A01=Peter J. Richerson
A01=Robert Boyd
academic
adapt
adaptation
adapting
Author_Peter J. Richerson
Author_Robert Boyd
behavior
behavioral
bipedal
Category=PSAJ
characteristics
cultural
darwin
darwinian
dominant
ecological
ecology
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eq_isMigrated=1
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eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_science
evolve
evolving
gene
genetics
habitat
humanity
humans
locomotion
mammal
natural
nature
psychology
research
scholarly
sociobiology
species
subsistence
theoretical
theory
tools
Product details
- ISBN 9780226712123
- Weight: 567g
- Dimensions: 17 x 23mm
- Publication Date: 01 Jun 2006
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Humans are a striking anomaly in the natural world. While we are similar to other mammals in many ways, our behavior sets us apart. Our unparalleled ability to adapt has allowed us to occupy virtually every habitat on earth, and our societies are larger, more complex, and more cooperative than any other mammal's. In "Not by Genes Alone", Peter J. Richerson and Robert Boyd argue that only a Darwinian theory of cultural evolution can explain these unique characteristics. "Not by Genes Alone" offers a radical interpretation of human evolution, arguing that our ecological dominance and our singular social systems stem from a psychology uniquely adapted to create complex culture. Richerson and Boyd consider culture to be essential to human adaptation, as much a part of human biology as bipedal locomotion. Drawing on work in the fields of anthropology, political science, sociology, and economics - and building their case with such fascinating examples as kayaks, clever knots, and yams that require twelve men to carry them - Richerson and Boyd convincingly demonstrate that culture and biology are inextricably linked.
In abandoning the nature-versus-nurture debate as fundamentally misconceived, "Not by Genes Alone" is a truly original and groundbreaking theory of the role of culture in evolution and a book to be reckoned with for generations to come.
Peter J. Richerson is professor of environmental science at the University of California, Davis. Robert Boyd is professor of anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles. Prolific authors and editors, they coauthored Culture and the Evolutionary Process, also published by the University of Chicago Press.
