Author(s): Steve Jones (Professor of Genetics, University College, London)

Popular Science

In his award winning Almost Like A Whale, acclaimed science writer Steve Jones updated the book of the millennium: Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species. Now, taking his cue from Darwin's second great work, The Descent of Man, he turns his attention to one of nature's most neglected creatures: men.

The birth of Dolly the Sheep - conceived without male assistance - re-opened and old question: what, precisely, is the point of males? Thousands of species manage without them, so why do we bother? And if every time a man has sex he produces enough sperm to fertilise every woman in Europe, why are men so common?

The Y chromosome is the most decayed, redundant and parasitic of the human genome: a microscopic metaphor for those who bear it. Men are not from Mars, but a mixture of society, stupidity and testosterone have created the crisis of modern manhood. Profound and thought-provoking, Steve Jones' brilliant and timely analysis of the descent of men is absorbing and essential reading - for at least half the population.