COE, KATHRYN. 2003. The Ancestress Hypothesis: Visual Art as Adaptation. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Craig T. Palmer from the Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado has written a review of Coe's book: "This book is one of a growing number of attempts to provide Darwinian explanations for such aspects of human culture as religion, literature, and in this case, visual art. However, it is much more than simply an evolutionary explanation of visual art because the "ancestress hypothesis" is a much broader concept. It has far reaching implications for not only many aspects of human physiology and culture, but also evolutionary theory itself. Many readers will probably find the book less than convincing in some of its arguments about these more general issues. However, its main thesis about visual art is so cogently argued and thoroughly supported with evidence, that the possible implications for the more general issues will be hard to ignore. [...]" The review has been published in Human Nature Review 2003 Volume 3: 254-256 (7 May) and can be read in full here. via Anthro-L

... Comment