“[An] intriguing philosophical journey into a critical issue within evolutionary theory that for too long has remained unresolved....Mr. Ridley suggests, in one of his book’s most fascinating and extraordinary propositions, that the human mind itself may have evolved through sexual selection and may be ‘one of sexual selection’s greatest creations.’ By the standards of birds, we are dull creatures, lacking iridescent plumage and complex courtship dances. But our minds dazzle and shimmer like the plumage, songs and rituals of the most exotic species.”
— Wall Street Journal
“Compelling…vivid portraits of the natural world … Ridley is a skilled naturalist and observer of wildlife… [his] interweaving of travel writing with popular science works well [and] will appeal to connoisseurs of each genre.” — Nature
“…fascinating and accessible…Ridley, very clearly, loves birds — and the enthusiasm is infectious.” — The Times (UK)
“…clear and entertaining. . . .Ridley explains all this history with lucidity and wit.” — The New Statesman (UK)
“Birds are ‘the life of the skies,’ dazzling us with their beauty, and also a source of scientific revelation, lifting us out of our mammalian provincialism and allowing us to see the full scope of the evolutionary process. Matt Ridley is both an inspiring nature writer and a limpid science explainer, and this book itself is filled with beauty and insight.” — Steven Pinker, author of Rationality and Johnstone Professor of Psychology at Harvard University
“…illuminating, incisive and a pleasure to read.” — Literary Review (UK)
“This is a fascinating story told with wit, scholarship and the passion of a true conversationist. Lord Ridley writes in the best tradition of great British naturalists.” — Country Life Magazine (UK)
“Matt Ridley is one of our finest science writers. Here he revisits the fascinating and controversial topic of sexual selection, this time in a series of penetrating meditations from his hide, as he watches the courtship rituals of grouse, peacocks, snipe, ruffs and others. The book is a treat for bird lovers and evolutionary biologists alike.” — Richard Dawkins, author of The Genetic Book of The Dead and The God Delusion
“A tour de force! Simply the best account—among a great many—of Darwin’s ground-breaking and far-reaching concept of sexual selection, from its inception to our current understanding inspired by the tale of a black grouse.” — Tim Birkhead, ornithologist and author of The Wisdom of Birds
“Matt Ridley, a man of many talents—thinker, scholar, naturalist, birder and writer—homes in on the black grouse that inhabit the high, cold moors above his house. In his highly readable book, Ridley suggests that if we suppose our own evolution conforms to general patterns found throughout nature, perhaps it has been manifestations of wit, intelligence and mind that have appealed, over the eons, to the females of our own lineage.” — Jonathan Kingdon, zoologist and author of Origin Africa
“This is a heady tour through the ideas about sexual selection, but it is more than a summary of the history of thought; it is also a commentary on how we share an appreciation of beauty with much of the natural world, whether that be in colour, movement or song. We are not alone in finding the world breathtakingly, mesmerically wonderful.” — Mary Colwell, environmentalist and author of Curlew Moon
“Gorgeous and great fun—clearly a work of love. Your readers will be enchanted and enlightened.” — Stewart Brand, co-founder and editor of the Whole Earth Catalog
"A fascinating romp through the colorful, noisy world of our feathered cousins, the birds. You'll see a lot of them in us, and a lot of us in them." — Steve Stewart-Williams, author of The Ape that Understood the Universe and Professor of Psychology at University of Nottingham Malaysia