Books like Mother Nature by Sarah Hrdy

Richard Dawkins’ classic, The Selfish Gene reexamines evolution from the perspective of genes as primary agents, arguing that organisms serve as vehicles for gene replication.

My Mother/My Self explores how the early mother‑daughter relationship shapes a woman’s life, offering insights into transforming those patterns to achieve independence, confidence, and full sexual self‑hood.

"Mother Nature presents a radical new way of understanding how mothers act and why, and how this new understanding is changing the way scientists think about how evolution works."--BOOK JACKET. "Drawing on anthropology, history, literature, developmental psychology, and animal behavior, Sarah Hrdy examines the distinct biological and genetic elements that constitute maternal instinct. She strips away the biases implicit in conventional stereotypes of female nature to give us very different and provocative perspectives on maternal ambivalence, the links between maternity and ambition, mother love and sexual love, and she explains why age-old tensions between the sexes persist and are being played out today in efforts to control women's reproductive choices."--BOOK JACKET.

From the celebrated author of The Dance of Anger comes an extraordinary book about mothering and how it transforms us -- and all our relationships -- inside and out. Written from her dual perspective as a psychologist and a mother, Lerner brings us deeply personal tales that run the gamut from the hilarious to the heart-wrenching. From birth or adoption to the empty nest, The Mother Dance teaches the basic lessons of motherhood: that we are not in control of what happens to our children, that most of what we worry about doesn't happen, and that our children will love us with all our imperfections if we can do the same for them. Here is a gloriously witty and moving book about what it means to dance the mother dance.

With the publication in 1985 of The Interpersonal World of the Infant, Daniel N. Stern changed the way we understand how individuals develop a sense of self. Now in this pioneering new work of creative synthesis, he maps out the emerging field of parent-infant psychotherapy and describes a powerful new paradigm for understanding the relationship between parent and child: the motherhood constellation. With the birth of a baby, Stern argues, the mother (and, to some extent, the father) passes into a unique stage of life with a new set of tendencies, sensibilities, fantasies, fears, and wishes. This new organization of mental life - the motherhood constellation - forces clinicians working with mothers and infants to adopt a different treatment framework and therapeutic alliance. From an analysis of the leading schools of parent-infant psychotherapy, Stern crystallizes the factors that effect change. He shows in vivid detail the critical elements of any parent-infant clinical system: the parents' representations of the relationship with their baby, the overt interactions occurring between parent and infant, the infant's representations of these interactions, and the place of the therapist in this clinical system. Through his clear picture of the clinical situation, refined search for what's effective in parent-infant therapy, and illustration of the motherhood constellation, Stern reveals a general new form of therapy. This wholly original view of parent-infant psychotherapy and motherhood, with its practical implications for therapy, is a major contribution to our understanding of human development, psychopathology, and therapy in general.

Are trees social beings? Forester and author Peter Wohlleben makes the case that, yes, the forest is a social network. He draws on groundbreaking scientific discoveries to describe how trees are like human families: tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, support them as they grow, share nutrients with those who are sick or struggling, and even warn each other of impending dangers. Wohlleben also shares his deep love of woods and forests, explaining the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration he has observed in his woodland.