The Human Story - Hardcover

Robin Dunbar

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0571191339 ISBN 13: 9780571191338

Publisher: Faber & Faber, 2004

Synopsis

An account of the latest thinking on human evolution, by ?one of the most respected evolutionary psychologists in Britain?. For scientists studying evolution, the past decade has seen astonishing advances across many disciplines - discoveries which have revolutionised scientific thinking and turned upside down our understanding of who we are. The Human Story brings together these threads of research in genetics, behaviour and psychology to provide an understanding of just what it is that makes us human. Robin Dunbar looks in particular at how the human mind has evolved, and draws on his own research during the last five years into the deep psychological and biological bases of music and religion.

About this title

Review:

"'Fizzing with recent research and new theories.' Sunday Times A wonderfully readable, up-to-the-minute account of human evolution that has completely superseded The Naked Ape, by 'one of the most respected evolutionary psychologists in Britain.' Guardian 'Deserves its place at the high table [of popular science]... This important, accessible book also leaves us with a sobering message: we might be different, but that doesn't make us better.' Jack magazine 'Punchy and provocative... This isn't a book of facts and figures; it is one of ideas. Dunbar certainly delivers, whether it is about why we have religion, how evolving language went through a musical phase, or how we avoid having sex with people by making them laugh.' New Scientist 'Should be required reading for all humans' Herald"

About the Author:

Robin Dunbar is Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Liverpool and has held fellowships at the Universities of Cambridge and Stockholm. He has been praised for 'writing that is dizzyingly multi-disciplinary but shows great generosity to the ordinary reader' (Guardian). His books include The Trouble with Science (1995), 'an eloquent riposte to the anti-science lobby' (Sunday Times), and Grooming, Gossip and the Evolution of Language, praised as 'brilliantly original' and 'a delight to read' (Focus).His main research interests are the evolution of the mind, and the social systems of human and non-human primates; he has carried out field studies of monkeys and antelope in East and West Africa, and of wild goats in Scotland. In June 2003 he led a team of academics which won the largest single grant ever awarded by the British Academy, to research what it means to be human.

About this edition

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0571191339
• ISBN 13: 9780571191338
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224