Sex, Science And Profits

Description

A brilliant, provocative exploration of the biological roots of economics, in the tradition of Richard Dawkins, Steven Pinker and Jared Diamond. The question 'What is art?' is frequently debated, but 'What is science?' appears to be discussed less often - though the answers could reveal far more about us. Is science a public good? Does science mean progress? Or is science something more exploitative - driven by profit, promoted by businesses and institutions looking for economic and political power? In this ground-breaking study in the tradition of Richard Dawkins and Jared Diamond, Terence Kealey shows how an understanding of sexual and natural selection can transform our view of progress in economics, business and technology. Richly multi-disciplinary, witty, brilliant and thought-provoking, it is an important and controversial book.

Terence Kealey is a clinical biochemist specialising in the biochemistry of hair. He is currently Vice Chancellor of the University of Buckingham and he writes regularly for the Spectator, the Telegraph, the Sunday Telegraph and the New Scientist.

A bracing argument, and Kealey writes clearly and well...fascinating * Guardian * Hugely ambitious, stupendously confident and unrelentingly provocative. It is indeed a tropical storm of a book; it throws out a whirlwind of ideas, it deluges its readers with facts and statistics, buffets them with challenges to conventional wisdom and leaves them feeling like heroes when they survive the commotion of reading it * Sunday Telegraph * Absorbing...a gloriously idiosyncratic work * Sunday Times * Rip-roaring... Kealey's gallop through capitalism, sociology, history, economics and science is a stimulating and splendid read * The Times * An entertaining canter through global history...energy and muscular prose are much in evidence * The Times Higher Educational Supplement *