What is John Long reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: John Long, author of The Dawn of the Deed: The Prehistoric Origins of Sex.

His entry begins:

Every night my wife and I try to find some time to read aloud to each other, and for fun right now we going through book 5 of George Martin’s Game of Thrones series, entitled A Dance with Dragons. I find the act of reading to each other a lot of fun and we each try and outdo one another with theatrical intonations, really getting into the characters as we perceive them. As both of us are writers we find the exercise a great way to improve our writing skills. Plus the books are total fantasy escapism, set in beautifully complex imaginary worlds of old.

For research on the next book I’m writing (a sequel to Dawn of the Deed about the history of biological fertilization), I’m reading a text book about sexuality in ancient Greek times, Eva Keuls’s Reign of the Phallus (University of California Press, 1993). It’s a stunning book, a real eye and mind opener to how the ancients perceived sex, women, and the role of sexual politics in...[read on]

About The Dawn of the Deed, from the publisher:

We all know about the birds and the bees, but what about the ancient placoderm fishes and the dinosaurs? The history of sex is as old as life itself—and as complicated and mysterious. And despite centuries of study there is always more to know. In 2008, paleontologist John A. Long and a team of researchers revealed their discovery of a placoderm fish fossil, known as “the mother fish,” which at 380 million years old revealed the oldest vertebrate embryo—the earliest known example of internal fertilization. As Long explains, this find led to the reexamination of countless fish fossils and the discovery of previously undetected embryos. As a result, placoderms are now considered to be the first species to have had intimate sexual reproduction or sex as we know it—sort of.

Inspired by this incredible find, Long began a quest to uncover the paleontological and evolutionary history of copulation and insemination. In The Dawn of the Deed, he takes readers on an entertaining and lively tour through the sex lives of ancient fish and exposes the unusual mating habits of arthropods, tortoises, and even a well-endowed (16.5 inches!) Argentine Duck. Long discusses these significant discoveries alongside what we know about reproductive biology and evolutionary theory, using the fossil record to provide a provocative account of prehistoric sex. The Dawn of the Deed also explores fascinating revelations about animal reproduction, from homosexual penguins to monogamous seahorses to the difficulties of dinosaur romance and how sexual organs in ancient shark-like fishes actually relate to our own sexual anatomy.

The Dawn of the Deed is Long’s own story of what it’s like to be a part of a discovery that rewrites evolutionary history as well as an absolutely rollicking guide to sex throughout the ages in the animal kingdom. It’s natural history with a naughty wink.

Learn more about The Dawn of the Deed at the University of Chicago Press website.

The Page 99 Test: The Dawn of the Deed.

Writers Read: John Long.

--Marshal Zeringue