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The Gap: The Science of What Separates Us from Other Animals
There exists an undeniable chasm between the capacities of humans and those of animals. Our minds have spawned civilizations and technologies that have changed the face of the Earth, whereas even our closest animal relatives sit unobtrusively in their dwindling habitats. Yet despite longstanding debates, the nature of this apparent gap has remained unclear. What exactly is the difference between our minds and theirs? In The Gap, psychologist Thomas Suddendorf provides a definitive account of the mental qualities that separate humans from other animals, as well as how these differences arose. Drawing on two decades of research on apes, children, and human evolution, he surveys the abilities most often cited as uniquely human -- language, intelligence, morality, culture, theory of mind, and mental time travel -- and finds that two traits account for most of the ways in which our minds appear so Namely, our open-ended ability to imagine and reflect on scenarios, and our insatiable drive to link our minds together. These two traits explain how our species was able to amplify qualities that we inherited in parallel with our animal counterparts; transforming animal communication into language, memory into mental time travel, sociality into mind reading, problem solving into abstract reasoning, traditions into culture, and empathy into morality. Suddendorf concludes with the provocative suggestion that our unrivalled status may be our own creation -- and that the gap is growing wider not so much because we are becoming smarter but because we are killing off our closest intelligent animal relatives. Weaving together the latest findings in animal behavior, child development, anthropology, psychology, and neuroscience, this book will change the way we think about our place in nature. A major argument for reconsidering what makes us human, The Gap is essential reading for anyone interested in our evolutionary origins and our relationship with the rest of the animal kingdom.
454 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 12, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
February 16, 2017
I have enjoyed reading this book, the book itself touches upon different themes that center around the uniqueness or lack of it of humanity, it attempts to pinpoint what is it that makes us so different from our closest ancestors (apes ) and why is there such a gap between the 2 species. In the attempt to explain the gap we are introduce to what the author believes it's the answer, culture , the ability to plan for the future, collective dissemination of knowledge and writing , this is the part that I liked the most , the book gives us examples that these traits are present also in our closest relatives (apes) but not to the extent that humans reach. For example animals have the ability to communicate but they haven't created an equivalent to language as humans did . It is the same with the sense of right and wrong and so forth. I highly recommend this book if you want an introduction to the subject of anthropology, biological anthropology, archaeology and evolutionary theory. All of those subjects are all subjects i love .
April 28, 2019
Some years ago I watched a Seinfeld intro where he imagined how an alien anthropologist observing humans walking their dogs might interpret the scene. Would the alien anthropologist mistakenly think the dogs are the superior species, given that humans follow them around cleaning their excrement up after them? Humourous though the observation was, it serves to illustrate one of the principle problems of psychology: there are limits to what you can infer by observing behaviour alone. There is an easy corrective for this where human beings are concerned. If I misinterpret your behaviour, you can verbally tell me that I have made a mistake. This option isn't available where animals are concerned, making it far easier to misinterpret their behaviour. It is this potential for misinterpreting the behaviour of animals that this book concerns itself with:
'Mind is a tricky concept. I think I know what a mind is because I have one – or because I am one. You might feel the same. But the minds of others are not directly observable. We assume that others have minds somewhat like ours – filled with beliefs and desires – but we can only infer these mental states. We cannot see, feel, or touch them. We largely rely on language to inform each other about what is on our minds. But even when someone says what is on his mind – that he is, say, sorry or happy – you might question whether or not he is telling the truth. Still, when verbal and behavioural indicators point in the same direction, we can generally be confident about another's mind.
Similarly, we can use behaviour to infer the minds of animals. In the absence of verbal self-reports, however, we may be less certain about what goes on in their minds, as they lack the ability to confirm our conclusions or set us straight. So people sometimes maintain opinions about animal minds that are in stark contrast to each other.'
In the field of animal psychology, these two camps are known colloquially as the romantics (those who ascribe complex, humanlike abilities to animals ) and the killjoys (those who do not). Rather than attempting to argue for one point of view or the other, the approach of this book is dialectical:
'Romantics challenge lean views by searching for evidence demonstrating rich competences in animals, and killjoys provide lean alternative explanations for claims about rich animal capacities. The hope is that with each of these battles we get a little bit closer to the truth.'
