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The Evolution of Fatherhood: A Celebration of Animal and Human Families
Inspired by the wonder of his own experiences as a parent, former psychoanalyst and New York Times bestselling author Jeffrey Masson offers a remarkable look at one of the most fulfilling roles in the animal world: fatherhood. In The Evolution of Fatherhood, he examines the extraordinary behavior of outstanding fathers, heroes among animals, including: the male emperor penguin, who incubates the egg of his young through Antarctic blizzards; prairie dog dads, who teach their pups to play; the South American tamarin monkey, who “coaches” his mate through labor and delivery; and the wolf—and why wolves make good fathers, whereas their close relatives, dogs, don’t. With captivating writing and impeccable research, Masson celebrates the unique and often surprising role that males play in the lives of their young.
Masson also looks at nature’s worst fathers: lions, langurs, bears—and humans. He shows that when a father cares for his young, as does the beaver, we immediately look for a biological, and not an emotional, explanation. But Masson demonstrates that for these animals fatherhood is a profound, all-encompassing experience. Compelling and inspirational, The Evolution Of Fatherhood is a book that will forever change our perceptions of parenthood and family love.
Masson also looks at nature’s worst fathers: lions, langurs, bears—and humans. He shows that when a father cares for his young, as does the beaver, we immediately look for a biological, and not an emotional, explanation. But Masson demonstrates that for these animals fatherhood is a profound, all-encompassing experience. Compelling and inspirational, The Evolution Of Fatherhood is a book that will forever change our perceptions of parenthood and family love.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
3 people are currently reading
37 people want to read
About the author
Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
63 books256 followersHe has written several books books critical of psychoanalysis, psychotherapy and psychiatry as well as books on animals, their emotions and their rights.
He currently lives in New Zealand with his wife, two sons, three cats and three rats.
He currently lives in New Zealand with his wife, two sons, three cats and three rats.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 26, 2013
I was really excited when I purchased this book. Over the last year I've grown a real soft-spot for animals. I thought it would be interesting to learn about different animals, and the different ways they parent.
Masson claims that this is a rarely-studied topic, and it shows in the structure of his book. The first two chapters focus on their topics-- emperor penguins, and wolves, respectively. After these two chapters, he loosely groups different types of animals based on the point he is trying to make. I wouldn't have minded this, but he didn't know how to balance his topics. I don't think he included any unnecessary animals. But, he included some that should have been expanded on. Seahorses, considered some of the world's most radical fathers, got half of a page. Some of these examples felt rushed and out of place. Masson routinely introduces animals to serve as evidence of his underdeveloped arguments. I approached this book hoping it would focus on animals and not theory, but I was mistaken.
Masson has an interesting theory about animals and father roles, but he structured it really poorly. First, he details each animal with facts. Then, with each animal, he speculates that a) we cannot know everything about an animal because we do not observe it 100% of the time, and b) animals act differently in laboratory environments. Both of these are true, but he needed to establish them in an organized fashion and move on. These ideas developed haphazardly throughout the text and took up too much time.
I felt like Masson had come to his conclusions about fatherhood before he wrote this book. It is clear he has his own strong stance on parenting-- i.e, his childrens' mothers breastfed for up to three years. When I read this book, I felt like I was reading his argument, and the evidence he came up with after the fact. He continually stated that he didn't believe that animals are driven purely by instinct, and stubbornly said scientists were opposed to this, and that over-relied on objectivity.
All of the points Masson made are totally viable, and honestly, are points I am attracted to. But, instead of approaching the points in a structured way, he tried to sneak them throughout the text. It was as if he felt like rational people would deny his statements no matter what, because they were so "anti-science," that he didn't need to justify them. It also felt like he was trying to sneak them in so his readers would slowly agree without picking up what he was saying.
I enjoyed the beginning of the book, when the chapters mainly focused on the animals. It started to go downhill after chapter three, when animals got less of a feature, and his poorly structured arguments took the stage.
While this wasn't as good as I thought it would be, the stories about the animals and the arguments themselves were not bad-- just the presentation. I learned a lot of fun facts, and I definitely found myself going 'aww!' throughout the text.
Masson claims that this is a rarely-studied topic, and it shows in the structure of his book. The first two chapters focus on their topics-- emperor penguins, and wolves, respectively. After these two chapters, he loosely groups different types of animals based on the point he is trying to make. I wouldn't have minded this, but he didn't know how to balance his topics. I don't think he included any unnecessary animals. But, he included some that should have been expanded on. Seahorses, considered some of the world's most radical fathers, got half of a page. Some of these examples felt rushed and out of place. Masson routinely introduces animals to serve as evidence of his underdeveloped arguments. I approached this book hoping it would focus on animals and not theory, but I was mistaken.
Masson has an interesting theory about animals and father roles, but he structured it really poorly. First, he details each animal with facts. Then, with each animal, he speculates that a) we cannot know everything about an animal because we do not observe it 100% of the time, and b) animals act differently in laboratory environments. Both of these are true, but he needed to establish them in an organized fashion and move on. These ideas developed haphazardly throughout the text and took up too much time.
I felt like Masson had come to his conclusions about fatherhood before he wrote this book. It is clear he has his own strong stance on parenting-- i.e, his childrens' mothers breastfed for up to three years. When I read this book, I felt like I was reading his argument, and the evidence he came up with after the fact. He continually stated that he didn't believe that animals are driven purely by instinct, and stubbornly said scientists were opposed to this, and that over-relied on objectivity.
All of the points Masson made are totally viable, and honestly, are points I am attracted to. But, instead of approaching the points in a structured way, he tried to sneak them throughout the text. It was as if he felt like rational people would deny his statements no matter what, because they were so "anti-science," that he didn't need to justify them. It also felt like he was trying to sneak them in so his readers would slowly agree without picking up what he was saying.
I enjoyed the beginning of the book, when the chapters mainly focused on the animals. It started to go downhill after chapter three, when animals got less of a feature, and his poorly structured arguments took the stage.
While this wasn't as good as I thought it would be, the stories about the animals and the arguments themselves were not bad-- just the presentation. I learned a lot of fun facts, and I definitely found myself going 'aww!' throughout the text.
December 4, 2023
A master of conjecture challenging the status quo with extensive notes and references.
"We evolved (this means that historically we come from an ancestral environment where it was adaptive to do certain things that have had an impact both on our biology and on our psyche) to share a bed with our infants. In no higher primate species do infants sleep alone. They were never meant to sleep alone. Why should it be defined as normal for an infant to sleep by itself, when it never, ever did so in the entire history of the human race until recently?"
"We evolved (this means that historically we come from an ancestral environment where it was adaptive to do certain things that have had an impact both on our biology and on our psyche) to share a bed with our infants. In no higher primate species do infants sleep alone. They were never meant to sleep alone. Why should it be defined as normal for an infant to sleep by itself, when it never, ever did so in the entire history of the human race until recently?"
June 24, 2013
LOVED this book. This book really explores fatherhood in the animal world. Written in 1999, it might be a bit dated, however, facts are still facts. Unless there has been additional research supporting these stories about fatherhood and the level of involvement among fathers with their children these stories still rinds as true today. You might be surprised to find how involved many animal fathers are, and it's sure to make you smile reading some of these stories. You will certainly have a pleasant more positive outlook on many animal fathers and the role they play in raising their young. I think you'll love this book! Pick it up today.
June 25, 2008
Unfortunately, this is a book I've already read...but it is The Emperors Embrace renamed. I was disappointed it was not a new one.
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August 2, 2008Is it Hanukkah yet?? Christmas? Labor Day?
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews