Father Time

By Sarah Blaffer Hrdy,

Book cover of Father Time: A Natural History of Men and Babies

Book description

A sweeping account of male nurturing, explaining how and why men are biologically transformed when they care for babies

It has long seemed self-evident that women care for babies and men do other things. Hasn't it always been so? When evolutionary science came along, it rubber-stamped this venerable division of…


When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

2 authors picked Father Time as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Sarah Hrdy is a biological anthropologist best known for her discovery that male monkeys sometimes promote their own reproductive success by killing infants sired by rival predecessors, and for her subsequent scholarly syntheses of knowledge about the care and protection of young children by mothers and "others" which mainly means their grandmothers and other female kin.
As a result of witnessing caring young fathers in her own family, Hrdy now says she's experienced a sort of epiphany. She was formerly convinced that people, like many other mammals, had been equipped by evolution with profound sex differences in parental motives and…

As a science writer, I am excited when I read groundbreaking books. Father Time: A Natural History of Men and Babies does just that. Impeccably researched and beautifully written, it breaks new ground in our understanding of fathering. From her background as a primatologist, evolutionary anthropologist, mother, and grandmother, author Sarah Blaffer Hrdy presents a new perspective on men’s nurturing capacity that changes the traditional view of females as the exclusive nurturers of babies and men as hunter/protectors removed from the day to day duties caring for a baby. She also takes readers on her personal journey of discovery from…

If you love Father Time...

Ad

Book cover of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

Tap Dancing on Everest by Mimi Zieman,

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route up…

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,893

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

📚 If you like Father Time, you might also like...

Book cover of Genomics: A Revolution in Health and Disease Discovery

Genomics by Whitney Stewart,

Over the past 50 years, scientists have made incredible progress in the application of genetic research to human health care and disease treatment. Innovative tools and techniques, including gene therapy and CRISPR-Cas9 editing, can treat inherited disorders that were previously untreatable, or prevent them from happening in the first place.…

Book cover of Diary of a Citizen Scientist: Chasing Tiger Beetles and Other New Ways of Engaging the World

Diary of a Citizen Scientist by Sharman Apt Russell,

Citizen Scientist begins with this extraordinary statement by the Keeper of Entomology at the London Museum of Natural History, “Study any obscure insect for a week and you will then know more than anyone else on the planet.”

As the author chases the obscure Western red-bellied tiger beetle across New…