This book examines the major claims about six areas where human beings are deemed unique – language, foresight/mental time travel, theory of mind, intelligence/problem solving, culture, and morality – and considers if any parallels exist in the animal kingdom. Much of the evidence suggests that humans and some animals share a common factor but human beings have a more advanced version built atop of it. The shared features and the unique human feature are as follows:
1) animal communication > open-ended human language
2) memory > mental time travel
3) social cognition > theory of mind
4) problem solving > abstract reasoning
5) social traditions > cumulative culture
6) empathy > morality
With each particular topic, the author begins by examining what we know about humans, starting with the field of developmental psychology. He then goes on to examine what we know about the capacities of animals in the same domain. An additional chapter compares brain morphology. Why do gorillas have such large brains when they don't do much more than eat grass most of the day? It is speculated that the larger the brain of a given species is, the more complex the social relationships of that species. Humans, of course, have both the largest brains and the most complex social relationships.
In the end the author concludes that there are two things that set us apart that manifest in all six domains: imaginative capacities that allow us to envision alternate scenarios/futures/solutions and our ability to share these ideas with one another in order to work towards common goals. As he puts it: 'In all six domains we repeatedly find two major features that set us apart: our open-ended ability to imagine and reflect on different situations, and our deep-seated drive to link our scenario-building minds together.'
I enjoyed this book. The author has an accessible writing style that presents the material clearly and provides an interesting, thought provoking read. As is usually the case when I read books like this, despite the differences between humans and other animals, I also find myself amazed by just how advanced the capabilities of some species are.
'Mind is a tricky concept. I think I know what a mind is because I have one – or because I am one. You might feel the same. But the minds of others are not directly observable. We assume that others have minds somewhat like ours – filled with beliefs and desires – but we can only infer these mental states. We cannot see, feel, or touch them. We largely rely on language to inform each other about what is on our minds. But even when someone says what is on his mind – that he is, say, sorry or happy – you might question whether or not he is telling the truth. Still, when verbal and behavioural indicators point in the same direction, we can generally be confident about another's mind.
Similarly, we can use behaviour to infer the minds of animals. In the absence of verbal self-reports, however, we may be less certain about what goes on in their minds, as they lack the ability to confirm our conclusions or set us straight. So people sometimes maintain opinions about animal minds that are in stark contrast to each other.'
In the field of animal psychology, these two camps are known colloquially as the romantics (those who ascribe complex, humanlike abilities to animals ) and the killjoys (those who do not). Rather than attempting to argue for one point of view or the other, the approach of this book is dialectical:
'Romantics challenge lean views by searching for evidence demonstrating rich competences in animals, and killjoys provide lean alternative explanations for claims about rich animal capacities. The hope is that with each of these battles we get a little bit closer to the truth.'
This book examines the major claims about six areas where human beings are deemed unique – language, foresight/mental time travel, theory of mind, intelligence/problem solving, culture, and morality – and considers if any parallels exist in the animal kingdom. Much of the evidence suggests that humans and some animals share a common factor but human beings have a more advanced version built atop of it. The shared features and the unique human feature are as follows:
1) animal communication > open-ended human language
2) memory > mental time travel
3) social cognition > theory of mind
4) problem solving > abstract reasoning
5) social traditions > cumulative culture
6) empathy > morality
With each particular topic, the author begins by examining what we know about humans, starting with the field of developmental psychology. He then goes on to examine what we know about the capacities of animals in the same domain. An additional chapter compares brain morphology. Why do gorillas have such large brains when they don't do much more than eat grass most of the day? It is speculated that the larger the brain of a given species is, the more complex the social relationships of that species. Humans, of course, have both the largest brains and the most complex social relationships.
In the end the author concludes that there are two things that set us apart that manifest in all six domains: imaginative capacities that allow us to envision alternate scenarios/futures/solutions and our ability to share these ideas with one another in order to work towards common goals. As he puts it: 'In all six domains we repeatedly find two major features that set us apart: our open-ended ability to imagine and reflect on different situations, and our deep-seated drive to link our scenario-building minds together.'
I enjoyed this book. The author has an accessible writing style that presents the material clearly and provides an interesting, thought provoking read. As is usually the case when I read books like this, despite the differences between humans and other animals, I also find myself amazed by just how advanced the capabilities of some species are.
