- Hardcover
- 378
- The Ape that Understood the Universe
- Steve Stewart-Williams
- en
- 17 February 2019
- 9781108425049
Steve Stewart-Williams Ä 6 Read & Download
Read The Ape that Understood the Universe Steve Stewart-Williams Ä 6 Read & Download The Ape that Understood the Universe review ê PDF, eBook or Kindle ePUB The Ape that Understood the Universe is the story of the strangest animal in the world the human animal It opens with a uestion How would an alien scientist view our species What would it make of our sex differences our sexual behavior our child rearing patterns our moral codes our religion The Ape That Understood the Universe the second book written by associate professor of psychology Steve Stewart Williams takes a look at evolutionary psychology and cultural evolutionary theory in an effort to explain how and why humans evolved Paying particular attention to the way the mind and culture evolve the author writes a witty and fascinating account of these topics Written in a casual conversational style this allows it to be accessible to those who have no scientific knowledge whatsoever Make no mistake this is a challenging read I learned a great deal and found myself totally engrossed from the first pageHowever some parts of the book ramble a bit and the author hammers home his points over and over again so it did get a little repetitive at times That said I particularly enjoyed the ruminations on the nature vs nurture debate which were thought provoking and Stewart Williams objectively assesses the current theories He backs up most of his claims with relevant surveys and research and arguments that are made are cogent but there were uite a few assumptions made by the author which was a little disappointing He does however manage to make a complex topic understandable and entertaining which puts this amongst the best non fiction I have read in uite a while There is a strong sense that Mr Stewart Williams knows his onions and due to my enjoyment I read this much uicker than most non fiction I pick up Well worth your time if it s a subject that interests youMany thanks to Cambridge University Press for an ARC
Download Ì PDF, eBook or Kindle ePUB Ä Steve Stewart-Williams
Read The Ape that Understood the Universe Steve Stewart-Williams Ä 6 Read & Download The Ape that Understood the Universe review ê PDF, eBook or Kindle ePUB S languages and science The book tackles these issues by drawing on ideas from two major schools of thought evolutionary psychology and cultural evolutionary theory The guiding assumption is that humans are animals and that like all animals we evolved to pass on our genes At some point howe Excellent combination of old and recent discoveries on the evolution of the human species not from the anthropological point of view but based on sociobiology gene s eye perspective and evolutionary psychology meme s eye perspective We learn how and why we have come to dominate our planet and how the inside genetic and outside social and cultural history of our evolution explains why we do what we do in everyday lifeThe author makes interesting instructive and amusing comparisons with the plant and animal world in general and with mammals in particular He sometimes presents things from an outside point of view the one that could have a visitor from another planet This helps us to understand what a strange beast is the human being1 The Alien s Challenge2 Darwin Comes to Mind3 The SeXX XY Animal4 The Dating Mating Baby Making Animal5 The Altruistic Animal6 The Cultural AnimalAppendix A How to Win an Argument with a Blank SlaterAppendix B How to Win an Argument with an Anti MemeticistThis is a very informative and accessible book that everybody should read It s better than The Naked Ape A Zoologist s Study of the Human Animal and a lot less depressing than The Selfish Gene books that the author uotes extensivelyThanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book
Read The Ape that Understood the Universe
Read The Ape that Understood the Universe Steve Stewart-Williams Ä 6 Read & Download The Ape that Understood the Universe review ê PDF, eBook or Kindle ePUB Ver we also evolved the capacity for culture and from that moment culture began evolving in its own right This transformed us from a mere ape into an ape capable of reshaping the planet travelling to other worlds and understanding the vast universe of which we're but a tiny fleeting fragmen I received a copy of this book from NetGalleyThat was interesting I always find myself on the fence when it comes to nature vs nurture to be honest because it can be presented in very deterministic ways in which I don t find my place anyway aka my instinct to pass on my genes is close to nil and I m definitely not a poster child for maternal behaviours So I was a little worried at first But I needn t be because while the author is definitely on the side of nature rather than nurture when it comes to uite a few behaviours the explanations make sense and are actually along the lines of the selfish gene which is uite different from survival of the fittest Basically it s not about passing on the traits that are useful to our survival It s passing on genes which means that if we survive long enough to do that those genes go on as part of global package suited for survival than not Subtle difference Like the peacock s tail In itself the tail s an impediment and definitely isn t what we d deem an attribute that promotes survival in the face of predators but having it sends a message that look I m so fit that I ve managed to survive so far in spite of my tail now let me make you babies Definitely interesting and something I haven t read much about recently so it was a nice change The beginning of the book where he imagines an alien scientist observing human beings was also a welcome shift in point of view if only because it was amusing and provided food for thought as wellSome points could spark controversy which is expected especially when it comes to differences between men and women That s the kind of thing I m usually on the fence about in fact whoever s non binary will probably find them controversial as well since from the beginning we don t fit the men vs women mould It s clearly best to approach this scientifically and not with any socio psychological approach in mind because a clash is bound to happen Still as mentioned previously it does make sense and I can t and won t say that nothing of that is true And in the end there are differences anyway We just have to remember that sex gender and that whatever occurred in nature doesn t mean that it s the ultimate law either which is a position that the author doesn t defend anyway so we re all good here If it was all men would be serial rapists and would keep murdering their male neighbours for looking a little too pretty for the women aroundOther parts of the book deal with altruistic behaviours culture and memes in other words what is passed socially and not genetically but following similar principles the memes that survive like language survive because one of their side effects is to be useful to the group while destructive memes such as becoming a martyr aren t too widespread due to people practicing them not leaving that many descendants to follow I had a bit trouble to follow the latter parts though because I had the feeling there was some redundancy hereConclusion Overall it was an instructive read while being also funny and easy to follow