Matt Ridley

Shortlisted for the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction 2011. Life is on the up. Meer

The most important investigation of genetic science since The Selfish Gene, from the author of the critically acclaimed and best-selling The Red Queen and The Origins of Virtue. Meer

Sex is as fascinating to scientists as it is to the rest of us. A vast pool of knowledge has been gleaned from research into the nature of sex, from the contentious problem of why the wasteful reproductive process exists at all, to how individuals choose their mates and what traits they find attractive. Meer

Why are people nice to each other? What are the reasons for altrusim? Matt Ridley explains how the human mind has evolved a special instinct for social exchange, offering a lucid and persuasive argument about the paradox of human benevolence. Meer