I thoroughly enjoyed this intersting, thought provoking book from John Alcock. His thoughts on the modern American lawn should be required reading in the suburbs. The world would be a better place if all would read and comprehend his thoughts on connecting ourselves to the myriad wonders that go on all around us every day.

Written by American biologist John Alcock (along with excellent illustrations by Marilyn Hoff Stewart), this book chronicles Alcock animal observations throughout the land Down Under. Alcocok observed the intimate details of the birth, breeding habits, feeding habits, and sometimes death of a large variety of Australian birds, insects, and mammals. Each chapter devoted to a particular species, he covers not only well known species such as the kookaburra, flying fox, and platypus, but lesser known ones (at least to Americans), such as the northern logrunner, resin wasp, and silver gull.

Alcock not only covers the life habits of a number of species, but also during the course of the book, using these species as examples, explores many concepts in biology. Why do birds sing so early in the morning? Are marsupials really primitive and not able to compete with placental mamamls (such as dogs and horses)? Particulary interesting are his speculations on adaptations on animals. Do all the features of an animal, from the cooperative efforts by grey-crowned babblers to raise a brood of young to the red tail feathers in the otherwise black red-tailed cockatoo all surve useful purposes in species (and individual) survival and were the results of evoultion, or is it wrong to atttribute every feature and behavior an animal to direct survival of individuals and the production of new offspring?

A highly worthwhile and readable book, I recommend it.

John Alcock brings us with him on a tour of the Usery Ridge (north of Mesa, near Phoenix, Arizona) after the winter rains, but before the harsh heat of summer. The book mostly discusses evolutionary behavior of plants and animals found there. There are a few humorous passages which add an unexpected laugh. Dr. Alcock is concerned with the disappearance of the desert and its treasures.

Everything Bill Perez says is true. This book is a classic in entomology. I couldn't put it down when I read the library copy so I ordered one for myself.
BEWARE! The older edition has some great photos. The new 2001 edition is very poorly printed. Many of the photos are inscrutable. The printing is clear but the graphics are quite poor. I was upset to find that, for a very expensive book, I wasn't getting what I had expected.

When you use your imagination and envision insect evolution as a single, huge and ancient phenomenon--a monstrous morphing blossom endlessly ramifying through an infinite-dimensional phenotype space--you begin to understand it as a fierce and indomitable force of nature. And while many of its freakish aspects are standard fare in biology textbooks and nature documentaries--never failing to cause our vertebrate mandibles to gape in horror--the mating schemes of insects are seldom dwelt upon in presentations to layfolk. While this fat volume is not specifically aimed at the casually interested layperson, it is well within the grasp of the interested non-biologist--and I recommend it highly to anyone interested in insects or evolution. First, it is a thorough review of the evolutionary issues of insect sex. Unlike many scientific "reviews" which are highly skewed towards the author's own work, this book displays the authors' almost omniscient acquaintance with everyone's contributions to the field. But this book is not a taxonomy--every example of insect mating strategy is presented within an evolutionary context, and used to illustrate or nuance some adaptive principle or tradeoff. And if you thought insect defense, feeding, and social habits were weird--be prepared for an extreme excursion through what insect evolution is capable of--from "traumatic insemination" (where the male, circumventing the female's sperm-sequestering genitalia, rips through her side to deposit directly in her abdomen[!]); to parasitic flies homing in on noisy crickets to spray them with a cloud of slowly lethal maggots (illustrating the costs shouldered by conspicuously advertising males); to grossly immature male fig wasps, emerging extra early to inseminate virgin females before they have even awakened from their brood chambers; to the whimsical surrealism of insect genital morphology. Of course, not everything is nightmarish--there are the beautiful aerial acrobatic contests of territorial male butterflies; the complex game-theoretic calculus of nuptial gifts, the guarding of females, and female mate choice; the almost comical orthopteran [grasshopper/cricket/katydid] Kama Sutra on p. 312 (I need this on a poster or T-shirt!). And to see all this (copiously illustrated, by the way), not as individual wonders held up to amaze, but as part of an illumination of basic evolutionary principles is pure scientific elegance. Awesome.

This collection of journal articles assembled by Sherman and Alcock is somewhat thought prevoking. Unfortunately that is where it ends. Most of the articles are subjective in nature and often lack any real scientific structure (e.g., no data, unclear methods, etc.) If, however, you enjoy a good biological debate, this book contains many articles which argue various points of view (with various degrees of ability) on subjects such as sociobiology, coevolution, and behavioural genetics.

As a third year university studentm, I read this text as supplementary reading for our Animal Behaviour undergraduate course last semester. Throughout the duration of the course I was suitably impressed with the presentation of the material in the class (particularly due to the notable performances of the two profs teaching it) but found that this text was a truly engaging read that helped round out my learning experience.

