David M. Buss's goal in The Murder Next Door is to explain why normal, next-door neighbor type people murder. He has a plausible theory that normal people kill because we evolved that way. He is an evolutionary psychologist, and he outlines his theory in detail. It's too bad the theory seems stretched thin over repetitions of the same type of examples.
Buss concentrates on the next door kind of murder, and leaves out murders caused by deep rooted psychological issues, serial killers, war, mass murders and the like. According to Buss, it all boils down to survival. Humans evolved to find murder to be a viable solution to certain evolutionary issues. Bottom line, women kill to protect their children, themselves from dangerous mates and outsiders, and their viable genetic contributors (their mates) from poachers. Men kill to protect their genetic contributors (their mates, or in the case of stalkers, their perceived or previous mates), cut off others' genetic lines (i.e., stepchildren), and ensure their place in the wealth and status of the community.
Buss cites much of his own research, where he interviewed a large group of people about situations where they felt they would murder or where they would be murdered, in addition to many other sources cited in the back of the book. The interviews are interesting, and they indeed support his theory. However, I can't believe that his reasons are the be all and end all theory of why normal people kill. Pigeonholing people into strict evolutionary theories just seems too pat to me. Maybe I feel like we have evolved beyond such primitive urges, but then again, I turn on the news and sometimes it makes me doubt it.
I would recommend this book if you are interested in reading a theory about why someone like your next-door neighbor might murder you because you leered at his wife, or if you are interested in the psychology of murder. However, I would also take it with a grain of salt. It's not nearly as extensive as I was hoping, as I was looking to read more than one theory repeated with other examples. Overall, it left me hanging and frustrated, wanting more of a reason behind murder than just the protection of my mate and the insurance of good genetic continuation.
Ratings: 3 Purrs
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