Nowa historia ewolucji człowieka

by Robin I.M. Dunbar, Bartłomiej Kucharzyk (Translator)

Co właściwie tak mocno odróżnia nas od wszystkich innych gatunków, z którymi dzielimy planetę? Jak, biorąc pod uwagę, że nasze początki niczym nie różnią się od początków wszystkich innych żywych istot, dochodzi w trakcie ludzkiego życia do pojawienia się tych różnic? W którym momencie ewolucji człowieka powstało to, co oddziela nas od pokrewnych nam stworzeń? I dlaczego to właśnie nasz rodowód okazał się tak znakomity?

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Evolution, Anthropology, Psychology, History, Biology

254 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Robin Ian MacDonald Dunbar FBA FRAI is a British anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist and a specialist in primate behaviour.

Dunbar's academic and research career includes the University of Bristol, University of Cambridge from 1977 until 1982, and University College London from 1987 until 1994. In 1994, Dunbar became Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at University of Liverpool, but he left Liverpool in 2007 to take up the post of Director of the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Oxford.

Reviews

[Susan's Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this years ago, and I still have my paperback copy of it. Well written and in such a way that someone without a science background, comme moi, could easily understand. I've often remembered certain passages from this book in any given situation. I remember trying to get through Harari's Sapiens - another great book on the same subject - and kept thinking: hmmm, lots of the same content, but not as many anecdotes as the latter. If you don't have the patience or staying power to read Sapiens, you should definitely give this book a try. A highly enjoyable and informative read.

[maximilian · Rating 5 out of 5]

zajebiste

[Ross · Rating 1 out of 5]

I obtained two books by the this author at the same time with the hope of being brought up to date on the most recent findings about how we became human. The first was poor and this one is useless regarding an actual findings.
The book is pure speculation by the author about his pet theories regarding why we developed a large brain and language. The author calls himself an archeologist psychologist and he states that in his discipline you don't need any real evidence to think about the process of how we became human. He goes on and on about how religious beliefs might have shaped our development with no evidence whatever.
Since I was trained and worked as a physical scientist where evidence is everything, this author's rambling speculations make me aghast. He might as well be talking about his thoughts on the tooth fairy.

[Marina Menchero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Um livro teórico mas muito fácil de ler. Li com curiosidade e fiquei perita em “macacos”. Da sem dúvida uma perspectiva ao que temos como certo. Afinal no mundo das cavernas a vida social também conta. MM

[Mango · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book, in which Dunbar attempts to identify the specific features that make us uniquely human. The crux of his argument is that our large neocortex, skill in interpreting multilayered social interactions (fifth- and sixth-order intentionality), ability to produce language and music, and religious capacity all developed as ways of sustaining larger social groups. The author is the very one who came up with Dunbar's number - the idea that a person can only maintain stable relationships with about 150 individuals, which is also briefly explored in the book. His explanation of the ideas of theory of mind, orders of intentionality, and religion-as-schema were particularly informative and gave food for thought - possibly useful if you write or teach.

Unfortunately, certain irritating traits repeatedly impinged on my enjoyment of the book. The author's entire discourse on autism is frank and informative, but not written in an entirely respectful manner. There are also certain mildly sexist jokes, which might not raise an eyebrow at an informal meal among friends, but don't seem appropriate for a published work. The greatest cause for eye-rolling was the extensive fictional sections detailing imagined scenes in the life of a paleolithic-era man. It came across as being self-indulgent - Dunbar is not a good writer of fiction.

On balance, the book has more than enough merit to recommend it. It is also a curious look into the mind of a man who, for all his insight into human characteristics, seems to possess little awareness of how he comes across.

[Miła · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kolejna, fascynującej podróż do początków naszego gatunku.
Warto zaznaczyć, że rozdziały o języku są powtórzeniem tego co autor napisał wcześniej w książce o jego pochodzeniu, ale poza tym mowa tu także o kulturze, rytuałach i religii. Szczególnie ten ostatni temat zasługuje na uwagę.
Podobnie jak w innych książkach autora, mamy chwilami wrażenie, że niektóre jego teorie są budowane na wyrost, pod tezę

[Serkan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A concise summary of how we became to be as humans. Lots of food for thought and ideas connecting pieces of our evolutionary history. I would recommend everyone to read the book (and potentially others to gain different perspectives). In some parts I thought the underlying evidence was a bit too simple to conclude so not sure if all the ideas are 100% verified within the scientific community.

