We boast the largest collection of evolutionary psychology book reviews in the world on this website.
And after studying and reviewing dozens of them, we came up with this list of the best evolutionary books.
Let’s dive in.
10. Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism
By K. Ghodsee
Summary | Audiobook
Despite feminist and left-leaning ideologies that permeate this book, Ghodsee deserves a place for addressing gender power dynamics.
Many (male) evolutionary psychologists on this list overlook or minimize the idea that men may gain when women as a collective are kept disempowered.
For example, in this interview, David Buss downplays the concept of patriarchy with a joke:
Buss: (…) Two very elegant women with designer handbags are walking by a guy who’s fixing the tar in the street and as he’s groveling on the ground they say “stop oppressing me”
It’s a funny joke, but it missed the broader point.
Societal patterns emerge from aggregated behaviors of individual preferences and behaviors.
It’s a phenomenon called ’emergent behavior’ and what social dominance theory refers to as ‘aggregated individual discrimination’.
Most men cluster around the average and, as Buss knows, they all share the same needs of mating and ensuring paternity.
Average men struggle when women become more successful than the average man. So it’s evolutionarily expected for men to be incentivized to limit women’s power.
Men may not be aggressive and open about it. But they may look down on the career woman while encouraging their partners to stay home.
Feminist scholars overreach at times, but dismissing their critiques risks missing important truths.
Ghodsee’s argument isn’t flawless, but it raises valid points that deserve consideration.
Read more here:
- Social dominance theory, which perfectly explains class-level dynamics, of which gender is only one expression
- What Buss and Peterson underestimate about the patriarchy
9. How The Mind Works
By S. Pinker
Summary | Audiobook
“How the Mind Works” is a ‘meta book’ on evolutionary psychology.
Such as, Pinker discusses evolutionary psychology as a science.
Including its credibility, the most common criticisms, and its current standing in the social sciences.
I find Pinker sometimes veers off into philosophy and is heavier in his personal views than on empirical evidence.
Finally, I find How the Mind Works too deterministic with two fallacies:
- The “perfect machine fallacy”: the idea that organisms are perfect adaptations, working like clockwork machines
- The “perfect designer fallacy”: the idea that evolution will always shape organisms to be the best possible adaptations for the environment
Although Pinker probably knows better, the reader should keep those two fallacies in mind.
📽️ See Lucio’s take on these common fallacies
7. The Red Queen
By M. Ridley
Summary | Audiobook
“The Red Queen” focuses on sex sexual selection and mating, and wt would be even higher if it weren’t for “The Evolution of Desire” which covers similar themes.
“The Red Queen” is superior in terms of theoretical framework and in the overview it provides.
But “The Evolution of Desire” is more practical, and it ranks higher because The Power Moves is focused on the practical applications of knowledge.
6. The Evolution of Desire
If you are looking for how evolutionary psychology wisdom more practically applies to dating and mating, but still has “scientific rigor”, look no further.
This book can be an eye-opener and it will increase your mating intelligence 3 fold.
And from the same author, but slightly more focused on “sexual conflict“, also see “When Men Behave Badly“.
If I had to put these two head-to-head, I wouldn’t know which one is better -they’re both just great.
Also read:
5. The Selfish Gene
The Selfish Gene, popularizing Hamilton’s work, is probably the most culturally significant book on this list due to its popularity.
The title may be a bit misleading though.
Today, most social sciences accept that selfish interests may be best achieved by cooperation.
Dawkins, like a good scientist, took stock of the evidence, acknowledged the issue, and made amends.
In more recent versions of “The Selfish Gene”, Dawkins writes:
Cooperation and mutual assistance can flourish even in a basically selfish world (…) we can see how even nice guys can finish first.
Dawkins went as far as to say that he could have called his book “The Cooperative Gene”.
That is not to say that the “Selfish Gene” was wrong, though. The concept that evolution -and most of what we do- is in service of the selfish gene’s reproductive goals still stands.
4. The Mating Mind
If you want to understand deeper nuances of evolutionary processes and sexual choices, then this is a top choice to go along with a broader textbook.
Besides its thought-provoking main thesis, Miller addresses two common misunderstandings of evolutionary psychology:
- Evolution ≠ “constant progress”, or the myth that ‘evolution always improves’
- Survival ≯ reproduction, or the tendency to focus more on survival and male-to-male competition, rather than reproduction and male-to-female courtship
But evolution is complex.
It’s both survival and reproduction, at the same time.
Sometimes the two don’t go hand in hand, but can also (partially) move against each other.
