The Mammal in the Mirror: Understanding Our Place in the Natural World.

New York: W. H. Freeman and Company, (1999). First Edition, stated. Octavo, black cloth & boards (hardcover), gilt letters, x, 384 pp. Fine in a Fine dust jacket. From dust jacket: Biology is everywhere: DNA, genetic engineering, deadly viruses, and fertility treatments are just some of the many topics we constantly read and hear about. But how much do most of us really know about the natural world and our place in it? Never before have we heard so much about something we know so little about -- the complexity of life itself. The Mammal in the Mirror is an ideal way to learn about this world and how it makes us who we are. It begins with the small stuff, what biologists call “skin-in”: a close-up view of DNA, genes, viruses, and cells; then it moves back a bit to explore the larger systems of human biology: sex and reproduction, the brain and behavior, and energy. Finally, The Mammal in the Mirror takes a look at Homo sapiens from the revealing distance of ecology, evolution, and evolutionary psychology. The result is an accurate, accessible view of ourselves that will enable every reader, regardless of background, to become bioliterate and able to understand the discoveries that make the headlines of today -- and tomorrow. After all, there’s no getting around the fact that, ultimately, we are animals -- composed of meat, bones, chemicals, and electric currents -- so we may as well learn what we can. The Mammal in the Mirror is the perfect place to start this fascinating voyage of self-discovery.