Mother Nature: Maternal Instincts and How They Shape the Human Species

The reader of Mother Nature is in for a thorough treat. In its most fundamental essentials, the game of life comes down to competitive reproduction: which individuals--which lineages--produce the most young that also survive and reproduce. Sara Hrdy presents fascinating facts relating to motherhood, many little known or appreciated, that reveals the essentials of the human struggle to produce offspring and keep them alive. How has striving for power and status by females been critical to the survival of their lineages? Why does breast-feeding prevent pregnancy sometimes but not others? What about genetic changes affecting reproductive behavior in humans? There have been roughly 400 generations of humans since the Neolithic, and it has been proven (in fish, for example) that significant evolutionary changes can occur in the DNA of a species in only 40 generations; what sorts of changes may have occurred in reproducing humans? What are the causes of infanticide, by males and mothers? By presenting the research behind such facts in roughly historical sequence and because of her personal acquaintance with many of the primary researchers and theoreticians, readers get not only answers to the questions, but a wonderful sense of how science works and a feeling for the personalities who have toiled to find the truth as opposed to myth. SEX: Is it true that "Women are from Venus. Men are from Mars?" Hrdy's brilliant synthesis of over a hundred years of primarily biological and anthropological study explains how and why this catchy generalization does capture deep truth about the sexes. CHILDREN: Ever wanted to know what children need--what your child needs bare minimum--to grow into a confident caring adult with maximum potential for emotional and intellectual achievement? Assumptions of the past suggest the answer is a selfless, utterly devoted and caring mother. And we know what guilt is heaped on the head of any parent who even suspects he or she is denying this full-time, selfless sort of caretaking. But the answer, arduously won by the labors of hundreds if not thousands of biologists and anthropologists and explained by Hrdy with charming wit and style, is both astonishing and liberating. Here are three pivotal quotes: "All early caregivers become the emotional equivalent of kin." (p. 509) "Caretakers need not be the mother, or even one person, but they have to be the same caretakers." (p. 508, emphasis mine). "Any (committed) caretaker is capable of communicating the message infants desperately seek--'You are wanted and will not be set aside.'" (p. 509) Much of the book is an explanation and exploration of the basis for these provocative generalizations. If we want to create a social environment that is baby-friendly and human-friendly, what are the required fundamental ingredients for such a social world? If the goal is confident and caring adults, then Mother Nature is an ex

As a wildlife biologist by training, I have often been leery of sociobiologists and the analogies they draw between human behavior and that of, say, ducks. With this in mind, I devoured this book until I had to return it to the library. I then haunted the library until it had gone through all 13 holds before I could get it back, several months later. Sarah Blaffer Hrdy takes a cross-cultural, historical and biological look at human and primate mothers. She makes it very clear that humans have used many, many ways to solve problems of childcare and the conflicts for resources between mothers and their infants and other older children. She uses other primate species not as proof of human ways so much as to re-evaluate and reflect on those human ways. She is a biologist, and she is very clear about not confusing what some primates do as proof for what humans do, whether closely or distantly related. "Mother Nature" gave me great insight into my relationship with my mother, my two younger brothers, my male partner, and my decision to delay reproduction. I enjoy my designation as an "allo-mother" (someone other than the mother who helps with childcare), and am pleased to learn that the level of protectiveness that I feel for the girls and young women in my Girl Scout troops have been biologically based: those who care for children, beyond the birth mothers, will have elevated levels of the hormone prolactin. I find it fascinating that my enjoyment of environmental education has a biological base! This book also elevated my concern for the girls I work with who are teens, coming from teen mothers (who also came from teen mothers), who seem to be fast careening towards motherhood without the resources and the patience that are critical to successful rearing of children. I liked her discussion of how girls change from pre-adolescence to adolesence in foraging societies: The pre-adolescents are the girls who are more interested in learning childcare, as opposed to the adolescents, who are more interested in dating. Anecdotally, I would confirm this! In foraging societies, girls do not gain enough fat until their late adolescence to their early twenties, and thus they do not reproduce as early as their well-fed American counterparts. For me, this is all the more reason to take measures to mentor kids, so that they have children when they will it and are ready, rather than simply because they may be biologically capable of it.

It's odd that some reviewers see this as an example of a feminist ignoring and bending facts to support feminist theory. I thought the author presented quite strong criticisms of feminism (for example, feminist claims that nursing is a socially constructed activity). In addition, one of the main points I took away from the book was decidedly UN-feminist: that male humans have been genetically selected to be LESS inclined to care for children than women are, because they can't be certain that any given child is really theirs. In contrast, since a woman knows that her child really is her child, she is MORE biologically inclined to care for it (depending on the circumstances, as Hrdy goes into at length). It did seem that Hrdy was herself not pleased with this conclusion, but discussed the issue at length nonetheless.

At long last, a book on the nurturing impulse has been written without sentimentality or wishful thinking. Blaffer Hrdy brings her scientific training, intellectual drive, and obvious warmth and humor to this project. If you're a woman who values your full human potential as much as, or more, than your ability to populate, and if anyone has ever tried to make you feel guilty about such an "unnatural" set of priorities, this is the book for you. Especially valuable is Blaffer Hrdy's openly avowed love for her spouse and children; it serves to remind the reader that you're not reading a political manifesto, but deeply thought-out, sensible scholarship by a caring, gifted individual. If you're looking for slick excuses for your point of view, whatever it is, don't look here. If you seek understanding of what you are -- and what we all are -- then read this enjoyable book. Anyone who wants children certainly should.

Fantastic book that combines science with literature, history, HUMOR (great illustrations), personal stories, feminist critique, science critique, speculation, political polemic, and weird facts. I especially recommend the book for people interested in biology, history of humanity, feminism, and parenting. Hrdy is sure to win a major award for this book. I read every page.