May 11, 2014
The Gap: The Science of What Separates Us From Other Animals by Thomas Suddendorf
The Gap is an excellent book about what separates human minds from non-human minds, and hence the gap. Psychologist Thomas Suddendorf has provided readers with interesting perspectives on human evolution. His balanced approach and great use of current scientific research leads to compelling arguments and a satisfying reading experience. This fascinating 370-page book includes the following twelve chapters: 1. The Last Humans, 2. Remaining Relatives, 3. Minds Comparing Minds, 4. Talking Apes, 5. Time Travelers, 6. Mind Readers, 7. Smarter Apes, 8. A New Heritage, 9. Right and Wrong, 10. Mind the Gap, 11. The Real Middle Earth, and 12. Quo Vadis?.
Positives:
1. Enjoyable, provocative, well-written science book suited for the masses.
2. The fascinating topic of human evolution in the capable hands of Thomas Suddendorf.
3. Suddendorf’s balanced and reasonable approach won me over. He always seems in control of his topic and never chews more than he can bite. He is fair and shares the best of our current knowledge while making clear what we do know versus what we don’t know. He is focused throughout the book on that gap that exists between human and animal minds.
4. Great use of charts and illustrations to complement the excellent narrative.
5. An excellent comparison between our brains and our remaining animal relatives. “Our brain comprises about 2 percent of our body mass but consumes some 25 percent of our energy.”
6. A great job of sharing scientific consensus. Once again, Suddendorf is very careful in sharing the strength and/or weakness of said scientific consensus. “One way to achieve an unbiased result is to have the experimenter unaware (“blind”) of what the desired response of the animal is.”
7. How species achieve similarities. “In general, species may share similar traits for two distinct reasons: convergent evolution (leading to analogous structures) and common descent (leading to homologous structures).”
8. Excellent descriptions of what makes our minds unique. Suddendorf focuses on six domains: language, foresight, mind reading, intelligence, culture, and morality.
9. A look at language and how we differ from our relatives. “On current evidence, it is fair to say neither in their natural communications, nor in our attempts at teaching them human linguistic systems, have animals provided evidence for a full-fledged language.”
10. A look at memory systems. “To imagine new events you need an open-ended system capable of combining old information into new scenarios. If mental time travel evolved for this purpose, then the price of this flexibility is that we may at times reconstruct past events creatively rather than faithfully—which explains some of the typical errors of episodic memory.”
11. I enjoyed a lot of the tidbits shared. “IF YOU LOOK STRAIGHT AT a rhesus monkey you might well be attacked. For primates, staring into another’s eyes is typically a threatening gesture. Therefore, primates largely avoid eye contact, and face-to-face interactions are surprisingly unusual.”
12. Excellent look at IQ testing. “A basic consensus in the IQ testing community is that intelligence involves the capacity to learn from experience, to adapt to the surrounding environment, and to reflect on one’s own performance.” Bonus, “On current evidence, then, reasoning by exclusion is not a uniquely human trait. Still, the difficulties most apes have with these simplest of inferences highlights substantial differences between humans and our closest relatives. It remains unclear what exactly the nature of their capacities are.”
13. Great quotes that capture the essence of some topics. “The primary difference between our species and all others is our reliance on cultural transmission of information and hence on cultural evolution. —DANIEL DENNETT”
14. I really enjoyed the chapter on morality. “A key factor facilitating the standardization of moral rules within and across groups in human history has been religion. In most societies, fundamental cooperative rules are absolute and unquestionable by virtue of being presented as divine commands. God, religions promise, will reward adherers and punish transgressors. In a sense this is the ultimate form of indirect reciprocity. Religion reduces the need for policing because believers are to some extent policing themselves through their conscience—to avoid divine, rather than secular, punishment. Of course, people can derive and follow a moral code without, or in spite of, these threats and promises.”
15. The two major features that set us apart. “In all six domains we repeatedly find two major features that set us apart: our open-ended ability to imagine and reflect on different situations, and our deep-seated drive to link our scenario-building minds together. It seems to be primarily these two attributes that carried our ancestors across the gap, turning animal communication into open-ended human language, memory into mental time travel, social cognition into theory of mind, problem solving into abstract reasoning, social traditions into cumulative culture, and empathy into morality.”
