In Lewis
Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, Alice meets
the Red Queen who runs everywhere but stays in the
same place. This book champions a Red Queen theory
for the evolution of sexual reproduction: that it was
invented to keep changing the genetic locks so as to
remain one step ahead of constantly mutating
parasites. The Red Queen also addresses dozens of
other riddles of human nature and culture –
including why men propose marriage, the method behind
our maddening notions of beauty, and why the human
brain may be like the peacock’s tail – a
seduction device.
