01
Explains a lot of the behaviors that humans repeatedly resort to, all based on the survival pressures of our geologic past. Supports the idea of evolution, but not in a way that would please everyone.
Throwing Light on the Darkness?.......2007-04-19
This is an 'in your face' look at male violence from an author who has clearly had direct experience of human male violence eg in Vietnam and Africa.
The first section is 'Roots' in which he explains how violence is a male reproductive strategy ie it is a trait that can lead to more offspring for males. He discusses sex differences, which he exaggerates a little, but he particularly recognizes the massive significance both of males staying in their birth groups and the unnatural enforcement of female monogamy.
The second section covers rape, murder, war and genocide. Though there is an argument as to whether rape is about power or sex the answer seems to be sex - but with men getting turned on by the humiliation of females in all sexual situations and not only in rape. It seems that domination of females is part and parcel of male sexuality and so, rather than arguing between sex and power as the true motive for rape, we are now faced with the fact that male power, aggression, domination, sadism IS sex. Andrea Dworkin and Co. were right after all though the clue was always there when men talk about their sexploits as 'conquests' or the conquering of countries as rape. Sex/reproduction is the motive but the male sexual emotions are those of domination and power.
As so often happens in these type of books we get a little bit about how women prefer violent men as mates. And as also happens in this argument, the evidence provided for this female preference is a female character in a novel written by a male!!! Ghiglieri is right, though, in recognizing how a woman might need a violent man as a mate to protect her from outside male violence. It's a Hobson's choice for women, though - just like female gorillas and their infanticidal mates.
In the chapter on war the author importantly recognizes how female exogamy and male relatedness is rare in nature and opens up a Pandora's Box of male violence. It 'sets the stage for exotic adaptations in the macho male sexual selection arms race' - male bonding, war, nepotism, sexism, xenophobia, infanticide, murder.....'Instincts are coded in the male psyche that they must win against other males'. The author does point out that many men do avoid killing and avoid many of the extremes but he does not explore this enough in my opinion.
The last section is meant to provide some answers but I found it far from doing so. Punishment seems to be an important answer. Ghigieri also brings in the human moral instincts but again, this has come rather late in the story and is not explored enough. The family gets some of the blame - as if the natural dark side of man turns out to be the fault of single mothers after all!!
Though the author accepts the lack of monogamy, especially in human males, as a major force behind the dark side of man he does not explore how greater equality between males could reduce polygyny (whether literal or in the form of serial monogamy or marriage plus adultery/mistresses). He does not explore how men only accepting their fair share of female fertility could improve all this violent competition, and perhaps men could concentrate more on parenting behavior than mating competition. This requires looking at sex as less positive for males - as it obviously is often very negative for females - rather than again blindly overlooking the obvious if devastating conclusion that sex itself is the root of all evil. Ahhh!!!
Are men ever going to be able to see that sex is not about long-term happiness and see it for what it really is? Or are the genetic puppet-masters just far too powerful? Sexual rejection, as a very real experience for males who therefore potentially face personal genetic extinction, gives sex a very powerful hold over men and driving force behind pretty much everything they do.
We cannot deny that there are some very powerful truths in this book. There are also other sides that have not been explored including the fact that those other humans - ie females - are gradually undermining male domination and may change the picture with time. The natural female had to go undercover when she became men's property and had to concentrate on survival rather than challenging the bonded male kin-groups and the subsequent excesses of male behavior. Who knows what her emergence from the shadow of the human male may bring.
Oh my goodness, say its not so!.......2007-03-24
Many will find this book disturbing, but I loved it. The best thing about this book is that Ghiglieri went right to the core issues and questions about violence -- deals with it all from rape to genocide -- nothing left out. While I do not think he has the full and final word on the subject, anyone who is serious about dealing with violence MUST read this book or they are automatically out of the loop and cannot be taken seriously. This means all anthropologists, sociologists, anyone in public adminstration, crime control (i.e, all justice/police/law enforcement departments), the Department of Defense and ESPECIALLY everyone who works in the State Department. Without exposure to the real roots of human violence, how can anyone deal with it? Note to the PC crowd: you just had your idealistic notions about human nature thoroughly and justifiably trashed. What say you now?