16. A look at our ancestors’ extraordinary journey.
17. Great use of converging science to make compelling arguments. “I HAVE REVIEWED HERE CURRENT evidence on the nature and origin of what makes us human. The data led me to propose that the peculiarity of the human mind primarily stands on two legs: our open-ended capacity to create nested mental scenarios and our deep-seated drive to connect to other scenario-building minds. These traits have had dramatic consequences for the way we communicate, our access to past and future, our understanding of and cooperation with others, and our intelligence, culture, and morality. We have managed to create a fast and efficient cultural inheritance system through which human groups have accumulated novel powers that ultimately allowed us to dominate much of the planet.”
18. The future of the gap. “It is time we established a more balanced view that acknowledges both the similarities and the differences between animals and humans. This may require letting go of some long-cherished notions of self-importance, but it should in no way diminish our sense of wonder about our peculiar existence. Know thyself.”
19. Excellent notes and references.
Negatives:
1. I would have included a more comprehensive table that summarized all our known evolutionary links and most noteworthy traits.
2. I would have also have included a discussion on hot-topic issues.
In summary, what an enjoyable and accessible book on human evolution this was. I commend Suddendorf for his wonderful approach and for illuminating readers on such a fascinating topic. He covers many topics with great command and succeeds to satisfaction in explaining the gap that exists between animal and human minds. Get this, I highly recommend it!
Further suggestions: “Why Evolution Is True” by Jerry Coyne, “Your Inner Fish…” by Neil Shubin, “The Making of the Fittest” by Sean B. Carroll, “What Evolution Is” by Ernst Mayr, “Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution” by Nick Lane and “The Greatest Show on Earth” by Richard Dawkins
The Gap is an excellent book about what separates human minds from non-human minds, and hence the gap. Psychologist Thomas Suddendorf has provided readers with interesting perspectives on human evolution. His balanced approach and great use of current scientific research leads to compelling arguments and a satisfying reading experience. This fascinating 370-page book includes the following twelve chapters: 1. The Last Humans, 2. Remaining Relatives, 3. Minds Comparing Minds, 4. Talking Apes, 5. Time Travelers, 6. Mind Readers, 7. Smarter Apes, 8. A New Heritage, 9. Right and Wrong, 10. Mind the Gap, 11. The Real Middle Earth, and 12. Quo Vadis?.
Positives:
1. Enjoyable, provocative, well-written science book suited for the masses.
2. The fascinating topic of human evolution in the capable hands of Thomas Suddendorf.
3. Suddendorf’s balanced and reasonable approach won me over. He always seems in control of his topic and never chews more than he can bite. He is fair and shares the best of our current knowledge while making clear what we do know versus what we don’t know. He is focused throughout the book on that gap that exists between human and animal minds.
4. Great use of charts and illustrations to complement the excellent narrative.
5. An excellent comparison between our brains and our remaining animal relatives. “Our brain comprises about 2 percent of our body mass but consumes some 25 percent of our energy.”
6. A great job of sharing scientific consensus. Once again, Suddendorf is very careful in sharing the strength and/or weakness of said scientific consensus. “One way to achieve an unbiased result is to have the experimenter unaware (“blind”) of what the desired response of the animal is.”
7. How species achieve similarities. “In general, species may share similar traits for two distinct reasons: convergent evolution (leading to analogous structures) and common descent (leading to homologous structures).”
8. Excellent descriptions of what makes our minds unique. Suddendorf focuses on six domains: language, foresight, mind reading, intelligence, culture, and morality.
9. A look at language and how we differ from our relatives. “On current evidence, it is fair to say neither in their natural communications, nor in our attempts at teaching them human linguistic systems, have animals provided evidence for a full-fledged language.”
10. A look at memory systems. “To imagine new events you need an open-ended system capable of combining old information into new scenarios. If mental time travel evolved for this purpose, then the price of this flexibility is that we may at times reconstruct past events creatively rather than faithfully—which explains some of the typical errors of episodic memory.”
11. I enjoyed a lot of the tidbits shared. “IF YOU LOOK STRAIGHT AT a rhesus monkey you might well be attacked. For primates, staring into another’s eyes is typically a threatening gesture. Therefore, primates largely avoid eye contact, and face-to-face interactions are surprisingly unusual.”
