If you read my previous post, which is about a book called Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters: From Dating, Shopping, and Praying to Going to War and Becoming a Billionaire-- Two Evolutionary Psychologists Explain Why We Do What We Do, then you might be wondering about the title. According to the authors (Alan S. Miller and Satoshi Kanazawa), yes, beautiful people have more daughters, and there is an explanation for that. But can you figure out what it is?
"Well, why should I?" you might ask.
Would you do it for two dozen homemade cookies?
That's right, I'm running my first contest on this blog. The first person who posts in the Comments section of this post the reason according to the book why beautiful people have more daughters will win an assortment of two dozen homemade cookies cheerfully shipped to you. If no one gets the exact answer, then the winning answer will be the one I find funniest or most clever. Feel free to go to the bookstore to look up the answer. If you do, please buy a book while you're there--if not this book, then another one. The publishing industry needs you! (See the new "Don't Panic" graphic I added to this blog, courtesy of H.L. Dyer.)
Other rules:
You may answer more than once. Feel free to answer the question seriously or humorously.
Please answer by midnight (CST) Wednesday, December 10. I will announce the winner on Thursday, December 11, at which time I will privately ask the winner for a shipping address. Alex permitting, I will try to get the cookies shipped by Saturday, December 13.
The cookies will come out of the cookie inventory we have on hand by that day; the winner may request a certain type of cookie if we have it, but I'm not planning to make any more cookies this week. (So please don't ask for something I would have to make.)
Some of our cookies came from our Cookie Exchange yesterday; I will not take responsibility for the taste, freshness, or integrity of these cookies.
If you have any questions, please ask. And please participate! If this contest is successful, I may do it again sometime.
I'm going with the simple answer - because boys will age you FAST.
ReplyDeleteWow, I will have to tell my parents about this book - they will be excited to hear that having five daughters makes them "beautiful people."
ReplyDeleteIt's an odd argument... that if there is a genetic benefit that is more relevant to daughters than to sons, the drift will result in more daughters born than sons (and therefore that attractiveness is more important to pass on to daughters than to son).
ReplyDeleteHowever, this argument makes an awful lot of assumptions:
... that attractive parents will have attractive children
... that attractiveness is not valuable for boys
... that a phenotypic benefit automatically results in genotypic changes