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How long does it take to read Sex at Dawn?

The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality

Christopher Ryan, Cacilda Jethá

Sex at Dawn by Christopher Ryan, Cacilda Jethá takes about 7 hours 20 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.

About 7 hours 20 minutes

A weekend read

First published 2010. 400 pages, about 110,000 words.

15 days at 30 minutes a day

Estimate based on 275 words per page.

At other speeds

Slow, 150 words a minute 12 hours 13 minutes
Average, 250 words a minute 7 hours 20 minutes
Fast, 400 words a minute 4 hours 35 minutes

The page count is the median across 8 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.

About the book

"A controversial, idea-driven book that challenges everything you know about sex, marriage, family, and society"--Provided by publisher. Since Darwin's day, we've been told that sexual monogamy comes naturally to our species. But this narrative is collapsing. Here, renegade thinkers Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethá, while debunking almost everything we "know" about sex, offer a bold alternative explanation. Ryan and Jethá's central contention is that human beings evolved in egalitarian groups that shared food, child care, and, often, sexual partners. Weaving together convergent, frequently overlooked evidence from anthropology, archaeology, primatology, anatomy, and psychosexuality, the authors show how far from human nature monogamy really is. With intelligence, humor, and wonder, Ryan and Jethá show how our promiscuous past haunts our struggles over monogamy, sexual orientation, and family dynamics. Human beings everywhere and in every era have confronted the same familiar, intimate situations in surprisingly different ways. The authors expose the ancient roots of human sexuality while pointing toward a more optimistic future illuminated by our innate capacities for love, cooperation, and generosity.--From publisher description.

Subjects: Monogamous relationships, Sexual behavior, Sexual behavior in animals, Sex customs, Sex, Marriage

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