12. Excellent look at IQ testing. “A basic consensus in the IQ testing community is that intelligence involves the capacity to learn from experience, to adapt to the surrounding environment, and to reflect on one’s own performance.” Bonus, “On current evidence, then, reasoning by exclusion is not a uniquely human trait. Still, the difficulties most apes have with these simplest of inferences highlights substantial differences between humans and our closest relatives. It remains unclear what exactly the nature of their capacities are.”
13. Great quotes that capture the essence of some topics. “The primary difference between our species and all others is our reliance on cultural transmission of information and hence on cultural evolution. —DANIEL DENNETT”
14. I really enjoyed the chapter on morality. “A key factor facilitating the standardization of moral rules within and across groups in human history has been religion. In most societies, fundamental cooperative rules are absolute and unquestionable by virtue of being presented as divine commands. God, religions promise, will reward adherers and punish transgressors. In a sense this is the ultimate form of indirect reciprocity. Religion reduces the need for policing because believers are to some extent policing themselves through their conscience—to avoid divine, rather than secular, punishment. Of course, people can derive and follow a moral code without, or in spite of, these threats and promises.”
15. The two major features that set us apart. “In all six domains we repeatedly find two major features that set us apart: our open-ended ability to imagine and reflect on different situations, and our deep-seated drive to link our scenario-building minds together. It seems to be primarily these two attributes that carried our ancestors across the gap, turning animal communication into open-ended human language, memory into mental time travel, social cognition into theory of mind, problem solving into abstract reasoning, social traditions into cumulative culture, and empathy into morality.”
16. A look at our ancestors’ extraordinary journey.
17. Great use of converging science to make compelling arguments. “I HAVE REVIEWED HERE CURRENT evidence on the nature and origin of what makes us human. The data led me to propose that the peculiarity of the human mind primarily stands on two legs: our open-ended capacity to create nested mental scenarios and our deep-seated drive to connect to other scenario-building minds. These traits have had dramatic consequences for the way we communicate, our access to past and future, our understanding of and cooperation with others, and our intelligence, culture, and morality. We have managed to create a fast and efficient cultural inheritance system through which human groups have accumulated novel powers that ultimately allowed us to dominate much of the planet.”
18. The future of the gap. “It is time we established a more balanced view that acknowledges both the similarities and the differences between animals and humans. This may require letting go of some long-cherished notions of self-importance, but it should in no way diminish our sense of wonder about our peculiar existence. Know thyself.”
19. Excellent notes and references.
Negatives:
1. I would have included a more comprehensive table that summarized all our known evolutionary links and most noteworthy traits.
2. I would have also have included a discussion on hot-topic issues.
In summary, what an enjoyable and accessible book on human evolution this was. I commend Suddendorf for his wonderful approach and for illuminating readers on such a fascinating topic. He covers many topics with great command and succeeds to satisfaction in explaining the gap that exists between animal and human minds. Get this, I highly recommend it!
Further suggestions: “Why Evolution Is True” by Jerry Coyne, “Your Inner Fish…” by Neil Shubin, “The Making of the Fittest” by Sean B. Carroll, “What Evolution Is” by Ernst Mayr, “Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution” by Nick Lane and “The Greatest Show on Earth” by Richard Dawkins
February 12, 2017
The mental capacities of humans are obviously greater than those of nonhuman animals, even the ones most closely related to humans: chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. Humans have language; the nonhuman animals have nothing like it. Humans can think recursively (the Russian word for salad can also mean lettuce, and there is a geeky Russian joke about recursive salad made of tomatoes, cucumbers and salad); there is no evidence that any nonhuman animal can. Humans can imagine the future and remember the past; the nonhuman animals either cannot do it at all, or can barely do it. A herd of buffalo has nothing to fear from sated lions; they should fear sated human hunters, who can imagine being hungry in the future. Humans tell stories, teach and learn; the nonhuman animals generally don't. Humans have much more sophisticated morality than the nonhuman animals. Why the gap? Because there used to be many hominids much more closely related to humans than the living great apes, but not anymore. 100,000 years ago there were Homo erectus, Neandertals, Denisovans, Flores hominids alive. If they had survived till today, human science would have a much better idea of where human uniqueness is coming from. In fact, Harry Turtledove wrote an alternative history fixup where, upon discovering America, the Europeans find it inhabited not by the the Native Americans but by Homo erectus; unsurprisingly, evolutionary biology develops two centuries earlier. In our timeline, all we can lean upon is fossils and stone tools. If, however, the great apes become extinct in this century, we will have even less to lean upon than now, and the gap will be even greater.
