Mother Nature: Maternal Instincts and How They Shape the Human Species by Sarah Hrdy Search Amazon for other books by or about Sarah Hrdy. Rating: Reviewed by: David Smillie

I don't like babies.

I know this makes me a bad person. My mom, my sister, and my grandmother have all explained (at length) that my failure to dissolve into meaningless baby talk at the mere sight of a bundle of barely differentiated cells makes me evil. But to me, babies are inherently dull. They just sit there. Occasionally they'll spit up--if you're lucky.

But thanks to Mother Nature , I have an entirely new view of babies. Now I see them as scheming, manipulative little monsters (and consequently, far more interesting). Sarah Blaffer Hrdy's new book is a marvelous read, managing to balance human behavior, physiology, and genetics into a wonderful picture of how mothers and children interact, and why they do so.

First off, let's deal with the "motherhood issue". Mothers and babies want different things. Yes, a mother wants to ensure the survival of her child (and the child wants to survive as well), but Mom may also want a second child. Or to work. Or to get a decent night's sleep. The baby, on the other hand, is an attention-devouring monster. It has its needs, and wants them filled. Now . In explaining how these needs (and the mechanisms the baby uses to fill them) evolved, Blaffer Hrdy is at her best. We see how even the most innocuous forms of behavior (both on the part of mother and child) actually make sense , when viewed through an evolutionary prism. Even disturbing elements of behavior (infanticide, abandoned foundlings) can make a certain sense when viewed in the cool light of evolutionary advantage.

Many will find Blaffer-Hrdy's viewpoint disturbing, as any influence of "nature" on the nurturing of motherhood is seen as anathema. But it shouldn't be so. After all, each of us had to have ancestors who acted not only to ensure their own survival, but the survival of at least one of their offspring as well. So the genes that helped ensure their survival (and propagation) live on in us, mirroring their behavior. Many people are still uncomfortable with the concept of human evolution preferring to think that while evolution is fine for other animals, it can't possibly apply to us . But they're wrong, and reading Mother Nature should help open a few eyes to how evolution continues to shape our actions. As a primatologist (and mother of three), Blaffer Hrdy is in a perfect position to look at the relationship between mother and child from both sides. She shows how behaviors observed in other primates might explain some of what we do, as well as explaining how many of our uniquely human peculiarities make us different from other animals.

And the book is remarkably witty . From cute chapter titles (From Here to Maternity, Why be Adorable) to very clever turns of phrase (referring to the manipulations of one researcher as a "post-Enlightenment deus ex machina") to a refreshing sense of not taking her own profession seriously ("Primatologists can argue endlessly -- and no doubt we will"). One minor quibble would be with the surprisingly large role played by novelist George Eliot. Eliot continually pops up, both as a character and as a source of quotations. Eliot isn't my particular cup of tea, so that may color my reaction. But I have to question any book on evolution that manages to mention her as often as it mentions Darwin).

Despite that, it really is a wonderful book. It provides a refreshing look at the behavior of mothers, fathers and children, and lets us understand (to some extent) just why we behave the way we do. I've already bought several copies of this book as gifts for friends of mine who are thinking about having children. I doubt whether the books will affect their decision whether or not to procreate, but I know I'll never look at the little monsters in the same way.