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How Many Friends Does One Person Need?
Dunbar's Number and Other Evolutionary Quirks
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
Ideal for readers interested in evolutionary biology, psychology, and anthropology, as well as those curious about what shapes human social behaviour and relationships.
Why do men talk, women gossip, and which is better for you? When is it good to be tall and why is monogamy a drain on the brain? And why should you suspect someone who has more than 150 friends on Facebook?
How Many Friends Does One Person Need? by Robin Dunbar is a fascinating examination of human evolution, revealing why we gossip, how many Facebook friends we should have and how our distant past influences our current behaviour.
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Description
We are the product of our evolutionary history and this history colours our everyday lives from why we kiss to how religious we are. In How Many Friends Does One Person Need?, Robin Dunbar explains how the distant past underpins our current behaviour, through the groundbreaking experiments that have changed the thinking of evolutionary biologists forever.
He explains phenomena such as why ‘Dunbar's Number’ (150) is the maximum number of acquaintances you can have, why all babies are born premature, and the science behind lonely hearts columns. Stimulating, provocative and highly enjoyable, this fascinating book is essential for understanding why humans behave as they do — what it is to be human.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780571253432
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 03 February 2011
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Faber & Faber
Edition: Main
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 20.0mm
Width: 130.0mm
Height: 200.0mm
Weight: 215g
Pages: 320
About the Author
Robin Dunbar is currently Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at Oxford and a Fellow of Magdalen College. His principal research interest is the evolution of sociality. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1998. 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 most recent book, The Human Story, (2004), was described as 'fizzing with recent research and new theories' in the Sunday Times and 'punchy and provocative' by the New Scientist.
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