Cheating Monkeys and Citizen Bees: The Nature of Cooperation in Animals and Humans

by Lee Alan Dugatkin

Book Overview

Here biologist Lee Dugatkin outlines four paths to cooperation shared by humans and other animals: family dynamics, reciprocal transactions (or "tit for tat"), so-called selfish teamwork, and group... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684843412
• ISBN13: 9780684843414
• Release Date: February 1999
• Publisher: Free Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

I learned a lot about cheating

I currently am a member of a fantasy basketball league and have been looking for as much information on human psychology to improve my ranking. I received many good pointers from this book on how to undercut the other teams without them even knowing. I think this is a book that must be read by anyone that is interested in undermining any form of *friendly* competition.

Cheating Monkeys and Citizen Bees

I enjoyed the book, although it took me a while to really get into it. In general it covers the growth of cooperation from a genetic probabilities perspective. It is a sort of "cost accounting" of cooperation to the participants, whether related individuals in a "family" or only very distantly related individuals in a societal group. Since I had not read anything similar and the book was simply and clearly written, I found it interesting and provocative. Someone with a more thorough grounding in the field might find it overly simplistic.

Approachable summary of the field with unique perspective

Dugatkin does a great job integrating the work of others and his own research into an easily read and approachable book for the educated layperson. He draws on the behvioral literature to show how insights from this growing body of work can be useful to human societies as they evolve culturally and seek to organize themselves in a way which strikes a balance between the needs of the indivdual and those of the group. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this book is the straight-forward way in which Dugatkin approaches the dynamics between the precepts of behavioral biology and human spirituality. It is rare to find a behavioral biologist (or any biologist for that matter) who even tries to approach the subject of the interplay of spirituality and an acceptance of evolutionary mechanisms. More such openess to acknowledge the spiritual side to understanding human dymanics (whether the spirit is "real" or just a construct invented by our genes to help our brains make sense of parts of our world) is needed in science.All in all, a very engaging book which made me want to purchase more by the author. A 4 out of 5 stars from me.JJ

A first-rate work on the phenomenon of cooperation.

In this easily accessible and poignantly written work, evolutionary biologist Dr. Lee Alan Dugatkin explores the mysteries behind one of nature's most perplexing occurrences: cooperation. With the rapture of a storyteller and the exacting eye of a scientist, Dugatkin weaves together strands of existing evidence (much of which, he notes, has been collected from his own laboratory) into a _highly_ original and insightful book. He moves adeptly from the empirical to the ethical as he discusses the implications and lessons of animal cooperation for human societies. As entertaining as it is educational, Cheating Monkeys and Citizen Bees, will no doubt appeal to readers on all levels. In short, it is required reading for anyone wishing to become familiar with the myriad of issues surrounding cooperation in nature.

Great Book! Don't miss it.

In this original and sharp book, Dugatkin reaches the big public with a clear and sound analysis of cooperation within and among species. I think it is both easy to read and deep in its message.