May 25, 2020
'The Gap' is the reading for Suddendorf's 'An Evolutionary Approach to Human Behaviour' course at UQ, in which I am an avid student. To keep in time with the lectures (each mirroring a chapter from the book) I read this in a protracted way over 12 weeks, cross-referencing with the other material and taking copious notes. Sure, I may be terribly biased when I say this, but 'The Gap' is an excellent overview of evolutionary psychology, meeting half-way between the killjoy and romantic perspectives to present the facts and balanced, logical analyses. Particularly, his personal work in primatology presents myriad experiments and anecdotes that really support the various arguments.
Although it doesn't quite make it to my favourites list, if it hadn't been a part of my course, I would have read this anyway. I recommend this to anyone starting their journey into evol psych and, if you happen to attend UQ by any chance, would recommend the course, too.
Although it doesn't quite make it to my favourites list, if it hadn't been a part of my course, I would have read this anyway. I recommend this to anyone starting their journey into evol psych and, if you happen to attend UQ by any chance, would recommend the course, too.
January 15, 2020
When I started reading this book, it felt like something was missing. There was a lot of information, all very interesting, but it came a cross as a bit of a boring overview of all scientific results related to how good certain animals are at performing human tasks, pointing out that different interpretations exist and never choosing a side.
This all changed around the middle of the book, and I was happily surprised to find a totally different tone in the chapter about ethics.
During the elaborate overview of the currently known science, some patterns began to emerge, and by the end of the book, there it was: a provocative but very well founded theory about which two main features separate humans from animals.
By the time I finished the book, I loved it, and it was thought provoking in such a way that I feel I still carry it with me now, quite some time after finishing the book.
This all changed around the middle of the book, and I was happily surprised to find a totally different tone in the chapter about ethics.
During the elaborate overview of the currently known science, some patterns began to emerge, and by the end of the book, there it was: a provocative but very well founded theory about which two main features separate humans from animals.
By the time I finished the book, I loved it, and it was thought provoking in such a way that I feel I still carry it with me now, quite some time after finishing the book.
August 27, 2025
A long read for me cause I took a break, read something else and then came back into it. Really great book man that gave me much knowledge on this subject of what truly makes us humans and what differs us from our relatives (the apes). Chapter 11 was crazy diving into all our ancestors but every chapter was awesome and served a beautiful purpose and letting us know the truth. He did a great job also showing how Apes have most things we have but just not to the extent that we have mastered it. A book I hope to revisit later in life. Woowwwwwwwwwwww
December 27, 2018
"The science of what separates us from other animals"
There's really not much to add to that. Well written with copious references and just enough humour to keep it interesting without getting goofy. Highly recommended. =)
P.S. it's easy enough to read and I'm usually a fast reader but RL kept getting the way; hence the long read time. A good reader could probably knock this over in a few weeks at a leisurely pace. ;-)
There's really not much to add to that. Well written with copious references and just enough humour to keep it interesting without getting goofy. Highly recommended. =)
P.S. it's easy enough to read and I'm usually a fast reader but RL kept getting the way; hence the long read time. A good reader could probably knock this over in a few weeks at a leisurely pace. ;-)
February 4, 2018
A good book about the gap — and not much more than that; what was especially interesting for me is that it's written by a German living in Australia who speaks at length about his experiences with the English language and his relatives back in Germany and the rest — but for the rest, Ilya Vinarsky has already written a beautiful review.
August 17, 2022
A highly entertaining and informative work, Suddendorf provides a well balanced account of the human mind and what makes us different to other animals living on this planet.
It's bound to upset some, as he does not give in to the daydreaming misconceptions of people who believe non-humans are simply humans in different skins.
A timely work I wish I'd discovered earlier.