While it does not follow the structure of a true scientific report, we do keep in mind that it is composed of excerpts from a scientific magazine that also caters towards the laypeople (i.e. those who have no major scientific background), just like Scientific American and Wildlife Conservation (although both those magazines are even more general than the American Scientist!). I found this to be one of the best supplementary texts that we have been given at the university so far, due to the scope of interesting topics presented, from canid domestication to prairie-vole partnerships to human mating strategies. As many of my other classmates, I read the rest of the book (as well as parts of the other assigned textbook) without the necessity of our profs assigning readings, growing more and more attached to the amazingly captivating field of ethology.

As I mentioned before, this text is not written in the format of a scientific journal, but it still educates and inspires readers of our generation to investigate the issues discussed further in depth (even during our spare time) by using those aforementioned scientific journals to glean valuable insight into actual experimental methods. Excellent!

Sociobiology applied to humans is under attack from various disciplines. It seems its very existence is threatened. Advocates are therefore urgently needed to counterattack the threat.
John Alcock tries the old preacher's trick: "weak arguments raise your voice" when he calls his book The triumph of Sociobiology. What we see is quite the opposite: a formidable debacle.
The arguments when is comes to humans are weak, the "tests" he puts forward seem very unreliable. The results can be explained in other ways than adaptation by evolution.
Some examples from real life are outright ridiculous, as when he says that men "almost always view women of reproductive age as sex objects". His example is from an American supermarket, where eye to eye contact and a smile to go with it from the women had to be abandoned because of males thinking they were invited to sex.
This could surely not happen in Sweden where I live (you are welcome to shop here), but it happens in the US because of the distance between the sexes, the hypocrite morality (I have lived there too) and lack of equality. Here we have mixed classes everywhere, even in sports and gymnastics. The military and the clergy are soon fully integrated and the above mentioned problems thus almost extinct.
Sociobiologists take for granted, without proof, that because animals have certain behaviour due to evolutional adaptation humans must follow suit. That is not science, only wishful thinking. And the enigma to me is why they wish it.
The only explanation I can give, from reading lots of similar books is that sociobiology attracts pseudo-fascist personalities, persons with some kind of need for rigidity.
If so sociobiology will soon become an asterisk in the history books. No matter how hard you flog a dead horse: it will never rise up and run.
Shakespeare was right when is comes to our ability to understand ourselves as objects of science: you can't play this flute.

A short introduction to what sociobiology is (the search for evolved adaptations in behavior) and equally what it is not. A useful antidote to the misrepresentations of sociobiology that abound in some areas (Gould, Angier, most to the popular press). Interesting examples and up to date.

Is EPM an element in your life? Extra-Pair Mating is but one of many animal behaviour traits examined by John Alcock in this excellent overview of research in sociobiology. Many species of birds have been typified as monogamous - pairing for life, or during a mating season. Alcock cites avian studies that modify that picture. Red-winged Blackbird females will flit from the nest to take up with a different male although remaining partnered with her original mate. Alcock stresses that without the research spurred by Edward O. Wilson's 1975 book, Sociobiology, The New Synthesis, we would never have discovered this novel avian behaviour. He goes on to show even more unexpected traits in birds, such as warblers whose offspring remain in the nest area to assist in supporting the next clutch of hatchlings. These birds, faced with varying available resources actually possess the means to control the sex of their offspring depending on forecast needs.

Don't mistake the title of this book. "Triumph" is not a victory celebration, it's a paean to the successful maturing of a young science. Many of the studies, superbly related in this book, show how much the depth of knowledge has increased since Wilson's appeal. Alcock shows how sociobiology, instead of being a "revolution" as many of its critics tag it, is in reality the fulfillment of Darwin's original premise. Wilson defined the discipline as "the systematic study of the biological basis of all social behaviour." To Alcock, that means seeking the role natural selection played in shaping the evolution of the particular social behaviour under study. Alcock relates how this foundation has led to inquiries and results rarely or never considered prior to Wilson's call for this type of study. Nor is the work confined to birds. Insects, spiders, mountain goats, chimpanzees and other animal life are covered. Nor are the botanists overlooked - plant reproductive strategies are also examined. The key phrase throughout is "adaptation" and its role in evolution. Anyone wishing to gain insight into the way life adapts to conditions will find this book a priceless treasure.

Alcock must spend time dealing with the critics of sociobiology because they have reached such a broad public audience. Gould's pernicious attacks are a particular concern of Alcock's since the Harvard paleontologist's adroit turn of phrase has deceived many unwary readers. Gould's mantle as "the pope of paleontology" has allowed him to characterize studies of adaptation as expressions of "Darwinian fundamentalism." This oft-repeated phrase, plus his characterization of "just so stories" to studies he disapproves of, have made the lot of several young researchers difficult. Alcock recounts one case in which an admittedly tentative field study was the target of Gould's vituperation. The long career of Gould's irrational attacks on sociobiology are analysed, then gently dismembered by Alcock. If for no other reason, this book should achieve wide circulation for its service in exposing the fallacies of Wilson's critics.

