What is Sex?

  • Lynn Margulis &
  • Dorion Sagan
Simon and Schuster, $37.50

We may think we know the answer to the question ‘what is sex?’ but Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan offer a new philosophical slant on the subject. Their book What is Sex? (Simon and Schuster, $37.50) views sex simply as a consequence of thermodynamics. Organisms are open systems with orifices through which both energy and matter can flow. Photosynthesis involves flow of gases through stomata (right) and, in the same manner, sex is merely a flow of matter and dissipation of energy. Sex exists, they argue, purely because the organisms that reproduce sexually have survived; it has no inherent advantage over asexual reproduction.