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Thinking Big
How the Evolution of Social Life Shaped the Human Mind
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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?
From Stone Age networks to Digital Age networking, this book explores the ancient origins of our social lives today.
From Stone Age networks to Digital Age networking, this book explores the ancient origins of our social lives today.
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
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Description
When and how did the brains of our hominin ancestors become human minds? When and why did our capacity for language, art, music, and dance evolve?
It is the contention of this pathbreaking and provocative book that it was the need for early humans to live in ever-larger social groups, and to maintain social relations over ever-greater distancesβthe ability to 'think big'βthat drove the enlargement of the human brain and the development of the human mind.
This 'social brain hypothesis', put forward by evolutionary psychologists such as Robin Dunbar, one of the authors of this book, can be tested against archaeological and fossil evidence, as archaeologists Clive Gamble and John Gowlett show in the second part of Thinking Big.
Along the way, the three authors touch on subjects as diverse and diverting as the switch from finger-tip grooming to vocal grooming, or the crucial importance of making fire for the lengthening of the social day.
As this remarkable book shows, it seems we still inhabit social worlds that originated deep in our evolutionary pastβby the fireside, in the hunt, and on the grasslands of Africa.
Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
Thinking Big is highly praised for its engaging and thought-provoking exploration of human evolution. Reviews highlight its eloquent argumentation, collaboration, and clear writing. It is particularly commended for its fresh approach to archaeology and its significance in understanding early human societies.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780500293829
Publisher: Thames & Hudson Ltd
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 18 January 2018
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Thames & Hudson Ltd
Illustration: with 57 illustrations
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 130.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 240g
Pages: 240
About the Author
Clive Gamble is a British archaeologist and anthropologist, and Professor of Archaeology at Southampton University. He has been described as the 'UKβs foremost archaeologist investigating our earliest ancestors'. John Gowlett is Professor of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology at Liverpool University. He is involved in fieldwork in eastern and southern Africa. Robin Dunbar is a British anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist specialised in primate behaviour. He is currently head of the Social and Evolutionary Neuroscience Research Group in the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford. He is best known for formulating Dunbar's number, a measurement of the 'cognitive limit to the number of individuals with whom any one person can maintain stable relationships'.
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