Miller drives that point home.
And he does a great job of explaining the messier and more complex nature of evolution, including the more interesting cases of runaway sexual selection.
- 📽️ See our video on 6 common understandings of evolutionary psychology..
The Mating Mind also introduces a thought-provoking new theory: that intelligence, together with kindness and altruism, evolved thanks to sexual selection, via courtship. The brain, he says, is a wonderful proxy for fitness, and courtship displays that mental fitness.
3. The Oxford Handbook of Evo Psych & Relationships
By Various Authors
Summary | Kindle
This handbook is a well of wisdom at the crossroad of evolution and relationships, and this entry also functions as a stand-in for quality handbooks.
It provides a narrower focus on mating and relationships, but it doesn’t detract from a general understanding of evolution since mating and relationships are foundational to evolution.
It could gain with some streamlining and synthesis because different authors sometimes revisit similar and/or foundational concepts with slightly different angles and studies.
But overall, it was one of the most TPM-enriching books we’ve ever reviewed.
I took copious notes, and improved many articles thanks to this handbook.
Other recommended handbooks include:
- The Cambridge Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behavior, same high quality, but potentially provides a broader overview
- The Oxford Handbook of Infidelity, focusing on a crucial evolutionary area of reproduction, relationships, and cooperation/defection. High-quality work
I found the Cambridge Handbook on Sexual Psychology series (Female Sexual Adaptations and male sexual adaptations) to contain some overlapping information but still informative, though in certain chapters I noted room for improvement in scientific rigor.
2. The Secret Of Our Success
by Joseph Henrich
Summary | Amazon
This is the only book on cultural evolution featured on our list—but it’s a game changer.
Henrich presents a compelling argument that turns the dominant gene-centered narrative in evolutionary psychology on its head:
In the longer run, genes are evolving to adapt to these culturally constructed worlds, and this has been, and is now, the primary driver of human genetic evolution.
(…)
This is quite different from the usual story.
I believe a possible counterpoint is that today’s culturally constructed world may move too fast for genes to even be able to catch up.
But Henrich shares compelling evidence and logic to make his argument credible and convincing.
Henrich also takes some playful jabs at the gene-centered perspective, pointing out how it mistakenly downplays culture:
In twenty-first-century textbooks on evolutionary psychology, for example, culture is often politely acknowledged and then waved off as being mostly relevant for explaining phenomena like the “hula-hoop craze, changes in clothing styles or fashion, beliefs about alien beings, and jokes.”
(…)
these now outdated evolutionary views fail to recognize that the central force driving human genetic evolution for hundreds of thousands of years, or longer, has been cultural evolution.
The gauntlet has been thrown.
If Henrich and his peers are right, cultural evolution may revolutionize our understanding of human psychology.
I venture that we’re possibly on the cusp of a significant shift in how we understand evolution, human nature, and, most importantly, our future as a species.
Let’s hope Planck’s Principle—that science advances one funeral at a time—doesn’t apply here because I’m eager to see it panning out.
So, why not give it the title of best evolutionary psychology book?
First off, genetic evolution remains foundational to understanding human nature.
Second, cultural evolution is still developing and lacks comprehensive handbooks or widely accepted theoretical frameworks.
While biological evolution is supported by extensive empirical evidence and decades of collaborative effort, cultural evolution relies on pioneering individual work.
But this book is still essential for understanding how biological and cultural evolution complement each other—sometimes aligning, sometimes clashing, and with culture frequently overriding genetic influences.
Finally, this book and its companion ‘The Weirdest People In The World‘ revisit group-level selection, a concept sidelined by gene-centric theories.
It illustrates how cultural shifts enable more cooperative groups to outcompete and expand—ie.: Western individualistic and impersonal pro-sociality led to the West’s global dominance—.
The central force driving human genetic evolution for hundreds of thousands of years, or longer, has been cultural evolution.
1. Evolutionary Psychology: An Intro
By Workman and Reader
Summary | Amazon
Choosing the best evolutionary psychology book came down to a close contest between Evolutionary Psychology: An Introduction by Workman and Reader, and David Buss’s Evolutionary Psychology.
Both are excellent.
We ultimately picked An Introduction as our top choice because it offers a broader overview of the field.
Workman and Reader trace the field from its Darwinian roots and evolutionary mechanisms across species to the captivating debates and competing theories that continue to shape the science today.
It’s also accessible and written with learners in mind.
Chapter summaries, discussion boxes, and practical exercises make it ideal for students, beginners, or anyone looking to develop a foundational understanding.
