Publisher's Synopsis
"Survival of the Beautiful is a revolutionary new examination of the role that art and culture play in nature and the evolutionary process. Taking his inspiration from Charles Darwin's observation that birds have a natural aesthetic sense, Rothenberg dives into the mysteries of why we create art, and why animals, humans included, have innate appreciation for beauty.Sexual selection may explain why animals desire, but it says very little about what is desired. The beauty of nature is not arbitrary, even if random mutation and whim have played a part in evolution. Where does the diverse beauty of bird plumage come from? Why do different species of butterflies have different-and beautiful-patterns on their wings? What can we learn from the amazing range of animal aesthetic behavior? And what about the role of art in human evolution? Art is a part of life that has been around for millions of years, yet we rarely ask or explore why and how.N
