Books by Subject
Books by Subject
Human Behavior
Critical Mass : How
One Thing Leads to Another
by Philip Ball Farrar, Straus
and Giroux; (June 1, 2004)
Are there any "laws of nature" that influence the ways in which humans
behave and organize themselves? In the seventeenth century, tired of the civil
war ravaging England, Thomas Hobbes decided that he would work out what kind
of government was needed for a stable society. His approach was based not on
utopian wishful thinking but rather on Galileo's mechanics to construct a theory
of government from first principles. His solution is unappealing to today's
society, yet Hobbes had sparked a new way of thinking about human behavior in
looking for the "scientific" rules of society.
Adam Smith, Immanuel Kant, Auguste Comte, and John Stuart Mill pursued this idea from different political perspectives. Little by little, however, social and political philosophy abandoned a "scientific" approach. Today, physics is enjoying a revival in the social, political and economic sciences. Ball shows how much we can understand of human behavior when we cease to try to predict and analyze the behavior of individuals and instead look to the impact of individual decisions-whether in circumstances of cooperation or conflict-can have on our laws, institutions and customs.
Lively and compelling, Critical
Mass is the first book to bring these new ideas together and to show how they
fit within the broader historical context of a rational search for better ways
to live.
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Why is it that Homo sapiens suddenly developed a remarkable range of new talents in a "big bang" that produced the first signs of truly human culture? Over a stunningly short period, early humans began painting sophisticated cave paintings; invented musical instruments; created jewelry and clothing; fashioned fishing poles and tackle; and even began burying their dead in ritual style. The abrupt emergence of human culture has been one of the great enigmas of human evolution: Why did all of this culture develop so fast, and what was the trigger? Now, preeminent anthropologist Richard Klein offers a compelling answer. He reexamines the archaeological evidence -- including the latest findings -- and brings in new discoveries in the study of the human brain to show that the incredibly rapid evolution of new skills was the result of a dramatic neurological change in the human brain that allowed humans to think and behave in much more sophisticated ways. A stunning, 16-page photo gallery features full-color pictures of key archeological finds, including the oldest human graveyard, the oldest human clothing, and the most ancient cave paintings
Richard G. Klein, PhD (Palo Alto, CA), is Professor
of Anthropology at Stanford University and the author of The Human Career, the
definitive text on the subject of the origins of human culture. Blake Edgar
(San Francisco, CA) is Associate Editor of Pacific Discovery magazine, published
by the California Academy of Sciences. He has written extensively for Discover,
GEO, and other magazines and he is the coauthor (with Donald Johanson) of the
New York Times Notable Book From Lucy to Language.
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Editorial Reviews
Book Description
For much of human evolution, the natural world was one
of the most important contexts of children’s maturation. Indeed, the experience
of nature was, and still may be, a critical component of human physical, emotional,
intellectual, and even moral development. Yet scientific knowledge of the significance
of nature during the different stages of childhood is sparse. This book provides
scientific investigations and thought-provoking essays on children and nature.
Children and Nature incorporates research from cognitive science, developmental psychology, ecology, education, environmental studies, evolutionary psychology, political science, primatology, psychiatry, and social psychology. The authors examine the evolutionary significance of nature during childhood; the formation of children’s conceptions, values, and sympathies toward the natural world; how contact with nature affects children’s physical and mental development; and the educational and political consequences of the weakened childhood experience of nature in modern society.
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The
Anatomy of Racial Inequality (W.E.B. Du Bois Lectures
by Glenn C. Loury
Hardcover - 160 pages (February
2002)
Harvard Univ Pr; ISBN: 0674006259
; Dimensions (in inches): 0.85 x 8.42 x 5.80
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Editorial Reviews
Book Description
Altruistically Inclined? examines the implications of recent research
in the natural sciences for two important social scientific approaches to individual
behavior: the economic/rational choice approach and the sociological/anthropological.
It considers jointly two controversial and related ideas: the operation of group
selection within early human evolutionary processes and the likelihood of modularity--domain-specific
adaptations in our cognitive mechanisms and behavioral predispositions.
Experimental research shows that people will often cooperate in one-shot prisoner's dilemma (PD) games and reject positive offers in ultimatum games, contradicting commonly accepted notions of rationality. Upon first appearance, predispositions to behave in this fashion could not have been favored by natural selection operating only at the level of the individual organism.
Emphasizing universal and variable features of human culture, developing research on how the brain functions, and refinements of thinking about levels of selection in evolutionary processes, Alexander J. Field argues that humans are born with the rudiments of a PD solution module--and differentially prepared to learn norms supportive of it. His emphasis on failure to harm, as opposed to the provision of affirmative assistance, as the empirically dominant form of altruistic behavior is also novel.
The point of departure and principal point of reference is economics. But Altruistically Inclined? will interest a broad range of scholars in the social and behavioral sciences, natural scientists concerned with the implications of research and debates within their fields for the conduct of work elsewhere, and educated lay readers curious about essential features of human nature.
Editorial
Reviews
Review by William A. Spriggs, July 10, 2001
This is a large picture-book suitable for libraries and coffee tables that makes an excellent introductory book for young adults or grown adults who may be curious about the science behind the face. Similar in layout and size to the Manwatching: A field Guide to Human Behavior, the 1977 book by Desmond Morris, (which was the first book ever to draw my attention to the connection between primate and human behavior), and it is written in non-academic and lucid language. With John Cleese on board one is occasionally presented with a humorous one-liner, but overall the book takes its subject very seriously, is well researched, and what surprised me, was its total commitment to the evolutionary perspective throughout the book.
There were a few minor errors throughout the book, including this passage explaining our ability to recognize faces for criminal identification, (It was opposite four police mug shot photographs of two black-skinned men showing frontal and profile views): "And so people turn out to be poor at recognizing faces they have glimpsed only once. And things get worse if we are confronted with faces of a different ethnic type, unless we are familiar with such faces through extended contact." p.63. Although the statement is correct, it also seems to take the assumed perspective that the reader is white. But this one small glitch does not detract from the excellent groundwork that the book prepares one for, and the book is very evenly divided showing many photos of racial and ethnic faces. Let me share with you some highlights of the book:
In explaining expressions on the face as a form of communicating our inner feelings to others: "We might think that facial expressions are redundant now that humans have language, an infinitely superior tool for expressing ideas and concepts. But in evolutionary terms, language is a relatively new addition and has it limitations. Our face can express things that are difficult to put into words. Expression can communicate emotions faster, more subtly and more effectively than words, which is why facial expressions remain crucial for humans as social animals." p. 71.
Here is a marvelous paragraph explaining facial expressions which leads readers into a section about the human smile: "Our expressions then are rather like the colours in painting; there is a small number of primary coulours that make strong, unambiguous 'statements', and there are endless shades of coulour that can be created from them by mixing the palette. From the basic, inbuilt expressions we extrapolate to create variations that constitute a conscious, non-verbal language of facial expressions. It is in this rich interface between the basic and modified expressions that we can learn a lot about ourselves as individuals and as a species. The smile, for example, is an expression in which we can clearly see basic and consciously controlled expressions alternating, interacting, even competing." p. 90.
Of the book's six chapters; Origins; Identity; Expressions; Beauty; Vanity, and Fame, the book hits its highmark with its chapter on Vanity. In contrast to the beautiful side, we find vanity's dark side; for as we "select" beautiful people to be icons in our society, we must "reject" others to make room for the people we "vote" as the most beautiful. It's origins no doubts were to select those with the best outward signs of health, but with our new knowledge of the evolutionary perspective, we also have within our grasp the understanding of the hardships we are causing others with this rejection. We should understand that our societies could be losing vast resources and capabilities simply because no one wants to pay attention to what these "ugly" or deformed people bring to the table unless they exert extraordinary efforts.
Think I'm daft? Here's a quote from the book to let us know that this separation starts early in our lives. "In the 1970s, teachers in 400 classrooms in Missouri were given the report card of a ten-year-old student, and asked to make judgments about the child's abilities, social skills and so on. The card detailed many aspects of the child's work, including grades, evaluation of attitude, work habits and attendance. But researchers attached to the report card various photographs purporting to be the child -- an attractive or unattractive girl or boy. Although the card contained a lot of information about the child's performance, the teacher's judgments were heavily skewed by the photographs. Teachers expected the good-looking children to be more intelligent, sociable, and more popular with their peers." p. 187.
In the mix of multi-cultured faces, I counted about 30 celebrities that act as a hook to catch the browser’s attention at the book store. I was going to complain about this, but if the book catches the attention of some young person or adult about the human face then perhaps they will go beyond the "facial" exterior of the book and learn more about the inner soul and wealth of information to be learned that dwells within. I highly recommend this book as an introductory path in the evolutionary perspective through one small piece of the puzzle called the human face.
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The Triumph of Sociobiology
by John Alcock
Hardcover - 256 pages (May 2001)
Oxford Univ Pr (Trade);
ISBN: 0195143833 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.96 x 9.55 x 6.35
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Human Nature After Darwin : A
Philosophical Introduction
Janet Radcliffe Richards
Paperback - 416 pages
(January 2001)
Routledge; ISBN: 0415212448
Other Editions: Hardcover
Editorial
Reviews
Book Description
With the beginner firmly in mind, Janet Radcliffe Richards carefully
introduces readers to the fundamental questions the Darwinian revolution raises
for understanding human nature: the scientific basis of the Darwinian revolution
and arguments about whether it is 'true'; whether human nature can be explained
in Darwinian terms; the implications of Darwinism for human freedom and moral
responsibility; and how the Darwinian revolution raises questions about
political thinking. --This text refers to the
Library Binding edition.
About the Author
Janet Radcliffe Richards is a Professor of Bioethics at University
College, London.
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
After centuries of outsiders carping about scientific reductionism,
the promised synthesis is finally on its way. Immunology, genetics, medicine,
neurology, and other fields are starting to overlap more and more, and prominent
neuropsychiatrist Nancy C. Andreasen explores one exciting intersection in Brave
New Brain. The author's broad understanding and straightforward writing
offer readers a penetrating glimpse into new and future treatments for mental
illness. Focusing on four devastating maladies (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder,
anxiety disorders, and dementia), she shows what scientists have learned about
them recently thanks to powerful imaging and biochemical tools. This knowledge,
growing exponentially and integrated with data from diverse scientific research
including the Human Genome Project, is used to propose mechanisms underlying
diseases and potential cures--from genetic repair to bold new pharmacologic
interventions.
Well-illustrated and lucidly explained, the book is an excellent lay primer on the brain and its disorders. Though Andreasen's prose isn't as elegant as some of her colleagues', it is clear and always to the point; many readers will appreciate the lack of distraction from the book's content. The hope she holds out to sufferers of mental illness, if not immediately promising, is certainly brighter than has been offered in recent years. Despite its moderately sinister title, Brave New Brain is an enlightening and even uplifting look at the convergence of several important scientific disciplines. --Rob Lightner
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Evolution and Human Behavior :
Darwinian Perspectives on Human Nature
by John Cartwright
Paperback - 400 pages
(July 24, 2000)
MIT Press; ISBN: 0262531704
; Dimensions (in inches): 0.87 x 9.21 x 6.20
Other Editions:
Hardcover
The book covers fundamental issues such as the origins and function of sexual reproduction, mating behavior, human mate choice, patterns of violence in families, altruistic behavior, the evolution of brain size and the origins of language, the modular mind, and the relationship between genes and culture. It also examines the larger implications of Darwinism for how we view ourselves as a species and our sense of ourselves as a moral animal. The book includes a valuable historical introduction to evolutionary theories of behavior and concludes with an examination of the social and political ramifications of evolutionary thought. It contains numerous diagrams and illustrations, comprehensive references, summaries, and suggestions for further reading.
About
the Author
John Cartwright is Senior Lecturer in Biology at Chester College, UK.
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Editorial Reviews
Book
Description
Perceptions of men as abusers, sexual predators, and deadbeat dads
have become firmly entrenched in our culture. Schwartz aims to dispel some of
these negative images by delving into the psychological dynamics that have
caused them. Revealing the hard facts about how we view men and women in our
society, this work explores why the gender war and political correctness
continue to be part of our culture.
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Handbook of Emotion, Second EditionClick here to learn more or purchase from Amazon.com
The Dangerous Passion : Why Jealousy Is As Necessary As Love and SexBook
Description
Why do men and women cheat on each other? How do men really
feel when their partners have sex with other men? What worries women more -- men
who turn to other women for love or men who simply want sexual variety in their
lives? Can the jealousy husbands and wives experience over real or imagined
infidelities be cured? Should it be? In this surprising and engaging exploration
of men's and women's darker passions, David Buss, acclaimed author of The
Evolution of Desire, reveals that both men and women are actually designed
for jealousy. Drawing on experiments, surveys, and interviews conducted in
thirty-seven countries on six continents, as well as insights from recent
discoveries in biology, anthropology, and psychology, Buss discovers that the
evolutionary origins of our sexual desires still shape our passions today.
According to Buss, more men than women want to have sex with multiple partners. Furthermore, women who cheat on their husbands do so when they are most likely to conceive, but have sex with their spouses when they are least likely to conceive. These findings show that evolutionary tendencies to acquire better genes through different partners still lurk beneath modern sexual behavior. To counteract these desires to stray -- and to strengthen the bonds between partners -- jealousy evolved as an early detection system of infidelity in the ancient and mysterious ritual of mating.
Buss takes us on a fascinating journey through many cultures, from
pre-historic to the present, to show the profound evolutionary effect jealousy
has had on all of us. Only with a healthy balance of jealousy and trust can we
be certain of a mate's commitment, devotion, and true love.
Hardcover - 288 pages
(February 2000)
Free Press; ISBN: 0684850818
This item will be published in February
2000. You may order it now and we will ship it to you when it arrives.
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Book
Description
To what extent is human morality the outcome of a continuous development
from motives, emotions and social behaviour found in nonhuman animals?
Psychologist Jerome Kagan, primatologist Hans Kummer, philosopher Peter Railton
and others discuss the principal paper by primatologists Jessica Flack and Frans
de Waal. Cultural anthropologist Christopher Boehm synthesizes social science
and biological evidence to support his theory of how our hominid ancestors
became moral by establishing purposeful social control over individual behaviour.
Can an evolutionary understanding of human nature allow or predict sacrifice for
others and ultimate desires for another's good? Philosopher Elliott Sober and
evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson argue 'Yes' in their book Unto Others:
The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior (Harvard, 1998), summarized
here. How can fairness to others at one's own expense evolve or survive in
competition with selfish strategies? Brian Skyrms (Evolution of the Social
Contract, Cambridge, 1996) argues that game theory based on adaptive dynamics
must join the social scientist's use of rational choice and classical game
theory to explain cooperation.
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The Math Gene: How Mathematical Thinking
Evolved and Why Numbers Are Like Gossip
by Keith J. Devlin
Hardcover - 328 pages (January
15, 2000)
Basic Books; ISBN: 0465016189
; Dimensions (in inches): 1.17 x 9.68 x 6.48
Editorial
Reviews
Amazon.com
For many, the mere word "mathematics" is enough to conjure
memories of incomprehension at school, and fear and loathing ever afterward.
Countless otherwise well-educated people see mathematics as the skeleton in
their intellectual closet--the one key subject demanding a talent that they so
obviously did not possess.
Or so it seems to anyone who has felt very much on the outside of the subject. British mathematician Keith Devlin is certainly on the inside, and in The Math Gene, he has wonderful news for everyone: we can all join him there. For Devlin argues that we all possess the ability to cope with mathematics--if only we recognize what's required. While a number of recent books, notably Stanislas Dehaene's The Number Sense, have focused on numerical ability, the scope of Devlin's book is much larger. He examines the evidence that we all possess, if not literally a gene, then at least an inherent ability not just for arithmetic but for real mathematics: algebra, calculus, and the rest. Devlin even puts forward a Darwinian explanation for the origin of this ability, based on the idea that being able to handle abstract ideas and relationships confers key evolutionary advantages.
Mathematics merely involves a relatively high level of abstraction--but one we can all cope with, if we work at it. "Doing mathematics is very much like running a marathon," writes Devlin. "It does not require any special talent, and 'finishing' is largely a matter of wanting to succeed."
In its wealth of wonderful examples supporting the central argument, The Math Gene bears comparison with Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct, and its plain common sense about this most misunderstood of subjects is inspirational. Thoroughly recommended for anyone seeking to rid their intellectual closet of the skeleton of mathematical "incompetence." --Robert Matthews, Amazon.co.uk
Book
Description
A groundbreaking book about math and language, from the well-known NPR
commentator Keith Devlin
If people are endowed with a "number instinct" similar to the "language instinct"-as recent research suggests-then why can't everyone do math? In The Math Gene, mathematician and popular writer Keith Devlin attacks both sides of this question.
Devlin offers a breathtakingly new theory of language development that describes how language evolved in two stages and how its main purpose was not communication. Devlin goes on to show that the ability to think mathematically arose out of the same symbol-manipulating ability that was so crucial to the very first emergence of true language.
Why, then, can't we do math as well as we speak? The answer, says Devlin, is that we can and do-we just don't recognize when we're using mathematical reasoning.
Book
Info
Argues that mathematics is a great artistic triumph of the race, one made
possible by an innate human ability. Offers a new theory of language development
that describes how language evolved in two stages and how its main purpose was
not communication. Suggests ways in which we can all improve our mathematical
skills.
About
the Author
Keith Devlin is the Dean of the School of Science at St. Mary's College,
Moraga, California, and a Senior Researcher at the Center for the Study of
Language and Information at Stanford University. He is the author of 22 books,
one interactive CD-ROM, and over 65 technical research papers in mathematics.
His voice is heard regularly on National Public Radio, on such programs as
"Weekend Edition," "Talk of the Nation," "Science
Friday," "Sounds Like Science," and "To the Best of Our
Knowledge." His previous books include Life by the Numbers, the companion
to a PBS series that aired in April and May, 1998; Goodbye Descartes: The End of
Logic; and The Language of Mathematics: Making the Invisible Visible.
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With wit, graceful writing, and a sprinkling of Far Side cartoons, Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers makes understanding the science of stress an adventure in discovery. "This book is a primer about stress, stress-related disease, and the mechanisms of coping with stress. How is it that our bodies can adapt to some stressful emergencies, while other ones make us sick? Why are some of us especially vulnerable to stress-related diseases, and what does that have to do with our personalities?"
Sapolsky, a Stanford University neuroscientist, explores stress's role in heart disease, diabetes, growth retardation, memory loss, and autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis. He cites tantalizing studies of hyenas, baboons, and rodents, as well as of people of different cultures, to vividly make his points. And Sapolsky concludes with a hopeful chapter, titled "Managing Stress." Although he doesn't subscribe to the school of thought that hope cures all disease, Sapolsky highlights the studies that suggest we do have some control over stress-related ailments, based on how we perceive the stress and the kinds of social support we have.
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Editorial ReviewsThough some of their social analysis is less than fully thought out--surely
e-mail isn't a truly unique form of communication, as they suggest--the work
as a whole is strong and merits attention. Science, it turns out, does have
much to say about our messy feelings and relationships. While much of it could
be filed under "common sense," it's nice to know that common sense
is replicable. Hard-science types will probably be exasperated with the constant
shifts between data and appeals to emotional truths, but the rest of us will
see in A General Theory of Love a new synthesis of research and poetry.
--Rob Lightner
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Editorial
Reviews
From
the Back Cover
The Evolution of Culture seeks to explain the origins, evolution and
character of human culture, from language, art, music and ritual to the use
of technology and the beginnings of social, political and economic behavior.
It is concerned not only with where and when human culture evolved, but also
asks how and why. The book draws together original contributions by archaeologists,
anthropologists, linguists and psychologists. By integrating evolutionary biology
with the social sciences, it shows how contemporary evolutionary thinking can
inform the study of the peculiarly human phenomenon of culture. The contributors
call into question the gulf currently separating the natural from the cultural
sciences. Human capacities for culture, they argue, evolved through standard
processes of natural and sexual selection and can be properly analyzed as biological
adaptations. The Evolution of Culture is fully referenced and indexed and contains
a guide to further reading. It is accessibly written and will be sure to appeal
to the growing multidisciplinary readership now asking questions about human
origins.
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Editorial
Reviews
Book
Description
How is it possible for each of 6 billion human beings to be
unique? How does each of us grow up to be the person we are? How do behavior and
personality develop?
In this wonderfully readable book, two distinguished scientists explain how biology and psychology join to shape the behavior of individual human beings. They counter the mistaken notion that science has discovered individual genes that determine certain personality traits; instead, they explain what role genes actually play in the formation of personality. The authors show how change is a vital component of human behavior, restoring the concept of free will to its central place in human psychology. In tracing human development from a fertilized egg to an adult, they explain the important roles that nature and nurture play.
Design for a Life is an eloquent, lucid description of behavioral development, the science that explains how personality emerges. In place of the conventional opposition of nature (genes) and nurture (environment), Bateson and Martin offer a fresh synthesis. Design for a Life brings biology and psychology together by using the metaphor of cooking to show how both the raw ingredients and the cooking process must be successfully combined to produce a meal.
Written in a clear and enjoyable style, Design for a Life helps us
to understand the science behind some of today's controversies in fields as
diverse as parenting, education, sexuality, social policy, and medicine. The
authors brilliantly blend scientific examples and literary anecdotes to
illustrate the concepts they describe. Anyone interested in behavioral
development and the emergence of personality will find this book indispensable,
both entertaining and profound.
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The book covers fundamental issues such as the origins and function of sexual reproduction, mating behavior, human mate choice, patterns of violence in families, altruistic behavior, the evolution of brain size and the origins of language, the modular mind, and the relationship between genes and culture. It also examines the larger implications of Darwinism for how we view ourselves as a species and our sense of ourselves as a moral animal. The book includes a valuable historical introduction to evolutionary theories of behavior and concludes with an examination of the social and political ramifications of evolutionary thought. It contains numerous diagrams and illustrations, comprehensive references, summaries, and suggestions for further reading.
About
the Author
John Cartwright is Senior Lecturer in Biology at Chester College, UK.
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In this wide-ranging survey of what it is that has made and that continues
to make us human, Ehrlich touches on a number of themes--among them, his recurrent
observation that science has taught us little about how genes influence human
behavior. (Instead, he notes wryly, "science tells us that we are creatures
of accident clinging to a ball of mud hurtling aimlessly through space. This
is not a notion to warm hearts or rouse multitudes.") He urges that scientists
take a larger, interdisciplinary view that looks beyond mere genetics to the
larger forces that shape our lives, a view for which Human Natures makes
a handy, and highly accessible, primer. --Gregory McNamee
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Reviews
Amazon.com
What makes an Einstein happen? How is it that some kids grow up to be Nobel
laureates while others, seemingly their equals, go on to undistinguished careers? Dean
Simonton, professor of psychology at the University of California at Davis, has striven to
understand this phenomenon for years and has compiled his insights and research in Origins
of Genius: Darwinian Perspectives on Creativity. His evolutionary perspective sheds
new light on an old topic, suggesting that the genius is able to generate a diverse range
of ideas, recombine them, and choose the "fittest" with which to proceed. These
faculties might have a wide range of origins, including both genetic and environmental,
and Simonton tries to pinpoint them and their similarities with the etiology of mental
illness. His writing style is humble and personable, yet as penetrating when discussing
experimental results as it is humane when presenting examples of genius and madness at
work. While defining such terms as intelligence and creativity are (and
should be) daunting even to a thoughtful psychologist like Simonton, his use of the terms
is precise enough to avoid mushy thinking yet wiggly enough to satisfy most critics. His
deeply engaging writing coupled with the undeniable, almost urgent fascination that his
subject holds makes Origins of Genius a rousing success by any standard. --Rob
Lightner
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Entwined Lives :
Twins and What They Tell Us About Human Behavior
by Nancy L. Segal
Hardcover - 396 pages
(April 1999)
E P Dutton; ISBN: 0525944656 ;
Dimensions (in inches): 1.30 x 9.32 x 6.31
Book Description
Twins fascinate us, whether it's their identical looks, their uncannily
similar behaviors, or their help in answering the nature versus nurture debate.
As public interest in twins and multiple births steadily increases, the amount
of in-depth information available on such topics has not kept up. In Entwined
Lives, preeminent twins researcher Dr. Nancy Segal provides a groundbreaking
study of all aspects of twin life, capturing both the scientific flavor of twin
research and the unique experiences associated with development as a twin. This
insightful and comprehensive book brings together an array of topics including
twins separated at birth, unrelated children reared together at birth (pseudo-twins),
the loss of a twin, new fertility treatments and their consequences, twins in
sports, twins in the courtroom, even twins in the animal kingdom. Packed with
scientific findings and anecdotes, Entwined Lives is a definitive guide for
twins, their families, and anyone curious to know more about this phenomenon.
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The Meme Machine
by Susan J. Blackmore
Hardcover - 272 pages
(May 1999)
Oxford Univ Press; ISBN: 0198503652
; Dimensions (in inches): 0.93 x 9.59 x 6.44
Reviews
Amazon.com
In The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins proposed the concept of the
"meme" as a unit of culture, spread by imitation. Now Dawkins himself says of
Susan Blackmore:
Showing greater courage and intellectual chutzpah than I have ever aspired to, she deploys her memetic forces in a brave--do not think foolhardy until you have read it--assault on the deepest questions of all: What is a self? What am I? Where am I? ... Any theory deserves to be given its best shot, and that is what Susan Blackmore has given the theory of the meme.
Blackmore is a parapsychologist who rejects the paranormal, a skeptical investigator of near-death experiences, and a practitioner of Zen. Her explanation of the science of the meme (memetics) is rigorously Darwinian. Because she is a careful thinker (though by no means dull or conventional), the reader ends up with a good idea of what memetics explains well and what it doesn't, and with many ideas about how it can be tested--the very hallmark of an excellent science book. Blackmore's discussion of the "memeplexes" of religion and of the self are sure to be controversial, but she is (as Dawkins says) enormously honest and brave to make a connection between scientific ideas and how one should live one's life. --Mary Ellen Curtin
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Heroes, Rogues, and Lovers: Testosterone and BehaviorAuthor James Dabbs, a social psychologist, has been studying testosterone for decades at Georgia State University, and many of the studies coming out of his lab have made headlines. To pick just one of dozens of examples, he and his colleagues found that high-testosterone soldiers were more likely to get in trouble with the law, use drugs and alcohol, and have 10 or more sex partners in a year. The more testosterone one has, the more wild oats one feels compelled to sow.
Of course, testosterone isn't a static thing; it rises with feelings of victory and accomplishment and crashes with feelings of defeat. Dabbs takes us through the world of testosterone--from the basic chemistry to how it affects love, work, and society--and makes it literate, erudite, and outrageously entertaining. Snippets of Shakespeare are used to make a point alongside stories of high-testosterone female prisoners. Men will find Heroes, Rogues, and Lovers a glorious explanation of their hormonal core, while women can use it to understand the men in their lives, and even themselves--after all, testosterone increases libido in geese as well as ganders. --Lou Schuler
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Mystery of Mysteries : Is Evolution a Social Construction?
by Michael Ruse
Hardcover - 320 pages
(April 1999)
Harvard Univ Pr; ISBN: 067446706X
; Dimensions (in inches): 1.22 x 9.57 x 6.52
Book
Description
With the recent Sokal hoax-the publication of a prominent physicist's
pseudo-article in a leading journal of cultural studies-the status of science
moved sharply from debate to dispute. Is science objective, a disinterested
reflection of reality, as Karl Popper and his followers believed? Or is it subjective,
a social construction, as Thomas Kuhn and his students maintained? Into the
fray comes Mystery of Mysteries, an enlightening inquiry into the nature of
science, using evolutionary theory as a case study. Michael Ruse begins with
such colorful luminaries as Erasmus Darwin (grandfather of Charles) and Julian
Huxley (brother of novelist Aldous and grandson of T. H. Huxley, Darwin's bulldog')
and ends with the work of the English game theorist Geoffrey Parker-a microevolutionist
who made his mark studying the mating strategies of dung flies-and the American
paleontologist Jack Sepkoski, whose computer-generated models reconstruct mass
extinctions and other macro events in life's history. Along the way Ruse considers
two great popularizers of evolution, Richard Dawkins and Stephen Jay Gould,
as well as two leaders in the field of evolutionary studies, Richard Lewontin
and Edward O. Wilson, paying close attention to these figures' cultural commitments:
Gould's transplanted Germanic idealism, Dawkins's male-dominated Oxbridge circle,
Lewontin's Jewish background, and Wilson's southern childhood. Ruse explicates
the role of metaphor and metavalues in evolutionary thought and draws significant
conclusions about the cultural impregnation of science. Identifying strengths
and weaknesses on both sides of the "science wars," he demonstrates
that a resolution of the objective and subjective debate is nonetheless possible.
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Jacobson's Organ: And the Remarkable Nature of SmellReviews
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Michael Ghiglieri studies the roots of male violence from a unique vantage: he's a former
combat soldier and longtime primate researcher, a protégé of Jane Goodall. In The
Dark Side of Man: Tracing the Origins of Violence, Ghiglieri uses this background,
accompanied by copious scientific and statistical evidence, to construct an explanation of
male violence that is often at odds with popular preconceptions.
Central to Ghiglieri's argument is that violence is a deeply entrenched behavioral strategy--especially among males--that simply emerges when other strategies fail, a thesis he reinforces convincingly with both anecdotes and hard numbers. And while he recognizes that culture and socialization play important roles in encouraging violence, he maintains that ignoring the powerful biological and evolutionary forces at work is "the single most useless--and dangerous--approach one could take in trying to explain human violence."
With extensive sections on rape, murder, war, and genocide, Ghiglieri
methodically details our grim heritage, from wilding New Yorkers to wild gorillas.
Some of his conclusions are surprising but persuasive--that the goal of rape
is actually copulation, not control, for instance. But Ghiglieri's assessment
is ultimately a hopeful one: he believes that by understanding and admitting
to the biological origins of violence, we are better prepared to deal with it.
--Paul Hughes
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In Why They Kill, Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Rhodes traces the life
and career of criminologist Lonnie Athens, a man who took his own sad and squalid life and
turned it on its head to make a groundbreaking career as a criminologist. Athens grew up
in a violent, angry world. Rather than absorbing the sickness and violence around him,
though, he studied it, and eventually developed a theory about how violent criminals are
created. Rhodes's critical examination of Athens's work forces readers to consider how
violent our society really is, how it became that way, and what might be done to change
it. When applied to well-known criminals such as Michael Tyson and Lee Harvey Oswald,
Athens's ideas become concrete and take on an urgent tone: it's easy to discuss theories
and predictors in the abstract, but these stories are real, and they repeat themselves in
our society at an alarming rate. Rhodes's approach to this disturbing subject stands apart
from many other crime books in its intelligence, humanity, and empathy. These are not just
descriptions of "scumbags" and their brutal crimes, but intensely personal
stories that reveal how a culture of violence propagates itself. --Lisa Higgins
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Cheating Monkeys and Citizen Bees : The Nature of Cooperation
in Animals and Humans
by Lee Alan Dugatkin
Hardcover - 256 pages
(February 1999)
Free Press; ISBN: 0684843412 ;
Dimensions (in inches): 0.79 x 5.75 x 8.78
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"Man," Aristotle observes in his treatise The Politics,
"is by nature a social creature." In this lively book of popular
science, Lee Dugatkin takes a close look at the inescapable fact that humans
are indeed social creatures whose instinct, it seems, is to aid one another
in times of need. He examines the ways in which thinkers of various stripes
have considered this subject. Economists, for instance, conceive of a "rational
man" who acts cooperatively when the benefits of doing so outweigh the
costs; theologians depict humans as being inherently good and thus inclined
to kindness; some biologists take the matter of human cooperation as being a
more sophisticated expression of cooperation in animal societies (to which Dugatkin
rejoins, "animals show us a stripped-down version of what behavior in a
given circumstance would look like without our moral will and freedom").
In the face of such views, Dugatkin proposes no dogma of his own. Instead, he
takes up one interesting question after another (Do sparrows help one another
locate food out of self-interest? What prompts a soldier to fall on a grenade
to save nearby comrades? Is blood thicker than water?), expertly leading his
readers through contending scientific and philosophical theories while seeking
the answers. --Gregory McNamee
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Body Images : Embodiment As Intercorporeality
Body Image : Understanding Body Dissatisfaction in Men, Women, and Children
Table of Contents
List of illustrations Preface Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 2. Culture
and body image 3. Women and body satisfaction 4. Men and body satisfaction 5.
Media effects 6. Age, social class, ethnicity and sexuality 7. Conclusions and
implications App. What causes overweight? Bibliography Name index Subject index
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The Biology of Violence (How Understanding
the Brain, Behavior, and Environment Can Break the Vicious Circle of Aggression)
by Debra Niehoff
Hardcover - 384 pages
(January 1999)
Free Press; ISBN: 0684831325 ;
Dimensions (in inches): 1.25 x 9.59 x 6.50
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What are the limits of self-knowledge? Acclaimed science writer John Horgan
takes a penetrating look into the world of neuroscience in The Undiscovered Mind, a
follow-up to his more general The End of
Science. Already pessimistic about the long-term prospects for the grand endeavor
of scientific progress, he finds even more reason for skepticism about the claims of those
who study the brain and the mind. Will we ever cross the explanatory gap between our
reductionist neuroanatomical knowledge and our everyday awareness of the qualities of our
perceptions, thoughts, and feelings? Horgan's answer is no.
He's no neo-Luddite, though--his aim is not to disillusion the public,
not to reduce funding, but to address the hubris of the neuroscientists, evolutionary
psychologists, and artificial-intelligence researchers who all proclaim a new
golden age just around the corner thanks to an imminent grand unified theory
of consciousness, a theory Horgan believes unlikely and far off at best. His
clear, entertaining prose is more conversational than polemic, and his verbal
portraits of luminaries such as Eric Kandel and Lewis Wolpert make for engrossing,
thoughtful reading. Even if you disagree with him, as many neuroscientists do,
his point of view is refreshing and challenging, and hence well worth consideration.
--Rob Lightner
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What makes people kill? Specifically, what are the motivations behind serial,
mass, and spree killings? Drawing from cases such as the mass murder in Dunblane,
Scotland, in which a lone gunman mowed down 16 children and their teacher, the
still-unsolved Tylenol poisonings, and the Unabomber, former FBI profiler John Douglas and
coauthor Mark Olshaker try to explain the unthinkable. What sets The Anatomy of Motive
apart from so many of the theories about these horrific acts of violence is that Douglas
and Olshaker have no obvious political agenda. They don't look for easy answers and they
don't provide easy solutions. They do, however, offer some insight into the twisted kind
of thinking that can lead a person to believe that the solution to his problems lies in
bloodshed. They also provide some danger signs that may help to identify the potentially
violent criminal before he has a chance to act out his morbid fantasies. While The
Anatomy of Motive is undeniably horrifying, it is also illuminating, and Douglas and
Olshaker approach their topic with grace and insight. --Lisa Higgins
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Friday's Footprint: How Society Shapes the Human Mind
By Lisie Brothers, M.D.
Hardcover
Oxford University Press, Oct. 97
ISBN: 0195101030
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One of the standard thought experiments in philosophy involves a
"congenital Crusoe," a human being growing up in complete isolation, like
Robinson Crusoe before he meets Friday. In Friday's Footprint, psychiatrist Leslie
Brothers argues that there is no Crusoe without Friday: we are evolved to be social
animals, and our minds can only be said to function in a social context. "Just as
gold's value derives not from its chemical composition but from public agreement, the
essence of thought is not its isolated neural basis, but its social use." Brothers
provides a thorough (though somewhat jargon-laden) tour of current research on the social
functions of the brain. She has a particularly interesting discussion of psychoanalysis,
which she uses as an example of how thought is molded by conversation. --Mary Ellen
Curtin
A psychiatrist who has received international recognition for her research on the neural basis of primate social cognition, Leslie Brothers, M.D., offers here a major argument about the social dimension of the human brain, drawing on both her own work and a wealth of information from research laboratories, neurosurgical clinics, and psychiatric wards. Brothers offers the tale of Robinson Crusoe as a metaphor for neuroscience's classic (and flawed) notion of the brain: a starkly isolated figure, working, praying, writing alone. But the famous castaway of literature, she notes, came from society and returned to society. So too with our brains: they have evolved a specialized capacity for exchanging signals with other brains - they are designed to be social. Perhaps most important, she connects neuroscience, psychiatry, and sociology as never before, showing how our daily interaction creates an organized social world - a network of brains that generates meaningful behavior and thought. Emotion, the sense of self - the entire spectrum of the mind - has no existence outside of a social context.
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The Borderlands of Science
: Where Sense Meets Nonsense
by Michael Shermer
Hardcover - 320 pages (May 2001)
Oxford Univ Pr (Trade);
ISBN: 0195143264 ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.26 x 9.51 x 6.38
Shermer argues that science is the best lens through which to view the world, but he recognizes that it's often difficult for most of us to tell where valid science leaves off and borderland science begins. To help us, Shermer looks at a range of topics that put the boundary line in high relief. For instance, he discusses the many "theories of everything" that try to reduce the complexity of the world to a single principle, and shows how most fall into the category of pseudoscience. He examines the work of Darwin and Freud, explaining why one is among the great scientists in history, while the other has become nothing more than a historical curiosity. He also shows how Carl Sagan's life exemplified the struggle we all face to find a balance between being open-minded enough to recognize radical new ideas but not so open-minded that our brains fall out. And finally, he reveals how scientists themselves can be led astray, as seen in the infamous Piltdown Hoax.
Michael Shermer's enlightening volume will be a valuable a to anyone bewildered by the many scientific theories swirling about. It will help us stay grounded in common sense as we try to evaluate everything from SETI and acupuncture to hypnosis and cloning.
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Action and Responsibility
By Michael Bradie
Hardcover
Bowling Green State University Press, Dec. 1980
ISBN: 0935756027
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Africans In America: America's Journey Through Slavery
by Patricia Smith & the WGBH research team
Hardcover
Harcourt Brace, Oct. 1998
ISBN: 0151003394
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This extraordinary book--the accompanying volume to the PBS
series--looks at the history of slavery in the United States with an honesty
that reveals both horror and heroism in the common humanity of all Americans.
Uncovering the indigenous history of African slavery and the involvement of Arab
and European nations, it then traces the journey of enslaved Africans across the
"Middle Passage" of the Atlantic to the Caribbean and America. Charles
Johnson's spellbinding fictional narratives beautifully evoke the feeling of
times and places, such as the Haitian revolution or the plantation slave
society. In "The Transmission," two captives in the bottom of a slave
ship try to preserve their heritage. "Oboto quietly sang to his brother--in
a language their captors could not understand--how their people long ago had
navigated the New World ... on and on like a tapestry, Oboto unfurled their
past, rituals, and laws in songs and riddles..."
Poet/journalist Patricia Smith's historical anecdotes and references to legendary African American heroes (including Olaudah Equiano, Harriet Tubman, and Frederick Douglass), juxtaposed with rare documents, letters, slave advertisements, slave-ship cargo diagrams, and paintings, provide evidence of the African American fight for freedom, from the black soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary War to the Underground Railroad to the return to combat in the Civil War. When emancipation finally came, Smith writes, "the newly liberated slaves sang for themselves, for their new country, and for the thousands upon thousands of Africans ripped from the clutches of home." --Eugene Holley Jr.
