The Evolution of Animal Communication: Reliability and Deception in Signaling Systems »

William A. Searcy is the Robert E. Maytag Professor of Ornithology at the University of Miami. He is the author, with Ken Yasukawa, of "Polygyny and Sexual Selection in Red-Winged Blackbirds" (Princeton). Stephen Nowicki is Bass Fellow and Professor of Biology, Psychological and Brain Sciences, and Neurobiology at Duke University, where he currently serves as Dean of the Natural Sciences. He has published more than 65 scientific papers on animal communication and behavior, including work on birds, insects, spiders, and mammals.

"The Evolution of Animal Communication is a wonderful book. It takes an extremely important hot topic and begins where one should, with a careful analysis of its theoretical underpinnings. More than a review of the work done by others, it is a significant new contribution on its own. . . . one of the best examples of well-written technical science writing that I have encountered in a long time."—Robert Seyfarth, University of Pennsylvania, author of How Monkeys See the World: Inside the Mind of Another Species

"This book is required reading for anyone with an interest in animal communication. The level of detail is just right, the examples are very helpful and the text is well written and well organized. Those interested in sexual selection will gain a more realistic, and perhaps naturalistic, understanding of the communication that underpins much of their field."—Peter McGregor, Cornwall College

Katherine E. LeVan and Noah Wilson-Rich - Science

William Searcy and Stephen Nowicki provide a fascinating perspective on the honesty of signals in animal communication systems. . . . [A] comprehensive yet concise review of what we currently know concerning signal reliability in animals, enriched with many in-depth examples.