Numbers and the Making of U. Counting and the Course of Human Cultures

Everett, Caleb

ISBN 10: 0674504437 / ISBN 13: 9780674504431

Published by Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 2017

About this Item

viii + 297 pp.Ê dj.

Seller Inventory # 34352

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Numbers and the Making of U. Counting and the Course of Human Cultures
• Publisher: Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.
• Publication Date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674504437
• ISBN 13: 9780674504431
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: As new
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Book Type: book
• Seller catalogs:
  • Mathematics

About this title

Synopsis

Carved into our past, woven into our present, numbers shape our perceptions of the world and of ourselves much more than we commonly think. Numbers and the Making of Us is a sweeping account of how numbers radically enhanced our species cognitive capabilities and sparked a revolution in human culture. Caleb Everett brings new insights in psychology, anthropology, primatology, linguistics, and other disciplines to bear in explaining the myriad human behaviors and modes of thought numbers have made possible, from enabling us to conceptualize time in new ways to facilitating the development of writing, agriculture, and other advances of civilization.

Number concepts are a human invention a tool, much like the wheel, developed and refined over millennia. Numbers allow us to grasp quantities precisely, but they are not innate. Recent research confirms that most specific quantities are not perceived in the absence of a number system. In fact, without the use of numbers, we cannot precisely grasp quantities greater than three; our minds can only estimate beyond this surprisingly minuscule limit.

Everett examines the various types of numbers that have developed in different societies, showing how most number systems derived from anatomical factors such as the number of fingers on each hand. He details fascinating work with indigenous Amazonians who demonstrate that, unlike language, numbers are not a universal human endowment. Yet without numbers, the world as we know it would not exist.

"

About the Author

Caleb Everett is an Andrew Carnegie Fellow and Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Miami.