How long does it take to read Evolution's Rainbow?
Joan Roughgarden
Evolution's Rainbow by Joan Roughgarden takes about 8 hours 41 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 8 hours 41 minutes
A week or two of reading
First published 2004. 474 pages, about 130,350 words.
18 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 14 hours 29 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 8 hours 41 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 5 hours 26 minutes |
The page count is the median across 9 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
In this book, the author challenges accepted wisdom about gender identity and sexual orientation. She takes on the medical establishment, the Bible, social science--and even Darwin himself. She leads the reader through a ... discussion of diversity in gender and sexuality among fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals, including primates. She argues that principal elements of Darwinian sexual selection theory are false and suggests a new theory that emphasizes social inclusion and control of access to resources and mating opportunity. She disputes a range of scientific and medical concepts, including Wilson's genetic determinism of behavior, evolutionary psychology, the existence of a gay gene, the role of parenting in determining gender identity, and Dawkins's "selfish gene" as the driver of natural selection. She dares social science to respect the agency and rationality of diverse people; shows that many cultures across the world and throughout history accommodate people we label today as lesbian, gay, and transgendered; and calls on the Christian religion to acknowledge the Bible's many passages endorsing diversity in gender and sexuality. In the book, she concludes with bold recommendations for improving education in biology, psychology, and medicine for democratizing genetic engineering and medical practice and for building a public monument to affirm diversity as one of our nation's defining principles.
Subjects: Seksualiteit, Evolution, Biodiversity, SOCIAL SCIENCE, Sexual orientation, Sexual behavior in animals
