HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Human Natures: Genes, Cultures, and the…
Loading...

Human Natures: Genes, Cultures, and the Human Prospect (edition 2000)

by Paul R. Ehrlich

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
351372,999 (3.41)1
The Bell Curve, The Moral Animal, The Selfish Gene - these and a host of other books and articles have made a seemingly overwhelming case that our genes determine our behaviour. Now, a leading evolutionary biologist shows why most of those claims of genetic destiny cannot be true, and explains how the aguments often stem from a fundamental misunderstanding of evolution itself.… (more)
Member:virtualcto
Title:Human Natures: Genes, Cultures, and the Human Prospect
Authors:Paul R. Ehrlich
Info:Island Press (2000), Edition: 1, Hardcover, 576 pages
Collections:Library to Read
Rating:
Tags:None

Work Information

Human Natures: Genes, Cultures, and the Human Prospect by Paul R. Ehrlich

None
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 1 mention

Showing 2 of 2
One of the odder things about me is that I used to believe that dinosaurs still roamed the earth.

As in RIGHT NOW. And that there was a vast scientific conspiracy to keep this irrefutable fact under wraps.

This belief was essentially the outcome of two factors in my childhood/adolescence: 1) I was an extremely fundamentalist Christian. 2) I also had a burning interest in science. I wanted to know why things were the way they were.

These two factors aren't really mutually exclusive. In fact, I came upon many people in my congregation, and in similar congregations, who also nurtured an interest in science. A popular activity at church campouts were astronomy courses. Biology -- minus evolution, of course -- was a popular major choice among my churchgoing friends.

But, the fact is that "mainstream" or "secular" science doesn't really jibe with the literalist Christian worldview: astronomists eventually must deal with the Big Bang and biologists inevitably bump into Darwin.

Enter the various science workshops for fundamentalists, aimed at addressing those issues in a way that fits in with a literal-Biblical worldview. It was in one of these workshops that a "respected" scientist explained away dinosaur fossils and carbon-dating by telling us that there was scientific proof that dinosaurs still existed. In Sri Lanka.

By my sophomore year in college, though, I began to have doubts about my worldview. I was reading more than Christian fiction. I was taking biology courses from professors who were unapologetic about evolution -- unlike the biology teachers in high school, whose teachings on the subject were regulated. I couldn't study an "alternate" form of species biology any longer, and brought face to face with Darwin, I was finally convinced.

So began my fascination with evolution in general and human evolution in particular. I've become quite a connoisseur of the genre. Paul Ehrlich's Human Natures: Genes, Cultures & The Human Prospect is so far my favorite book on this topic.

Ehrlich's book covers the standard genetic evolution of our species, but he does so while simultaneously examining our "cultural evolution": the distinctly human behaviors that also have affected our current biological and behavioral selves.

The result is a book that tells us humanity is not the sum result of its genes; instead, the decisions we make about how we relate to one another, how we organize ourselves, and how we go about living our lives have much more influence on the future of the species.

Ehrlich's book is very accessible for the novice scientist, without sacrificing hard facts and references. His interdisciplinary approach seems to me a far more accurate rendering of human nature than the many reductionist human evolution tomes out there -- and I've read and enjoyed plenty of those.

Ehrlich's theory is also so appealing for the optimistic view it has on humanity's future -- though we have made mistakes in the past, we are not beholden to these behaviors. We are not bound to pettiness, violence and waste because of unalterable genetics. Instead, we can make decisions to alter our future course.

Among the many human evolution primers out there, Ehrlich's narrative of humanity's journey is exceptionally written and researched, leaving the reader with the unshakable feeling that Ehrlich is certainly on to something. ( )
1 vote bookcrushblog | May 15, 2009 |
Showing 2 of 2
no reviews | add a review
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
Quotations
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (3)

The Bell Curve, The Moral Animal, The Selfish Gene - these and a host of other books and articles have made a seemingly overwhelming case that our genes determine our behaviour. Now, a leading evolutionary biologist shows why most of those claims of genetic destiny cannot be true, and explains how the aguments often stem from a fundamental misunderstanding of evolution itself.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.41)
0.5
1
1.5
2 5
2.5
3 8
3.5 1
4 11
4.5 2
5 1

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 203,187,790 books! | Top bar: Always visible