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Cavemen with Smartphones: how evolution shaped history and finance
What do your dating life, financial illiteracy, and the characterisation of Mickey Mouse have in common?
These are all factors deeply affected by the environments we developed in as a species. In this thought-provoking and controversial book, financial journalist Richard Amador examines the evolution of human psychology in order to explain the development of trade, civilisation and world finance.
Whether you’re living mammoth to mammoth, or paycheque to paycheque, we have the same psychological quirks. We’re the same creatures that tamed the wild and landed on the moon. Yet we’re also the ones who gossip and go to war.
This book is all about humanity; the factors that shaped our minds and how we put our brains to use. With intelligence came knowledge. Wisdom gave us civilisation. Society brought us finance. The free markets gave us choice...
These are all factors deeply affected by the environments we developed in as a species. In this thought-provoking and controversial book, financial journalist Richard Amador examines the evolution of human psychology in order to explain the development of trade, civilisation and world finance.
Whether you’re living mammoth to mammoth, or paycheque to paycheque, we have the same psychological quirks. We’re the same creatures that tamed the wild and landed on the moon. Yet we’re also the ones who gossip and go to war.
This book is all about humanity; the factors that shaped our minds and how we put our brains to use. With intelligence came knowledge. Wisdom gave us civilisation. Society brought us finance. The free markets gave us choice...
398 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 4, 2019
27 people are currently reading
72 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 28, 2019
Well, being the author, I suppose I'm a bit of a biased party here. But I've grown very fond of it over the 750 hours (conservative estimate) I've spent working on it during the last three years. I hope you'll share in even half of my enthusiasm for it once you read it.
February 1, 2019
Sweeping narrative that spans biology, evolution, culture, history, politics, economics and finance.
Enjoyed the book enormously. It offers myriad different lens through which to the view the world and these perspectives are not always conventional. Yet they are interconnected into a cogent chronicle that spans biology, evolution, culture, history, politics, economics and finance.
Well researched. The book is in turns fascinating, irreverent, depressing (all those future trends based on AI) but always thought provoking. I didn't agree with everything the author mentions but that is fine.
The ultimate observation is that the underlying biological forces that drive us are not very different from during our caveman days and it would be a fallacy to ignore this when we try to make sense of our modern world.
The book is not written from an ivory-tower-erudite view with abstruse language; instead it is entertaining and educational. I really liked the quotes at the beginning of each chapter along with the cheeky chapter titles too! I liked the financial planet description vs our earthly planet. Also, the observation where with removal of artificial pecking order we have gone to the other extreme and started valuing all opinions as having equal worth.
All in all - read if you want to understand the interplay of the different forces that shape our world and us
Enjoyed the book enormously. It offers myriad different lens through which to the view the world and these perspectives are not always conventional. Yet they are interconnected into a cogent chronicle that spans biology, evolution, culture, history, politics, economics and finance.
Well researched. The book is in turns fascinating, irreverent, depressing (all those future trends based on AI) but always thought provoking. I didn't agree with everything the author mentions but that is fine.
The ultimate observation is that the underlying biological forces that drive us are not very different from during our caveman days and it would be a fallacy to ignore this when we try to make sense of our modern world.
The book is not written from an ivory-tower-erudite view with abstruse language; instead it is entertaining and educational. I really liked the quotes at the beginning of each chapter along with the cheeky chapter titles too! I liked the financial planet description vs our earthly planet. Also, the observation where with removal of artificial pecking order we have gone to the other extreme and started valuing all opinions as having equal worth.
All in all - read if you want to understand the interplay of the different forces that shape our world and us
March 11, 2019
This book was very ambitious, seeking to link modern finance and investing to evolution and humanity’s prehistoric psychology/biology. I was skeptical that the author would be able to draw connections, but was surprised and intrigued by all of the arguments he was able to make. The book was very well-researched and fascinating. The style was a unique mix of thought-provoking and irreverent. Any book that quotes both Warren Buffett and Homer Simpson is right up my alley. Some of the concepts in the book are unpopular or controversial, but the author makes a good case for his ideas and I often found myself nodding in agreement without even realizing it. Quite a few times the narration wanders off from the topic at hand, but the author did a good job of linking those digressions back to the main thread. There was a lot of information packed into this book, but it wasn't written in a pedantic way, which was a relief. I learned a lot without even trying :)
February 25, 2022
This book is an interesting read for an overview of how history, psychology, finances, and (often times) a stroke of luck or misfortune, has shaped humans as a species.
Full of witty humor, connects seemingly unrelated concepts to form a cohesive idea/point, written in a conversational tone throughout--which adds to the entertainment/wit (and not in a pretentious or snobbish way, either).
The book is divided into parts and within those parts are chapters. Each part/chapter has a great title, introduction, and a fitting quote for the chapters. It's all broken down in an easily digestible, comprehensive way.
The author also devoted a painstaking about of effort in research--which is clear through the amount of sources and annotations provided throughout his work. The books bibliography is online so you can check the sources/have further readings.
Great book, well done! (I can't wait to see what else is to come)
Full of witty humor, connects seemingly unrelated concepts to form a cohesive idea/point, written in a conversational tone throughout--which adds to the entertainment/wit (and not in a pretentious or snobbish way, either).
The book is divided into parts and within those parts are chapters. Each part/chapter has a great title, introduction, and a fitting quote for the chapters. It's all broken down in an easily digestible, comprehensive way.
The author also devoted a painstaking about of effort in research--which is clear through the amount of sources and annotations provided throughout his work. The books bibliography is online so you can check the sources/have further readings.
Great book, well done! (I can't wait to see what else is to come)
November 9, 2019
I liked this book ... It is easy, funny and so important
December 1, 2019
Read this to improve your investing acumen
If you liked Sapiens and Homo Deus but wanted a book more directly relevant to investing read this o develop your mental models
If you liked Sapiens and Homo Deus but wanted a book more directly relevant to investing read this o develop your mental models
August 9, 2020
Entertaining book with interesting pieces of knowldge making a strong argument that we really are cavemen with smartphones. I read many books about investment, but so far this is the most engaging.
July 7, 2023
Reading the book was a great experience - I loved every bit of it. Therein is the relationship between the psychosocial manifestations of our species with our evolutionary background well detailed.
It's a product of well nourished intellectualism and I'm proud to be associated with it especially regarding the fact that it's the debut publication of it's author - it's a fantastic foundation upon which I believe better works will be laid.
It's a product of well nourished intellectualism and I'm proud to be associated with it especially regarding the fact that it's the debut publication of it's author - it's a fantastic foundation upon which I believe better works will be laid.
December 10, 2025
A thoughtful and thorough exploration of how various factors can influence our decision-making and wider societal trends. It is written in a fun and engaging way and is well worth a read!
January 8, 2019
This books is very interesting as it establishes the connections of different subjects. Suddenly I saw how history, economics and evolutionary biology could be related to psychology. The book doesn't waste time with filler, every paragraph is food for thought. It is a reading that has to be done in a concentrated way to be able to grasp the richness of ideas and concepts. If you are a person that is constantly trying to find new ideas and is open to different ways to understand the world, then this is the book for you.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews