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On the Origin of Sex
The Weird and Wonderful Science of Reproduction
Contributors
Formats and Prices
- On Sale
- Jun 30, 2026
- Page Count
- 320 pages
- Publisher
- Basic Books
- ISBN-13
- 9781541609211
Price
$18.99Price
$24.99 CADFormat
Format:
- ebook $18.99 $24.99 CAD
- Hardcover $30.00 $40.00 CAD
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Let’s talk about sex. Not boring, human sex, but the endlessly fascinating, varied, and complex forms of reproduction in the rest of the natural world.
Biologist Lixing Sun has spent decades researching sexual reproduction and evolution using behavioral experiments, genetic testing, and mathematical and computer modeling. In On the Origin of Sex, he reveals the wild and weird world of how creatures reproduce. In slime molds, sex can involve dozens—or even hundreds—of mating types, or proto-sexes. Among certain algae, nearly every individual can mate with almost any other—a veritable free-for-all. Meanwhile, whiptail lizards and California condors are just two among the many vertebrate species capable of parthenogenesis. Clownfish sequentially change from male to female, and bearded dragons can undergo temperature-dependent sex reversal, all of which challenge the notion that sex is binary and fixed in the natural world.
Assiduously researched and narrated with humor and verve, On the Origin of Sex offers an expert and entertaining investigation into the science of how our planet is populated.
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