[Valentin · Rating 3 out of 5]

not that great.

[Ryszard1963 · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great experience! Wonderful book!

[Chris Fos · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read it some years ago but I remember I liked it a lot. Informative, with patches of poetic atmosphere

[Eriszkigal · Rating 1 out of 5]

Raczej zbiór luźnych esejów bez jakiejś myśli przewodniej, niż książka wnosząca coś nowego (jak jest obiecane w tytule).

[隻眼簽到 · Rating 4 out of 5]

這是由鄧巴的理論提取出來的一句格言：“社交需求驅動一切”。我一輩子的生活經驗都在證明這句話。但這並不代表我贊成：“大腦演化的主要驅力是應對日益複雜的社會生活”。這種使演化帶上目的論色彩的觀點，應是鄧巴的軟肋。話應該倒過來說，“日益複雜的社會生活是大腦演化的主要驅力”。此外，對著名的“鄧巴數字”我也不認同。社交圈變化多端，豈是一個固定的數字可以圈定。“生物限制”？那為什麼會有牛頓、愛因斯坦呢？

[Kriegslok · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anthropology, biology, psychology etc examine and thorise about how we got where we are today. A fascinating account of human evolution and our relationship to surving cousins the apes, chimps etc. Looking at culture, language, evolutionary adaptation Dunbar attempts to draw out what made us different and what we share in common. Fascinating areas such as pairbonding and infanticide are examined with some interesting interpretations. Whenever I read such books I am reminded of the delicate balance of humanity. Modern life has detached us from our environment and gives us a false sense of security. The time scales dealt with in this book help to redress the idea that we are significant in evolutionary terms (beyond of course the fact we have eveolved to the point where we can consciously trash our planet and not give a damn).

[Juraj Púchlo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dunbar patrí medzi zástancov hypotézy sociálneho mozgu a je známy najmä vďaka Dunbarovmu číslu, čo je – aplikované na ľudí - v skratke maximálna veľkosť sociálnej skupiny ľudí, s ktorými udržiavame vzťah. Kniha síce láka na evolúciu človeka, čerpá z archeológie a antropológie, ale v už od tretej kapitoly je viac o sociológii a porovnávaní správania človeka s hominidmi, ľudoopmi a opicami. Dunbar píše tiež o reči a vzťahoch, o humore a smiechu, či o vnímaní hudby, ktoré ľudí tak odlišujú od zvyšku živočíšnej ríše. V závere potom prepája schopnosť učenia, mágiu, šamanizmus a náboženstvo práve s vývojom reči a tzv. intencionalitou. Žiaľ knižka je písaná dosť zložitým jazykom a keďže bola vydaná ešte v roku 2004, v mnohých smeroch jej chýba aktualizácia.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am about 30 years behind on my knowledge of human evolution, so I read this book to become familiar with more recent findings. The first chapters were the most informative, especially what has been learned by DNA analysis. It is also helpful to have a summary of dates (or epics) in one place in order to get a sense of scale of time. The rest of the book, mostly comparing studies of behavior of chimps and giant apes with humans (both modern and evidence from the past) was interesting, but more episodic, less coherent. Perhaps this is the state of the research, or perhaps it is what one gets for trying to cover a huge technical subject in a short, easy to read book.

[Joanna Berlinska · Rating 4 out of 5]

Undeniably an interesting read - the story of a rise of humans told in an accessible and unconventional way. When I was reading it, my 6-year-old got interested in what I was reading and asked me to tell him 'stories' from the book. I first told him that the book was too serious for him but than i brought him one example that I thought he would understand (on levels of intentionality), and than another, and another... So without the scientific jargon and dry evolution facts, the book was actually quite informative (not only for a 6-years-old) while being entertaining. I liked :)

[Miguel Oliveira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ao contrário do que o título sugere, neste livro, Robin Dunbar não conta a história evolutiva do Homem mas sim vários produtos do processo evolutivo da espécie humana, como a teoria da mente, a linguagem ou a cultura.

[Stephen Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good overview of the modern take on human evolution. A really good author, this.

[Steve Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, how to write about sceince and ideas.Love the idea that language is mostly a form of groomomg and connection binding us naked apes together Explains Facebook I suppose,

[Ryszard1963 · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Classic of Evolution Theory! We are nothing more than Animals ... For sure!

[Dave Schey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice summary of the biological and social/cultural evolution of hominins.

[Bartlomiej Nie Bartosz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit outdated, but still worth it.

[Łukasz Rudy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too many words.