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Bonded by Evolution
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  • Published: 26 May 2026
  • ISBN: 9781529910568
  • Imprint: Cornerstone Press
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $36.99

Bonded by Evolution

What We’ve Got Wrong About Love and Connection

  • Paul Eastwick
Formats & editions
Tr. Paperback
26 May 2026
EBook
12 Feb 2026
Audiobook
12 Feb 2026
Hardback
12 Mar 2026
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A ground-breaking look at the science of love and connection – and an urgent corrective to some of our most fundamental assumptions about attraction

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'In a world saturated with cynical advice about dating and gender, this book is a revelation . . . Bonded by Evolution is rigorous science written with warmth and moral clarity.' DANIEL H. PINK, author of Drive and The Power of Regret

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We’re told that what men and women desire from relationship is different – he’s looking for novelty, she’s looking for commitment; he’s concerned with looks, she’s concerned with status.

We’re told that we live in a hierarchy of romantic inequality – where some are 10s and others are 2s; where some people are marriage material and others are wired for promiscuity.

But this narrative is unscientific.

Such ideas have their roots in a branch of science called evolutionary psychology, and over the past few decades its ideas have permeated our culture and fuelled a narrative that inspires despair and anxiety – and, in its most extreme form, these ideas have been hijacked in the service of misogyny and violence.

But the truth about human attraction – and the way evolution plays out in our romantic lives – is much more interesting and optimistic.

Bonded by Evolution offers a radical new picture of the roots of enduring chemistry. Distilling evolutionary biology, anthropology and psychology and informed by his pathbreaking research and original experiments at the Attraction and Relationships Research Laboratory in California, psychology professor Paul Eastwick reveals how attraction is best depicted as a process of finding – and, often, creating – a compatible relationship.

Once we understand how ancestral humans sought compatible partners in small networks, we can build a clearer – and brighter – picture of how attraction, sex and relationships really work.

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'One of the most joyfully uplifting antidotes to 21st-century gloom.' THE TIMES

'Profound and pragmatic, suggesting an entirely different approach to the study – and pursuit – of love.' ERIC KLINENBERG, co-author of Modern Romance

'Rarely have scientific rigor and exuberant optimism been such congenial companions . . . Bonded by Evolution presents an optimistic new paradigm, one that provides clear guidance for romantic success.' ELI FINKEL, author of The All or Nothing Marriage
  • Published: 26 May 2026
  • ISBN: 9781529910568
  • Imprint: Cornerstone Press
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $36.99
Categories:

Praise for Bonded by Evolution

One of the most joyfully uplifting antidotes to 21st-century gloom, and a call for the rising numbers of single young people to get off their phones and back out there in the real dating world.

THE TIMES

His new book Bonded By Evolution dismantles myths round sex-based age gaps (women are just as inclined as men to desire younger partners, apparently) and makes the case that men find ambition and high earnings desirable in women – even though the likes of Andrew Tate would have people believe career women are an abomination. Eastwick’s main observation is that the best data arises from watching how men and women interact in real life, rather than mining information from dating sites and swipes.

Rowan Pelling, TELEGRAPH

I was fascinated by our piece this week about Paul Eastwick’s new book, Bonded by Evolution, which explores how what we think we want from a heterosexual romantic relationship (to nutshell it: women, power; men, youth) is not actually the case. There are similar crossed wires in the way we think about fashion.

Anna Murphy, THE TIMES

Rarely have scientific rigor and exuberant optimism been such congenial companions. Drawing on the strongest scientific studies, Eastwick unearths a joyous truth: Happiness in love isn’t a gated country club where the 10s and 9s splash about together in skimpy swimsuits. A pro-tip for the lovelorn: Bonded By Evolution overturns the flawed conventional wisdom on love and compatibility. It presents an optimistic new paradigm, one that provides clear guidance for romantic success.

Eli Finkel, author of THE ALL OR NOTHING MARRIAGE

In this bold and compelling challenge to the popular science of romance, Paul Eastwick argues that human beings have not evolved to find partners who match their beauty and brilliance or maximize the potential of their offspring, but to seek compatibility. The implications of this thesis are both profound and pragmatic, suggesting an entirely different approach to the study – and pursuit – of love.

Eric Klinenberg, co-author of MODERN ROMANCE

In a world saturated with cynical advice about dating and gender, this book is a revelation. Eastwick argues — persuasively and often movingly — that human beings are built for cooperation, not conquest. Bonded by Evolution is rigorous science written with warmth and moral clarity.

Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author of DRIVE and THE POWER OF REGRET