Recently, I finished reading a book by the very entertaining and enthusiastic Jules Howard, a book that I wouldn’t recommend reading on the train/bus unless you want some confused faces looking your way. I am of course talking about Sex on Earth, a book Jules wrote in 2014 that explores the many different ways that sexual relations and reproduction takes place within the animal kingdom. The book itself is a fun and truly interesting read and I admire Jules’ ability to combine scientific research with his own anecdotes. It’s a worthwhile synthesis that makes you double-think everything you know about the natural world (even if you are a fellow zoologist).

There aren’t many authors that write in the same style that they speak and think, yet Jules is one of them. Knowing him personally, it’s like having a very long one-sided conversation where strange tangents and science fact meet. The one message that I took from the book is the true value of endangered species and the efforts of captive breeding. Such is the case with captive breeding programs, conservationists are hopeful that the pair put together be it pandas or frogs breeds successfully and passes their genes onto the next generation. Straight forward stuff right? But what if they they don’t? A number of species need specific requirements to breed and for some of them we are still trying to crack the code to their reproductive success before it is too late.

I thoroughly recommend Sex on Earth, it’s more than just penis jokes and will arm you with more pub-relevant knowledge than a lifetime of pub quizzes!