On the Origin of Sex

Explore the spectacular science of reproduction - from frogs and funghi to seahorses, sparrows and everything in between

People make two mistakes about biological sex: first, that it's simple. Second, that we can backsolve its purpose and evolution based on that assumption. Lixing Sun rightfully skewers these assumptions in this wonderful and wide-ranging book. Smart, thoughtful, and witty, this book will make you rethink what you thought you knew about sex

Enlightening... [a] fascinating, accessible study of how sex shapes and underpins our lives

Sex is costly, dangerous and weird. Why on earth should natural selection smile on a mechanism that creates individuals radically different from those who have, by reproducing, already demonstrated their fitness? Lixing Sun, in this thrilling biological detective story, brilliantly told and relentlessly entertaining, romps towards an answer

By the Gods it is weird and wonderful ... getting stuck into the eye watering menagerie of the animal world

Who can resist Lixing Sun's dive into the weird and wonderful science of reproduction?

This is a delightful book! human sex in all its varieties now seems vanilla after this wondrous romp through the evolution of procreation and the startling ways of living that have emerged from the ancient challenge of surviving, reproducing and responding to a shifting world. Evolution has produced in Lixing Sun an unparalleled tour guide to the joy of other sex lives, vastly knowledgeable and tiggerishly enthusiastic, he clearly loves his subject and reading this is like being given a speed tour by a biologist Willy Wonka through a zoological garden of animal sex, gender, conflict and philosophy. Enjoyable, thought-provoking and striking, without ever being dense or baffling.

A brilliant book. Endlessly fascinating ... I urge you to get a copy

An eye-opening read. It's an absolutely essential tour through the animal kingdom's relentless tricks and sleights of hand when it comes to survival, and proof of just how much we're continuing to discover when it comes to the intricate complexity of life on Earth

Fascinating ... a fantastic book

Combining terrific storytelling and solid science, Sun invites us on an amazing journey across time, bodies and biology. Based squarely in the science of evolutionary biology this book is an engaging, joyous, and deeply informative romp across the weird and wonderful landscapes of the science of sex

Exciting, mysterious, and illuminating. Sun succeeds in doing the nearly impossible: conveying complex up-to-the-minute science in a style that is not only accessible but fascinating and even sexy. On the Origin of Sex is simply brilliant, helping the reader appreciate sex's glorious complexity throughout the living world

A rare and spirited work poised to change not just what readers know but how they see the world. Questions about the biological basis of human sex and gender are addressed with a winning combination of empirical rigour and engaging writing. On the Origin of Sex excels at making complex population genetics and evolutionary modelling feel both intuitive and entertaining

Charmingly accessible prose, dripping with raw enthusiasm for the subject. Sun lets the glorious and unsolved mystery of why sex evolved take centre stage, peppering us with mind-bending stories of the incredibly diverse and bizarre ways in which reproduction happens for all species on this planet. Sun does not shy away from hot-button topics like human gender or intersexuality in sports, making this essential reading for anyone who wants a solid grounding in the biology of sex to better understand human nature. Our bodies might just be vehicles for our haploid gametes to continue driving their germline into the future, but you can't help but admire the diversity of methods nature has concocted to help them get the job done

An entertaining and enlightening look at the ever-changing "juicy mysteries" of sex

Ducks with corkscrew penises, fish changing sex - what do we really know about sex and reproduction? Less than we think. Engaging and frequently mind-boggling .... On The Origin of Sex is stuffed with such examples, enlivening the biological nuts and bolts. Interesting and pacy ... Sun's scope is far more ambitious than tame human activities - instead he grapples with the big questions puzzling us about reproduction

Lucid, elegant and ambitious ... an evolutionary detective story about life's most puzzling act. By synthesising diverse strands of evolutionary thought and presenting them with vivid storytelling, On The Origin of Sex invites readers to reconsider one of biology's most fundamental phenomena .... [offering] a compelling reminder that the most basic features of life remain among its deepest mysteries

Praise for previous works

A tour de force of evolutionary biology

This eye-opening book by Lixing Sun expertly explains how the natural world is filled to the brim with misleading signals and subterfuge

A highly readable and well-written...wide-ranging and interdisciplinary book

Pacy, engaging and frequently mind-boggling .... On The Origin of Sex enlivens the biological nuts and bolts puzzling us about reproduction

Dr Lixing Sun is a Harvard Radcliffe fellow and distinguished research professor at Central Washington University. He first studied at East China Normal University in Shanghai before completing a PhD in ecology, behaviour and evolution at the State University of New York and Syracuse University. He has published numerous research articles and is the author of four academic books.