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Boo! Culture, Experience, and the Startle Reflex (Series in Affective Science)
By Ronald C. Simons
Hardcover
Oxford University Press, Aug. 1996
ISBN: 0195096266
|Table of Contents
I. STARTLE AND HYPERSTARTLE
1. Introduction
2. Startle as a Personal Experience and as a Social Resource
3. Making People Jumpy: Tom Sawyer and Huck
Finn Create a Hyperstartler
4. Variations on a Theme: Being Startled
Makes One
5. The Startle Museum I: Exhibits of Startle Sorted by Their Expository Uses
6. The Startle Museum II: Exhibits of Startle Sorted by Properties of Startle
Events
II. LATAH AND OTHER STARTLE-MATCHING SYNDROMES
7. Attention Capture and the Startle-Matching Syndromes
8. Latah: The Paradigmatic Startle-Matching Syndrome
9. Explaining Latah: The Importance of
Descriptive Detail
10. The Startle-Matching Syndrome in Other
Cultures
11. Culture, Biology, and Individual Experience
APPENDIX
List of Topics Discussed with Latahs
List of Topics Discussed with Malaysian
non-Latah Informants
Latah Stories Reporting Form
Script of the Film Latah: A Culture-Specific Elaboration of the Startle Reflex
INDEX
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Brain Maturation and Cognitive Development: Comparative and Cross-Cultural Perspectives (Foundations of Human Behavior)
By Kathleen Gibson & Anne C. Petersen (Editor)
Hardcover
Walter De Gruyter, Mar. 91
ISBN: 0202011879
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Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language
By Robin I. M. Dunbar
Hardcover
ISBN: 0674363345
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Why is it that among all the primates, only humans have language?
According to Professor Robin Dunbar's new book, Grooming, Gossip, and the
Evolution of Language, humans gossip because we don't groom each other.
Dunbar builds his argument in a lively discussion that touches on such varied
topics as the behavior of gelada baboons, Darwin's theory of evolution,
computer-generated poetry, and the significance of brain size. He begins with
the social organization of the great apes. These animals live in small groups
and maintain social cohesion through almost constant grooming activities.
Grooming is a way to forge alliances, establish hierarchy, offer comfort, or
make apology. Once a population expands beyond a certain number, however, it
becomes impossible for each member to maintain constant physical contact with
every other member of the group. Considering the large groups in which human
beings have found it necessary to live, Dunbar posits that we developed language
as a substitute for physical intimacy.
Whether or not you accept Dunbar's premise, his book is worth reading, if only for its animated prose and wealth of scientific information. An obvious choice for science buffs, Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language is a wonderful book for anyone with an inquiring mind and an interest in what makes the world go round
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Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust
By Daniel Goldhagen
Paperback
Vintage Books, Feb. 1997
ISBN: 0679772685
In a work that is as authoritative as it is explosive, Goldhagen forces us to
revisit and reconsider our understanding of the Holocaust and its perpetrators,
demanding a fundamental revision in our thinking of the years between 1933-1945.
Drawing principally on materials either unexplored or neglected by previous
scholars, Goldhagen marshals new, disquieting primary evidence that explains
why, when Hitler conceived of the "final solution" he was able to
enlist vast numbers of willing Germans to carry it out. A book sure to provoke
new discussion and intense debate. --This text refers to the hardcover edition
of this title
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Everyday Irrationality : How Pseudo-Scientists,
Lunatics, and the Rest of Us Systematically Fail to Think Rationally
by Robyn M. Dawes
Hardcover - 192 pages (March
2001)
Westview Pr (Trd); ISBN:
081336552X ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.70 x 9.25 x 6.61
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Human Nature: A Critical Reader
By Laura Betzig (Editor)
Paperback
Oxford University Press, Oct. 1966
ISBN: 019509865X
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The Lucifer Principle
By Howard K. Bloom
Paperback
Atlantic Monthy Press, Feb. 1997
ISBN: 0871136643
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The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out The Way They Do
by Judith Rich Harris
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Whether it's musical talent, criminal tendencies, or fashion sense, we humans
want to know why we have it or why we don't. What makes us the way we are? Maybe it's in
our genes, maybe it's how we were raised, maybe it's a little of both--in any case, Mom
and Dad usually receive both the credit and the blame. But not so fast, says developmental
psychology writer Judith Rich Harris. While it has been shown that genetics is only partly
responsible for behavior, it is also true, Harris asserts, that parents play a very minor
role in mental and emotional development. The Nurture Assumption explores the
mountain of evidence pointing away from parents and toward peer groups as the strongest
environmental influence on personality development. Rather than leaping into the nature
vs. nurture fray, Harris instead posits nurture (parental) vs. nurture (peer group), and
in her view your kid's friends win, hands down. This idea, difficult as it may be to
accept, is supported by the countless studies Harris cites in her breezy, charming prose.
She is upset about the blame laid on parents of troubled children and has much to say
(mostly negative) about "professional parental advice-givers." Her own advice
may be summarized as "guide your child's peer-group choices wisely," but the aim
of the book is less to offer guidance than to tear off cultural blinders. Harris's ideas
are so thought-provoking, challenging, and potentially controversial that anyone concerned
with parenting issues will find The Nurture Assumption refreshing, important, and
possibly life-changing. --Rob Lightner
Hardcover
Free Press, Sept. 1998
ISBN: 0684844095
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Reason and Decision
By Michael Bradie (Editor)
Hardcover
Bowling Green State University Press
ISBN: 0935756043
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The Neurotransmitter Revolution: Serotonin, Social Behavior, and the Law
By Roger D. Masters & Michael T. McGuire (Editor)
Paperback
Souther Illinois University Press (txt), Jan.
1994
ISBN: 0809318016
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