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 an 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.