It's bound to upset some, as he does not give in to the daydreaming misconceptions of people who believe non-humans are simply humans in different skins.
A timely work I wish I'd discovered earlier.
October 16, 2018
Excellent book. I had the privilege of taking a class on Evolution and Psychology taught by Dr. Suddendorf, and it was amazing. Definitely worth reading for anyone interested in the origins of the human species, and for those curious about what separates us psychologically from non-human animals.
December 11, 2024
This book easily lays out some complex studies that dive into human psychology and what separates us from our closest relatives. I have used it as a resource as a teacher and reference back to it frequently in my lessons about human evolution.
July 7, 2017
A rather well written and interesting book about a fascinating topic.
June 2, 2018
I only got about 1/4 of the way through this. There was nothing wrong with it, but it did not hold my interest strongly enough to read the whole thing.
August 5, 2018
This an accessible summary of the science as we know it now, but the writing style comes off a little too glib and/or flippant for me.
February 16, 2019
Amazing.
September 16, 2020
I found this book very interesting, very readable and easy to engage with.
June 24, 2021
Overall, it's well done. Suddendorf's argument is incredibly well organized with matter-of-fact comparisons. He walks a fine line between being too skeptical and not skeptical enough.
January 11, 2014
My kind of book. The science was very accessible in Suddendorf's hands, and I appreciated his insertion of human behavior stories featuring his young son and daughter to round out what we learn from research about the relative performance of animal and human minds. The book is not just provocative, but explained--at least as much as these things can be explained based on current knowledge. I would enjoy reading it again.
The deep-dive into human evolution brought to mind fictional Clan of the Cave Bear, which was so surprising 30+ years ago in its suggestion that Neanderthals and more advanced humans lived at the same time and intermingled. DNA testing now shows that there's a little Neanderthal in many of us! A favorite passage near the end:
"Has the evolution of our minds stopped? On a moment's reflection this scenario seems rather unlikely, and even reeks of arrogance, as it seems to imply that we are the final product--the height and end point of evolutionary achievement. I find it difficult to believe that after four billion years of life forms changing on the planet, it all comes down to the perfection that is you and me."
Right.
The deep-dive into human evolution brought to mind fictional Clan of the Cave Bear, which was so surprising 30+ years ago in its suggestion that Neanderthals and more advanced humans lived at the same time and intermingled. DNA testing now shows that there's a little Neanderthal in many of us! A favorite passage near the end:
"Has the evolution of our minds stopped? On a moment's reflection this scenario seems rather unlikely, and even reeks of arrogance, as it seems to imply that we are the final product--the height and end point of evolutionary achievement. I find it difficult to believe that after four billion years of life forms changing on the planet, it all comes down to the perfection that is you and me."
Right.
June 27, 2014
I read this book wearing two hats - as editor of this year's "Best Australian Science Writing" and as the imminent moderator of a conversation between its author, Thomas Suddendorf, and the Canadian writer Lawrence Hill at this year's Sydney Writers' Festival (details of that event here: http://www.swf.org.au/component/optio...).
(You can see a recording of this session on the ABC at the moment: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/bigideas/sto...)
Suddendorf's book is one of those great combinations of an engaging voice and a world of rigorous research - and any novelist (or reader) is going to respond to his sense of the primacy of mental time travel, and narratives shared, as integral to what makes us human.
Robyn Williams gave the book a great review in a recent issue of the Australian Book Review, if you're interested in reading more about it, and you can also hear Suddendorf on ABC/RN's "Ockham's Razor", downloadable here: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/p...
(You can see a recording of this session on the ABC at the moment: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/bigideas/sto...)
Suddendorf's book is one of those great combinations of an engaging voice and a world of rigorous research - and any novelist (or reader) is going to respond to his sense of the primacy of mental time travel, and narratives shared, as integral to what makes us human.
Robyn Williams gave the book a great review in a recent issue of the Australian Book Review, if you're interested in reading more about it, and you can also hear Suddendorf on ABC/RN's "Ockham's Razor", downloadable here: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/p...
July 19, 2019
Once I was thinking about evolution and humans as a branch of species on evolution tree. Then I realized that there is a big question in my mind which needs an answer immediately.
"Why there is no any other animal species with a comparable intelligency to the humans?"