P.S.:
Workman and Reader don’t shy away from uncomfortable truths.
Among the many worthy quotes, take this one for example:
In a sense, all sexual beings participate in a form of eugenics, albeit unconsciously.
(…) when an animal (including a human animal) selects a sexual partner it does so, among other things, on the basis of (…) good genes
🔴 Evolutionary Psychology Books to Avoid
These books are, in many ways, good.
However, they had important biases that ultimately led to poorer conclusions.
Here they are:
3. The Third Chimpanzee
Jared Diamond seems to align with the zeitgeist of the Standard Social Science Model, and this quote of his illustrates it clearly:
“Ecological differences among existing humans are entirely the product of childhood and education”.
The use of the word ‘entirely’ raises concerns.
Good scientists don’t jump to conclusions, are open to being wrong, and tend to use words like “seems”, “tends”, “mostly”, etc.
Diamond’s approach seems motivated by the wish to counter genetic or racial explanations for human differences, as he himself writes:
Until we can come up with a convincing, credible alternative explanation, the suspicion that racist genetic theories might be true will linger.
That stance is understandable in its moral intent.
But still, that’s not a scientific approach, which should be unbiased.
Diamond’s take would only gain authority if he admitted his biases and preferences.
When he doesn’t, he earns a spot on this list.
2. Sex At Dawn
Sex at Dawn feels like two swingers wanting to justify their preferences.
There are two main theses in “Sex at Dawn” and a third implied theme:
- Humans are not (fully) monogamous
- Humans enjoyed no-strings-attached sex like the bonobos
- Monogamy sucks, let’s go back to the free-sex thing like good hippies
With the “not fully” monogamous, there is nothing to opine
And it may be so well-accepted that it feels like making a case against a strawman.
The issues start with the second point, more dubious, and the third one, a moralistic claim.
To begin with, bonobos can be nasty to each other just like any other great ape (Sapolsky, 2017).
Second, the claim that “fathers didn’t care about paternity” raises questions.
There are evolutionary reasons why fathers who didn’t care about paternity are not well represented today.
Fathers who didn’t care about paternity were out-reproduced by those who did, and they left fewer and fewer copies of their genes.
And finally, even if they are right, our past has no normative power as to how we should be, or even could be.
Ultimately, I enjoyed “Sex At Dawn“.
But I didn’t like that it presented as science what to me felt more like personal preferences.
1. Sperm Wars
This would be another great book… If the author didn’t present theories as facts.
More than two decades after the book released, there is still no evidence for the “killer sperm” the author lucidly describes as if it were a fact.
Also read:
Change Log
Removed:
- The Blank Slate (28.12.2014). An interesting discussion about “tabula rasa hypothesis“, behaviorism, and the “standard social science model” and how they affected academia during Pink’s tenure.
However, it veers deeply into politics and ‘culture wars’ and we prefer a list based on wisdom - Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters (29.12.2024) as it’s more intuition-based with some ‘just-so stories’ and lighter in evidence.
The title itself betrays an emphasis on what’s catchy, rather than what’s meaningful. It refers to the Trivers-Willard hypothesis, which was weak even at the time the book was published, and struggles to replicate. - The WEIRDest People In The World (13.01.2025), added in 12.2024 was replaced by the same author’s The Secret Of Our Success, more focused on cultural evolutionary principles
- Behave (09.04.2025), great resource, and Sapolsky’s background puts evolution into a biological context. But we removed it to keep the list more laser-focused on evolution
- The Origins of Virtue (05.05.2025), because it focuses more on cooperation than evolution in general. Furthermore, Ridley’s analysis is solely based on rational costs and benefits, while other entries here also include extra insights to shed light on this fundamental human behavior
- The Moral Animal (29.06.2025), a book that’s heavily featured in most other ‘best evolutionary psychology books’ lists’ online and with which I have a special personal connection. It’s the very first evolutionary psychology book I read, I underlined almost all of it, and I felt like I was unlocking the secrets to understand the world.
But decades after its publication, there are more updated books to provide you with an overview. - Evolutionary Psychology by David Buss: still a top choice and it remains our top pick under the best general psychology books for its human-focused depth.
Added:
The Secret Of Our Success (13.01.2025) as a brilliant representative of cultural evolution.
The entry may change if a handbook on cultural evolution comes out.
Ranking change:
- The Mating Mind dropped from #4 due to its more speculative nature and heavy focus on the evolution of intelligence. The new #2 also provides an equally speculative but convincing alternative to the evolution of intelligence.