Violence is Man's Original Sin Says the Good Doctor.......2004-10-03
Because it reaches deep inside the dark soul of man, this is a book that has aroused a great deal of controversy. Michael Ghiglieri has tackled a very difficult subject - the origins of male violence. Emerging from the field of anthropology and evolutionary psychology is the argument that male violence is deeply entrenched, that it is part and parcel of being male, not largely due to social factors. This idea makes people uncomfortable because if violence is a largely immutable male characteristic, than utopian social schemes won't be able banish it, to throw it on the dust heap of history. The author is an anthropology professor who toiled as a field biologist in Africa and Asia, where he worked with chimpanzees, the most intelligent of the great apes and man's closest animal relation. This work with the great apes - once thought to be peaceful animals - has contributed to his conviction that violence - while varying by degree from individual to individual - is an immutable human trait as it is among the chimpanzees. Ghiglieri is an advocate of evolutionary psychology and believes that most traits make sense when viewed through the prism of reproduction. He argues that male violence is largely a reproductive strategy.
Ghiglieri begins by citing the ever-larger body of scientific evidence that indicates just how different men and women are and why their reproductive goals fundamentally diverge. Then, he begins to address the spectrum of male violence - warfare, genocide, warfare, murder and rape - and begins each chapter with real world examples before segueing into a recitation of his evidence as to which reproductive and biological imperatives are fulfilled by that behavior.
One of the most controversial chapters of the book is about rape. While campus feminists have repeated the mantra that "rape is about power, not about sex" so many times that it has become part of the conventional wisdom, others have long questioned this certainty from purely logical viewpoint. After all, in a rape, the victim is not simply subjugated and beaten, but sexually violated. Now, Ghiglieri explains rape in the animal world and how it fulfills a mating strategy and then methodically marshals his evidence to prove that it is a disturbing but entrenched human mating strategy as well.
In a bold move, the author has a number of prescriptions - strategies - that he advocates in order to minimize the effects of male violence. In addition to our violent traits, he cites mankind's attributes, his ability to cooperate, to channel behavior, which will allow us to cope with man's innate aggression. Ghiglieri wants us to be appropriately tough on criminals, to eliminate those who are most violent, to encourage self-defense and advocates a criminal justice system that is almost biblical in its sense of retribution. According to him, these actions would reduce the damage done my male violence as they channel the protective strategies that are innate to me.
So, to Ghiglieri, there is no font of primitive happiness, no ideal society that so many anthropologists have sought. Man simply has a dark, aggressive side that is programmed into his DNA and so while it may be challenged, it can never be eliminated. With its disturbing anecdotal examples of male violence and its conviction that male aggression is an immutable reality, "The Dark Side of Man" is a disturbing book, but instead of looking away from some dark questions, it addresses them head-on. While the outlook for the world will forever be grim if man's baser instincts are hard-wired into us, it is probably better to be realistic about them so that we can develop effective countermeasures.
not a nice way to hundle evolutionary biology........2004-04-07
I
This book says that biology is solid science.Really?
Social biology ,ebolutionary biology,evolutionary psychology are very fragile science and have been abused for sexism,racism biological determinism,etc
And if one theory has the ring of the truth,it is possible to assert that that is truth,by using every fragile logic,biased indirect evidence .and the atmosphere(I myself have done so).
And considering such facts ,Scientists have to be humble.
But History repeats itself.
I'm not surprised that his theory sounds plausible to people who don't know the field well.I myself feel so about guns.
His tactic goes like this
When there are good data,he uses them perfectly and says a is --%,b is --% etc.And he doesnft note what unbiased people usually note.And maybe he doesnft know the field he looked down.
