The groundbreaking, provocative book that uses evolutionary psychology to describe human mating and the mysteries of love.

If we all want love, why is there so much conflict inside our most cherished romantic relationships? To response this question we should consider our evolutionary past, argues prominent psychologist David M. Buss. Structured one of the largest studies of individual mating ever undertaken, encompassing more than 10,000 folks of all age range from thirty-seven cultures worldwide, The Advancement of Desire about The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Individual Mating is the initial work to provide a unified theory of individual mating behavior. Sketching on a wide range of examples of mating behavior — from lovebugs to elephant seals, from your Yanomamö tribe of Venezuela to internet dating apps — Buss reveals what women want, what men want, and just why their desires radically differ. Like has a central place in human sexual mindset, but turmoil, competition, and manipulation also pervade human mating — something we should confront in order to control our very own mating destiny.

Updated to reveal the very latest scientific research in human being mating, this definitive edition of this classic work of evolutionary psychology explains the powerful forces that form our most close desires.