Sperm wars - Robin Baker

Evolution has programmed men to conquer and monopolise women while women, without even knowing they are doing it, seek the best genetic input on offer from potential sexual partners. Here are the new dramatic facts of life: 10% of children are not fathered by their 'fathers', less than 1% off a man's sperm is capable of fertilising anything - the rest is there to fight off other men's sperm, 'smart' vaginal mucus encourages some sperm but blocks others, and a woman is far more likely to conceive through a casual fling than through sex with her regular partner. Baker employs his trademark formula of describing fictionalised scenes and then explaining the science behind the actions to demonstrate how our everyday behaviour fits into a pattern of evolution.

'Subtle and fascinating ...a provocative intellectual argument.' Washington Post