When there are controversial data or theories,he uses the part of data what are convenient for him( if he wants 'crime is not casused by the poor environment,'he sites only criminal's son tend to be a criminal ,and ignores the fact that criminal's son became criminal much less frequently when brought up by normal family.or goes like 'most authority agree with that'.or something like that.
And when there are obvious unconvinient facts ,data,construals or whatever ,he ignores that ,masks that.and instead uses ,illogical thinkings,personal quotations,and rare cases.and atmosphere.
For example,men kill men for pride and women love such dangerous,with low intelligence,and wanton vilonent guys.And it is an adoptation.according to him.
If men kill men, he earns the reputation that he is violent and he robs the resource easily when in need.And as an evidence he cites Yanomamo tribe's case or mafia and a woman who was attracted by the mafia.He uses this logic again and again,some rich men also do rape ,so most men...some rich men also do kill ,so most men...Yanomamo tribe and mafia are so,so most men...
But with evolutionary logic anyone can conclude opposite theory.
As he says , ,in evolutionary history,men act in union and if he breaks the harmony,he gets the penalty(this holds true to most societies.).Or maybe gets the revenge.violent?so what ? human got the equalizer(the authority also says eequalizerf put the leader in different position) .Or maybe he was excluded from the community.
And so how about women? according to the social psychology's experiment,when men are picked a fight by another man,this kind of violent reaction was very unpopular to women.
and if you teachs women that one man is criminal his appearance appeal became lower.And criminal type face was unpopular to women.
And what kind of men ,do women hate most?according to Bass's reserch all over the world he also quoted,typical killer type men ,violent ,low inteligence and can't constrain him,is one of the worst types.You're surprised? but not so surprised if you think well.
And the time that physical power counts much ends before the age of 10 in our world.
So typical killing was not adopted action ,or say worst action .So ?what happened ?human evolves the frontal cortex and among many of the human's brains high noble abilities (which are all very pppular to women,men,human and as a result are chosen),'brake is included .and no matter men became angry ,normal men don't kill and in a well contorolled society ,to meet a killer is hundreds times more difficult than many obviously unadopted actions.
And as a whole Killers have problems in frontal cortex and mineral balance.Which indicate they just couldn't express the abilities they have in themselves and not completely non problem guys as he try to indicate.
And to solve the problem ,we have to fully blossom our noble abilities,not eeye for eyef.
Ob course this is also very biased.
But this is evolutionary biology.I can fabricate another theories if his tactic is allowed.
He said one friend pointed out 1000 places to correct.. But still there were another 1000 to improve.Itfs not an exaggeration.I was tired to read this because of this.
And I reccomend to all the readers that they don't swallow all the stories written in this book.Though some of them are interesting ,They may be just his personal briefs,or ideologies..What kind of ideology he has ,I donft have to say..
Though I canft say his theories(or maybe any other theories) were definitely wrong.The fact that he has to use assertive ways again and again indicats his were in many cases unlikely.
Book Description
In his wry and funny memoir, Edward Ugel tells the story of America's addiction to the lottery from an astonishing angle.
At age twenty-six, Ed found himself broke, knee-deep in gambling debt, and moving back into his parents' basement. It all changed, however, when he serendipitously landed a job as a salesman for The Firm--a company that offered up-front cash to lottery winners in exchange for their prize money, often paid in agonizingly small annual payments, some lasting up to twenty-five years. For the better part of the ensuing decade, Ed spent his time closing deals with lottery winners, making a lucrative and legitimate--if sometimes not-so-nice--living by taking advantage of their weaknesses . . . weaknesses he knew all too well.
Ed met hundreds of lottery winners and saw up-close the often hilarious, sometime sad outcome when great wealth is dropped on ordinary people. Once lottery winners realized their "dream-come-true" multimillion jackpots were not all that they were cracked up to be, Ed would knock on their door, offering them the cash they wanted-and often desperately need. This cash sometimes came at a high price, but winners were rarely in a position to walk the other way. As Ed learned, few of them had the financial savvy to keep up with the lottery-winner lifestyle. In fact, some just wanted their old lives back.
