The Secret of Our Success

The Secret of Our Success
Author :
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Total Pages : 464
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780691178431
ISBN-13 : 0691178437
Rating : 4/5 (31 Downloads)

Book Synopsis The Secret of Our Success by : Joseph Henrich

Download or read book The Secret of Our Success written by Joseph Henrich and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2017-10-17 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How our collective intelligence has helped us to evolve and prosper Humans are a puzzling species. On the one hand, we struggle to survive on our own in the wild, often failing to overcome even basic challenges, like obtaining food, building shelters, or avoiding predators. On the other hand, human groups have produced ingenious technologies, sophisticated languages, and complex institutions that have permitted us to successfully expand into a vast range of diverse environments. What has enabled us to dominate the globe, more than any other species, while remaining virtually helpless as lone individuals? This book shows that the secret of our success lies not in our innate intelligence, but in our collective brains—on the ability of human groups to socially interconnect and learn from one another over generations. Drawing insights from lost European explorers, clever chimpanzees, mobile hunter-gatherers, neuroscientific findings, ancient bones, and the human genome, Joseph Henrich demonstrates how our collective brains have propelled our species' genetic evolution and shaped our biology. Our early capacities for learning from others produced many cultural innovations, such as fire, cooking, water containers, plant knowledge, and projectile weapons, which in turn drove the expansion of our brains and altered our physiology, anatomy, and psychology in crucial ways. Later on, some collective brains generated and recombined powerful concepts, such as the lever, wheel, screw, and writing, while also creating the institutions that continue to alter our motivations and perceptions. Henrich shows how our genetics and biology are inextricably interwoven with cultural evolution, and how culture-gene interactions launched our species on an extraordinary evolutionary trajectory. Tracking clues from our ancient past to the present, The Secret of Our Success explores how the evolution of both our cultural and social natures produce a collective intelligence that explains both our species' immense success and the origins of human uniqueness.


The Secret of Our Success Related Books

The Secret of Our Success
Language: en
Pages: 464
Authors: Joseph Henrich
Categories: Psychology
Type: BOOK - Published: 2017-10-17 - Publisher: Princeton University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

How our collective intelligence has helped us to evolve and prosper Humans are a puzzling species. On the one hand, we struggle to survive on our own in the wil
Not By Genes Alone
Language: en
Pages: 343
Authors: Peter J. Richerson
Categories: Social Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2008-06-20 - Publisher: University of Chicago Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Humans are a striking anomaly in the natural world. While we are similar to other mammals in many ways, our behavior sets us apart. Our unparalleled ability to
Evolution and Culture
Language: en
Pages: 315
Authors: Stephen C. Levinson
Categories: Medical
Type: BOOK - Published: 2006 - Publisher: MIT Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Twelve original essays examine the symbiotic relation of culture and genome.
Human Evolution Beyond Biology and Culture
Language: en
Pages: 575
Authors: Jeroen C. J. M. van den Bergh
Categories: Nature
Type: BOOK - Published: 2018-10-18 - Publisher: Cambridge University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A complete account of evolutionary thought in the social, environmental and policy sciences, creating bridges with biology.
Evolution, Culture, and the Human Mind
Language: en
Pages: 712
Authors: Mark Schaller
Categories: Psychology
Type: BOOK - Published: 2011-03-17 - Publisher: Psychology Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

An enormous amount of scientific research compels two fundamental conclusions about the human mind: The mind is the product of evolution; and the mind is shaped