"Survival of the Beautiful" is a revolutionary new examination of the interplay of beauty, art, and culture in evolution. Taking inspiration from Darwin's observation that animals have a natural aesthetic sense, philosopher and musician Rothenberg probes why animals, humans included, have innate appreciation for beauty--and why nature is, indeed, beautiful.

Reviews

"A searching, accessible, and often ecstatic book.""--""Wall Street Journal""Not many authors could find a way to interweave abstruse art theory with discussions of squid and their glorious "dynamic tattoos," elephants who paint, and Paleolithic cave art, but Rothenberg succeeds, with this entertaining wander through the world of art and the places where it intersects science.""--Publishers Weekly " "[a] bravura investigation..with verve, multidiscipline fluency, and an encompassing vision, Rothenberg accomplishes his mission to change the way we perceive and understand the intertwining of natural evolution and human cultural evolution, beauty and life, art and science.""--Booklist" (starred) "The colour blue rules for the male satin bowerbird of Australia. The interior decorators of the avian world, they gather plastic, shells and feathers of that hue to adorn their meticulously built stick structures, all to lure a potential mate. This is just one indication, argues philosopher an