"Why is there a huge gap between humans and the other most intelligent animal?"
These are the questions mostly make people to consider themselves as they're not animal but higher beings.
Well this is not my way of thinking and I googled my question as the first thing to do.
Here it is, a very best answer to my question, "The Gap", which is easy and fun to read and understand. Presents a very good example for a way of scientific thinking.
Thanks to Thomas Suddendorf I am very inspired to search and read more about the subject.
"Why there is no any other animal species with a comparable intelligency to the humans?"
"Why is there a huge gap between humans and the other most intelligent animal?"
These are the questions mostly make people to consider themselves as they're not animal but higher beings.
Well this is not my way of thinking and I googled my question as the first thing to do.
Here it is, a very best answer to my question, "The Gap", which is easy and fun to read and understand. Presents a very good example for a way of scientific thinking.
Thanks to Thomas Suddendorf I am very inspired to search and read more about the subject.
December 30, 2013
Carefully maps the differences between humans and non-humans, using extensive examples from child psychology, non-human primate studies, and additional animal cognition research. Suddendorf's style is clear and approachable, and the book is up to date with materials and findings as recent as 2012, e.g., the Denisovan and Neanderthal DNA results from Svante Paabo's work at the Max Planck Institute.
Well worth reading if you are interesting in human cognition, non-human cognition, human development, anthropology, developmental psychology, or brain science.
Well worth reading if you are interesting in human cognition, non-human cognition, human development, anthropology, developmental psychology, or brain science.
November 15, 2015
What sets humanity apart from the other animals of the earth? Is it our ability to communicate so that knowledge can build on knowledge? Is it our spoken language and its offshoot writing, which enables us to record our experiences, discoveries and memories for the next generation? Is it our ability to fashion complex tools to master our environment? Self-awareness? The ability to make complex moral choices? This book whose author is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Queensland - examines what makes human minds different from those of other animals, and how this difference arose.
Excellent, thought provoking read.
Excellent, thought provoking read.
June 18, 2014
This is a very well written book. The author takes a lot of technical information and excellently explains it for an educated lay audience. The main thesis is fascinating. The gap in intelligence between humans and other animals can be explained by the fact that the species making up the relatively bushy hominin tree are now extinct, some no doubt because of us. The result is that the gap in intelligence is an artifact of history, not a case of divine spark.
November 3, 2014
3.5 stars. Read for D. Hammer's ANTH-022 Humans as Primates course, along with Robert Sapolsky's "A Primate's Memoir." It was better written (IMHO) than several other popular press texts we'd been assigned in other courses, and because it was so recently published it was less dated than many others. I especially enjoyed the last third, particularly the last two chapters where Suddendorf speculates about the future a bit.
September 28, 2015
We are different because we can formulate recursive and nested scenarios and communicate comprehensively with each other. Our cognition is open-ended and generative. Our problem solving skills are second to none. We alone have developed meta-cognition and meta-ethics. Crucially we have developed culture. The author provides ample and well referenced evidences to backup his thesis. There is also a brief chapter on hominin evolution, for completeness. At times repetitive. Four stars.
May 31, 2015
I thought I must already have posted about this, because I finished it some time ago, but I guess not.
I really liked this a lot - he covers a huge amount of the science of animal (including human) intelligence in a way that's very engaging and easy to read and understand.
I want my copy handy to say a few more things, so I intend to edit this brief review.
I really liked this a lot - he covers a huge amount of the science of animal (including human) intelligence in a way that's very engaging and easy to read and understand.
I want my copy handy to say a few more things, so I intend to edit this brief review.
December 31, 2015
A well written and accessible (for non-scientists like myself) look at different aspects of mental capacity and how other animals compare with humans in these different aspects and overall. Illuminating in terms of the capacities of animals, but also in thinking about how humans maee the leap to where/who we are today.
July 28, 2014
This book is full of interesting studies and conclusions on top of being very well written. It is easy, and enjoyable, to follow the author's train of thought. This will be the first "nonfiction" book making it onto my list of books to re-read.
December 4, 2014
This was a well-thought out application of science. The author is very clear about the differences between human and non-human animals and supports his perspective with scientific studies. Anyone who is interested in anthrozoology will really enjoy how Suddendorf places humans on the family tree.
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