A charmingly neurotic gambler, Ed traveled deep into the heart of the country where he discovered the American Dream looks a lot like a day at the casino. And Ed knows casinos. In fact, his own taste for gambling gave him a unique insight into lottery winners: he intimately understood their mindset, making it that much easier to relate to them. And like lottery winners, Ed struggled to find balance in his own life as his increasing success earned him a bigger and bigger salary. Even as he relished his accomplishments, he grappled with the question: "If you are good at something that is bad for some people, does that make you a bad person?"
Ed Ugel takes the readers inside the captivating world of lottery winners and shows us how lotteries and gambling have become deeply inscribed in every aspect of American life shaping our image of success and good fortune. Money for Nothing is a witty, wise, and often outrageously funny account of high expectations and easy money.
Customer Reviews:
Shark feeds on lottery winners.......2007-10-09
This is the story of how a man finds a way to earn a good living.
He hard sells lottery winners, who are sometimes financially clueless, on his company's lump-sum deals. He chronicles the history of state lotteries, stressing how math-challenged the players are and how eager for revenues the states are. But the bulk of the book is an uncomfortable lesson in high-pressure selling of a product you really shouldn't buy.
He even explains how one poor sap asked how much money he would receive for signing away his lottery millions on the way to sign the papers!
Sarcastic and frankly smartass in tone, this is anything but a hilarious book. One good thing though -- it may keep readers away from lotteries.
Self-Loathing and Salesmanship.......2007-10-05
In this volume, Edward Ugel can't decide if he should be ashamed of himself making a damn good living bilking lottery winners (he should be) or celebrate his successful sales techniques.
The book wanders back and forth between a business text on how to sell, ("meet the customer's needs"--now there's an insight), a history of lotteries (wikipedia, maybe), a look at the pressures on people who win the various state lotteries and then become so desperate for cash they sell their annuity (for pennies on the dollar, althought Ugel never does say how much they get) and how the author mispent his own time and (large amounts of) money). That was Ugel's own form of lottery winning. He took in plenty of money as commissions for signing up these "cash-poor" winners; but inside he knew he was more like these "winners" too, because he couldn't keep any of it either.
As the book fizzles out into an account of his own gambling in Vegas and Atlantic City, he becomes one of the loser-winners he cashes out. He can't handle the finance and his own bad habits.
Too Many Hands, Not Enough Soap.......2007-09-29
Talk about mixed feelings. On one hand, I was disappointed that Money for Nothing didn't spend more time describing the experiences of lottery winners. There's some of that in this book, but not much. On the other hand, I was fascinated to read about an entire industry that I had no idea even existed.
Then there's the tone of the book. On one hand it often reads like something from the 1950s, a hard-driving salesman who parties in Vegas and motivates himself by screaming "I am King Kong!". But on the other hand, Ugel also sounds like a nerdy Gen X-er who thinks too much, like someone from This American Life, a show he's written for.
Ugel works for a company that pays lottery winners a lump sum for their future payments. He never divulges how much the company pays the lottery winners, because they pay as little as they can get away with. It depends on how much the lottery winner needs cash and how skilled the salesman is. Using California as an example, let's say you win a jackpot of 26 million dollars. If you take the annual payment option, the Califonia Lottery will pay you an average of a million dollars (before taxes) per year for 26 years. The Lottery doesn't actually have the 26 million now, but if they invest about 13 million (depending on current interest rates) now, they'll be able to pay you 26 million over 26 years. If you opt for a lump sum payment, they simply give you that 13 million now. Ugel's company does something like that for winners who don't have the lump sum option in their state or didn't when they won. He describes it as a service for people who want it. It would be a service, just like cashing checks or lending money can be a service. Except when it's those usurious check cashing places in the strip malls or loan sharks that charge exorbitant rates.
So on one hand, it's disgusting that Ugel spent years smooth-talking people into giving up their future winnings on some fast cash now, but on the other hand these lottery winners squandered a lot of money if they're so hard up they need to even talk to a Ugel or his oily colleagues.
