HT Picks; New Reads

Indian by choice

In 1914, a Frenchwoman named Mirra Alfassa arrived in India and met the revolutionary-turned-philosopher Sri Aurobindo. She would come to be known as the Mother, Sri Aurobindo’s spiritual collaborator and the guiding force behind his ashram in Pondicherry.

Born into a family of well-to-do Ottoman Jews, Mirra’s early life was shaped by art, intellectual inquiry and a longing for spiritual awakening. Her journey took her across countries, from Paris and Algeria to Japan and finally India, where she embraced a vision of unity that transcended national and cultural boundaries. Declaring herself ‘Indian by choice’, she sought to harmonize the wisdom of the East with the modernity of the West.

Based on Peter Heehs’s extensive research in the archives and libraries in France, Israel and India and his vast knowledge of Mirra’s writings and talks, The Mother is a captivating portrait of a foreign-born woman who made India her home and left an indelible imprint on it.*

Sexual selection as a gonzo form of evolution

In his new book, acclaimed science writer Matt Ridley looks to the peculiar mating rituals of birds to better understand the rich origins and ongoing significance of Darwin’s sexual selection theory.

Animals rarely treat sex as a simple or mutually beneficial transaction. Choosing a mate is often a transcendent event to be approached with reverence, suspicion, angst and quite a bit of violence. For Matt Ridley, nowhere is this more acute than in birds.

From a freezing hide on the Pennine moors at dawn, Ridley closely studies the rare Black Grouse. He is there for the lek – an elaborate courtship ritual of squabbling and strutting males. They dance and sing for hours each day to attract a mate over several months. With most males leaving exhausted and unsuccessful, Ridley looks at how females make their choice to cast fresh light on how such rituals have evolved and why.

His pursuit follows five generations of biologists from Darwin and Wallace to the present day, uncovering how they have grappled with the implications of sexual selection as an eccentric, gonzo form of evolution. While most Victorian scientists found it impossible to believe female birds could select mates, Darwin was obsessed with the idea of sexual as well as natural selection.

Drawing on his own lifelong passion, Ridley eavesdrops on the elaborate displays of bird species around the world, from the complex art installations made by bowerbirds in Australia to the bubbling calls of curlews in the UK’s declining moorlands. In a wonderful blend of nature writing and elegant exploration of recent evolutionary theory, Birds, Sex and Beauty shows not only how mate choice has shaped the natural world, including humans, but how the song and plumage of birds can be thrillingly, breathtakingly beautiful.*

A guide to honouring boundaries

All Our Loves; Journeys with Polyamory in India is an eyepopping book on polyamory – the practice of being in love with or without sexual intimacies with more than one person simultaneously, with the consent of all – in India. For anyone who has ever dreamed of love, sex, and companionship beyond the limits of traditional monogamy, this groundbreaking guide navigates the infinite possibilities that open relationships can offer. As a practising polyamorist, Arundhati Ghosh dispels myths and throws light on the skills necessary to maintain a fulfilling and responsible polyamorous lifestyle – how to honour boundaries how to resolve conflicts, and define relationships on their own terms, how to divide time among partners how to foster honest intimacy, how to find community and navigate breakups, jealousy, and living arrangements, how to practice safe sex, raise a family and much more.*

*All copy from book flap.