Evolution category: 1570 books

There have been many books, movies, and even TV commercials featuring Neandertals--some serious, some comical. But what was it really like to be a Neandertal? How were their lives similar to or different from ours? In How to Think Like a Neandertal, archaeologist Thomas Wynn and psychologist Frederick...

How language evolved has been called "the hardest problem in science." In Adam's Tongue, Derek Bickerton—long a leading authority in this field—shows how and why previous attempts to solve that problem have fallen short. Taking cues from topics as diverse as the foraging strategies of...

The human race developed from a complex background. Different types of Homo evolved depending on the area that they lived in. Neanderthals developed in the hotter climates of earth and are adapted best for this climate, and other Homos are best suited for the places they are found the most. After...

So much to read, so little time? This brief overview of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind tells you what you need to know—before or after you read Yuval Noah Harari’s book. Crafted and edited with care, Worth Books set the standard for quality and give you the tools you need to be a...

For all that science knows about the living world, notes David P. Barash, there are even more things that we don't know, genuine evolutionary mysteries that perplex the best minds in biology. Paradoxically, many of these mysteries are very close to home, involving some of the most personal aspects...

How Humans Evolve from Insignificant Apes to Become the Rulers of the World The must-read summary of “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind,” by Yuval Noah Harari. In Sapiens, Professor Yuval Noah Harari focuses on the three great revolutions of human history: Cognitive, Agricultural,...

Provides a manifesto for activists in education and conservation—as Wilson and Hass explain how the close observation of nature, which is central to both poetry and science, can rouse the conservationist in all of us, the conversation becomes a powerful treatise on the necessity of achieving consilience...

Human beings have long seen themselves as the center of the universe, the apple of God's eye, specially-created creatures who are somehow above and beyond the natural world. This viewpoint--a persistent paradigm of our own unique self-importance--is as dangerous as it is false. In Through a Glass...

New York Times Editors' Choice 2017 Forbes Top 10 Best Environment, Climate, and Conservation Book of 2017 As new groundbreaking research suggests that climate change played a major role in the most extreme catastrophes in the planet's history, award-winning science journalist Peter...

**       我們為什麼會有犧牲、信任、分享這些利他無私的行為，卻同時也存在背叛和欺騙？ 　　文化、宗教、藝術，這些我們向來視之為人類文明之精華，究竟是社會性的積累、還是生物性的產物？ 　　由此思考，我們是否能對人類行為有更不一樣的理解與詮釋？** 　　人類對自己在生物圈中的角色一直非常困惑、也非常矛盾。動物界、脊索動物門、哺乳綱、靈長目、人科、人屬、智人種，由人猿／古猿演化而來；人類跟所有生物一樣，有一個「生物學」上的分類系統可供棲身。但人類也自詡有所謂的「文明」，社會性的積累讓「人」有別於一般生物。 　　生物學家愛德華・威爾森試圖從演化角度解答這個問題。他在本書中提出「真社會性」的概念，不只挑戰過去半世紀用以解釋動物利他行為的「自私基因」理論，也試圖為人類的文化及社會行為，給出一個生物學上的說法。 　　威爾森認為天擇篩選的是群體，因此具有合作特質的真社會性群體擁有演化上的優勢。而真社會性的形成有幾個重要演化步驟：一、形成群體；二、建立永久且具備防禦功能的巢穴，並留在巢中共同生活；三、強化個體間合作，並出現階級性的分工；四、天擇對群體的篩選會進一步改變該物種的生活史和社會結構，因而產生複雜的超生物。 　　人類這個群體因真社會性具有演化的優勢，但也因群體過於複雜，導致群體中的成員仍須為了生存，彼此競爭，產生自私利己的行為。利他與自私這兩種矛盾的本性，造就了人類複雜的社會行為與文化積累。 　　我們無法從外星人的尺度對人類進行觀察，於是威爾森以螞蟻、蜜蜂等昆蟲的觀察為引，從中延伸描述人類的生物性與特殊性，兼納人類學和腦神經科學的研究成果，試圖重新解釋我們慣常以文化解釋的社會行為，並重新看待所謂人類的本性、人類的起源，與未來。 　　+++ 　　某些論述者認為，農業是「人類世」（Anthropocene）開始的證據以及與先前地質年代的最大差別。而我特別閱讀到的部分，卻是關於演化與生態共同形成壓力的思考：真社會性生物都會建造「可以永久使用且有防禦功能的巢穴」，但這個巢穴以及相鄰的環境所需要供給的環境資源，在人類與螞蟻的操作方式上卻有相當大的不同。人類為何越過與其他物種或者環境資源的合作模式，變成改變地表形態最主要的動力？這在本書的閱讀過程當中，似乎也可以得到一些啟示。——李宜澤，本書讀後記 好評推薦 　　宗教也好、運動也好、戰爭也好。生物學家威爾森說，驅動我們加入群體並且為了群體奮鬥的力量，讓我們成為人類。──《新聞周刊》 　　威爾森出色地把這些證據集合在一起，加以分析。在這本書中，可以看到他結合各領域知識的研究方式、豐富的學問，以及探討敏感話題的意願。他對這個主題的看法多采多姿、充滿創意，並能激盪思維，就如同他其他的著作一樣。──The...

破解基因，是人類最偉大的冒險，還是最危險的浩劫？ 當人類取代上帝，打造完美基因、根除致命因子， 《X戰警》、《惡靈古堡》的時代已經來臨！ 電影《羅根》取材自他的研究， 「金鋼狼」休‧傑克曼盛讚：「本書超吸引人！」 人類從何而來？該往何處而去？ 普立茲獎得主、紐約時報暢銷書《萬病之王》作者辛達塔．穆克吉 以一本書貫穿基因千年來對人類的影響 ●...

**• A New York Times Notable Book • “The richest, freshest, most fun book on genetics in some time.” —The New York Times Book Review** We are doomed to repeat history if we fail to learn from it, but how are we affected by the forces that are invisible to us? In The Invisible...

Ten thousand years ago, our species made a radical shift in its way of life: We became farmers rather than hunter-gatherers. Although this decision propelled us into the modern world, renowned geneticist and anthropologist Spencer Wells demonstrates that such a dramatic change in lifestyle had a downside...

Where did we come from? Where are we going? Homo sapiens is the most successful, the most widespread and the most influential species ever to walk the Earth. In the blink of an evolutionary eye we have spread around the globe, taken control of Earth's biological and mineral resources, transformed...