I'm not the only one who's conflicted about this. Ugel spends much of the book justifying the business of buying out lottery winnings for pennies on the dollar. He also spends a lot of time wallowing in self-hatred for having being so successful at such a slimy occupation.
At one point Ugel describes having a ritual fried chicken dinner before closing on a big deal. "I was nervous and my palms were sweating. The sweat mixed with the grease from the chicken...I was a mess. I had to get out of there. I stopped into the bathroom and compulsively washed my hands, soap and water, soap and water, soap and water, trying to get rid of the grease." After reading Money for Nothing, I know how he feels. Keep scrubbing, Ed.
Money for Something.......2007-09-25
Ed Ugel has a cracking wit and great stories that will have you grinning as you read. For people fascinated by the American Dream, lotteries, get-rich-quick scams, and the good 'ole stock market, this is a worthy, entertaining, and strangely educational read.
Writing for nothing.......2007-09-25
I am probably one of the only people to disagree with the otherwise glowing reviews of this book, but I found the writing bad, and the topic painfully boring. I had an advanced reader copy and I really wasn't impressed with this first time author. I thought this would be a great book about lottery winners and their struggles. It is self absorbed study of a young, very immature man's probelms with his own gambling habit and apparent lack of principles. I really had to make an effort to read this one. Just not great. Dull reading and unfortunate topic matter--how to take advantage of ignorant people.
Book Description
A Crucial resource for sex therapists, who until now had no rigorous study of the effect of online pornography on the patients they treat.
Customer Reviews:
For all men in denial; or, "It's Really Not About A Simple, Inconsequential Preference".......2007-01-24
The book is a special issue of a mental health field journal concerning sexual addiction and compulsivity. As such, men in denial will, of course, instantly conclude that such professionals are biased.
Online pornography is a growing social issue. As a psychotherapist, I am concerned about its surreptitious use in relationships by partners who deceive and manipulate their unsuspecting, significant others, permitting damage to the latter's self-esteem, confidence, and ultimately, destroying the meaning of intimacy. The articles contained in this compilation represent attempts at capturing the issue quasi-empirically via field data, providing conceptual and reality-based frameworks to both quantify and qualify the damaging effects of porn on people.
I don't recommend this book for the non-professional as an initial reading source, but I would for those who would like to look the other way by dismissing the significance of porn. It might, therefore, be a good read for the porn user. Including his friends, colleagues, and parents, educated or otherwise, who may be disturbed at the choice of their loved one, but willing to dismiss its long-term effects on the person and the partners he hurts.
Maybe it takes a village - maybe it's time to start speaking out when one knows that a loved one is contorting his thinking, attitudes, and behavior with the basest of acts.
As researchers, the authors follow a codified format, presenting results of their findings, summary of pre-existing background knowledge, and discussion of their results. Given the paucity of research and the great disinclination to acknowledge that this problem exists, such a journal could exert positive influence by attracting attention, always the first step in a social issue.
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multiple books ship as one item. save on shipping/handling charges.
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The Dark Side of Magic (Dark Man)
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The Spectacular Spider-Man #216 : Time Is On No Side (The Predator and the Prey - Marvel Comics)
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Book Description
This digital document is an article from National Underwriter Property & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management, published by The National Underwriter Company on November 7, 1994. The length of the article is 974 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
From the supplier: Medical malpractice reform is likely to gain increased attention, now that 1994's comprehensive healthcare reform proposals have all failed. But malpractice reform has a negative side. The story of Frank Cornelius, a medical-malpractice victim, is related. He is suffering under Indiana reform provisions that, as a lobbyist, he once promoted. The state placed a $500,000 cap on malpractice damage awards in 1975.
Citation Details
Title: The dark side of med mal reform: one man's story. (medical malpractice; Frank Cornelius) (Column)
Author: David M. Katz
Publication:
National Underwriter Property & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 7, 1994
Publisher: The National Underwriter Company
Issue: n45
Page: p15(2)
Article Type: Column
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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