Like the lines of a secret map made dimly apparent by the chemical potion brushed on a piece of paper from a child's detective kit, the outlines of what may be a substantial behavioral biology of human life seem to be coming clear. From genetic science at its most molecular to demography with its assessment of the vital experience of massive populations, there is a growing understanding of the various ways in which the human species reveals underlying commonalities of experi ence through the life cycle and over the web of interactions that constitutes the basic matter of social life. At the same time, research has been successful in two super ficially and contradictory directions: first, in showing the enormous variation in human arrangements and consciousness across and with in cultures; and second, in showing the similarity between cultures as far as basic processes of physiology, neurophysiology, and even so ciallife are concerned. But the contradiction only exists in the absence of an understanding of the fact that in a species living under as many ecological, historical, and economic niches as Homo sapiens, cultural variation is what one would naturally expect.

本書は、人類学と行動生物学の境界線上に、隠された「父親という生き方」の地図を鮮やかに浮かび上がらせる珠玉の一冊です。ウェイド・C・マッキーは、文化的な多様性という迷宮の中に、生物学的な一貫性という一本の確かな糸を通してみせます。一見バラバラに見える社会構造の深層に、種としての共通項が潜んでいる事実は、読者の価値観を根底から揺さぶる衝撃に満ちています。 特筆すべきは、精緻な科学的データと人間社会への深い洞察が織りなす、圧倒的な知の物語性です。単なる学術書を超え、私たち一人ひとりが持つ「家族」のルーツを辿る壮大な探求へと誘います。文化の差異を環境に適応した豊かな変奏として捉え直す彼の筆致は、人間存在の本質に迫る情熱と、知的好奇心を激しく刺激する魅力に溢れています。