However, this book has far more value than puncturing "punctuationists." Alcock shows that sociobiology isn't the "gene determinist" science it's been labeled. The many studies cited in this book remove the idea that only humans are flexible in the decision-making process. Extending our evolutionary roots as Alcock's many examples do, leads him in to see sociobiology as the basis for many practical human social issues. The diamond in this tiara of evolutionary roots for social behaviour is the application of the research to the future human condition. His chapter on "practical applications of sociobiology" nearly justifies the price of the book in itself. With no illusions about immediate success given the ongoing squalls of opposition by such as Gould, Alcock still suggests reasoned, pragmatic solutions for social issues derived from sociobiological research. Instead of jousting with the opposition, Alcock says "let's try this or that solution and see if we achieve positive results." What better example of adaptation?

Alcock's citation method is novel, but one which we can only hope more writers will follow. Instead of a duality of footnotes and bibliography, Alcock simply lists his sources alphabetically. Assigning each author a corresponding number, he then inserts the number in the main text. The reader avoids the distraction of footnote references, the bibliography is a ready reference back to the text and the size of the book is reduced - saves paper. Of far greater novelty and function, however, is the appendix of this excellent work. Where other authors use an appendix to flesh out arcane topics for the dedicated student, Alcock, again, is more practical. His appendix is a study guide, complete with thought-provoking questions. It's a crafty tool for reconsidering your own ideas and expand your thinking.

NOTE: Alcock devotes much attention in this book to mating strategies. One such strategy, outside his scope, is matching compatible books. Where Alcock has given us a splendid picture of sociobiology research, another work on the people involved should be mated with TRIUMPH on your shelves. Ullica Segerstrale's DEFENDERS OF THE TRUTH is an in-depth study of Wilson and his critics. Both are valuable contributions in understanding the workings and workers in science.

I used this book as a student and enjoyed it then. Years later, as a professor, I decided to switch from Krebs and Davies' text to this one for the greater number of examples. However, the lack of theoretical underpinning makes this book more of a fun read than an educational one. My students often thought "wow, thats cool" without understanding the significance. I also found the avoidance of mathematical models troubling. This is a trend I have seen in the most recent Ricklefs' Ecology text as well (which I no longer use). Beautiful photos, easy to read, lots of examples, but much too watered down. I would give this book to my parents to read to understand animal behavior, but I wont use it for a college text again.

Every time I teach Animal Behaviour I swear that I am going to change texts "the next time" -and every time UNTIL NOW my students have said that they REALLY liked Alcock, well, the latest edition changes all that. As other reviewers have noted (and for reasons that escape me) Alcock has allowed his publisher to "dumb down" the text into a bland "pretty face" that turned students off in droves. As I moved through each chapter I kept thinking "How could someone as smart & interesting as Alcock make so many cool subjects so BORING?" Previous editions convince me that it ain't him, so it must be the publisher. Margins are huge, more and more gratuitous "illustrations" clutter up the text & break one's stream of thought, and by mid-term I essentially threw up my hands, apologized to the class & went to using the original primary sources with the book as a marginal reference for those that got lost. If you have a huge lecture course full of unimaginative students who want to take one & one only Behaviour course so that they can say that they have "done Behaviour" then this text is probably perfect for you, otherwise I would suggest haunting used book shops for past editions or going straight to the literature. the whole thing reminds me of "New Coke" -a marketing scheme that ignored its market. Alcock is an excellent scholar and in the past his book has been a great source of original material which I have encouraged my students to have on their shelves as a reference source,but this is a shame.

Alcock's 'Animal behavior: an evolutionary approach' editions 1 through 6 have come to dominate the field. Edition 7 (without the 'evolutionary approach' on the cover) is a step backwards. The page size is larger with much white space and the pictures have been artistically coloured. Some pictures are there for entertainment and are biologically wrong (flip) p372 the asymmetric pseudoscorpion with a leg and a pedipalp segment missing. There is significantly less content (at least 20% less on the sample of pages I measured). The language is simpler, sometimes at a cost in precision. Some explanations have become 'textbook glib' where attention could/should have been drawn to the fragility of evidence (e.g. it's about time someone pointed out the influence of a single point on Baker & Bellis' human mate guarding results (p476 Fig 15 this edition)) other examples p344 - the suicidal male redback spider - fails to consider mating strategies in other closely related Latrodectus sp. and the observation the fatal flip breaks the embolus, sealing the female's reproductive tract. etc., etc.
The redesign, pretty pictures and reduction in content seems to come at the expense of a marked price hike.
In content the book is now closer to Krebs & Davies 'An introduction to behavioural ecology' which needs to be considered as an alternative for textbook adoption.
In favour of the new style is that a sample of students preferred this book on appearance.

For those hoping to find a translation of Pausanias, this isn't it. It is a collection of essays about Pausanias.

I haven't read it yet, so my rating is based solely on my disappointment that it is not what I was expecting. I imagine I'll still enjoy the essays, but I was really hoping for the actual work itself.

I gave this book 5 stars because the person who read it last gave it one - and they hadn't read it either but at least most of us would know that it was not the work of Pausanias himself because the author is not Pausanias himself but a woman and the title is clearly dealing with Pausanias .... so, stupid of Texas - why are you even bothering ????

it's got a lovely cover from what i can see and it sounds fascinating.. i may well buy it and i can wholeheartedly recommned it