How Many Friends Does One Person Need?

by Robin I.M. Dunbar

Why do men talk and women gossip, and which is better for you?

When is it good to be tall and why is monogamy a drain on the brain?

And why should you be suspicious of someone who has more than 150 friends on Facebook?

We are the product of our evolutionary history, and this history colors our everyday lives - from why we kiss to how religious we are. In "How Many Friends Does One Person Need?" Robin Dunbar explains how the distant past underpins our current behaviour through the groundbreaking experiments that have changed the thinking of evolutionary biologists forever.

He explains phenomena such as why "Dunbar's Number" (150) is the maximum number of acquaintances you can have, why all babies are born premature, and the science behind lonely-hearts columns. Stimulating, provocative and highly enjoyable, this fascinating book is essential for understanding why people behave as they do and what it is to be human.

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

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

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

[Sarah]

After 125 pages of attempting to get through this I finally just stopped. It's full of interesting ideas presented as known facts, and rarely (if ever) supported by studies and research. He makes the unforgivable mistake of contrasting the "left brain" and "right brain", uses correlation to prove causation, and seems to only half-bake many of his ideas (or at least only half-explain them). This book tries to peg itself as science, but it comes off as pseudo-science. Disappointing considering Dunbar is the Director of the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at Oxford.

It got me through my plane ride back from Vegas, but if I'm not looking for time to burn I won't finish it.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was... really disappointing. Only made it a hundred pages in before returning to the library.

I was expecting some accessible social science, backed by some interesting studies, but this was superficial and facile. I felt like author was writing for a mainstream magazine, regurgitating pop psychology for an audience with a thirty second attention span. Very lacking in evidence, or even deeper analysis.

The author's occasional mildly misogynistic jokes didn't help. Nothing deeply offensive, just the same tired jokes about women being inexplicable and alien, with the clear assumption the reader was male and would agree.

[Susan's Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great read from the author of The Human Story. We humans are so predictable - at times!

[Judyta Szacillo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was disappointed with this book. After reading 'Grooming, gossips and the evolution of the language' I expected another good, transparent and well-demonstrated argument, which is accessable and interesting for a non-professional reader. However, accessibility is all what is left. The author jumps from one subject to another, holding them with very weak links and quite often not contributing to the main thought (vague as it was). It would be a nice read if published as a series of short essays (as it initially was), but as a book it's a mess.
The disdain shown towards the humanities would be less annoying had the author done his reading in history better. But his understanding of history is poor (Mr Dunbar - 'Slavic Lombards'? really?), so he should be more careful when forming his conclusions on the basis of things he has no grasp of.
Overall, it's still an interesting and entertaining read, but lacks structure and is sometimes distressingly shallow.

[Nata · Rating 3 out of 5]

Am aflat că aproximativ 1/3 dintre femei văd lumea în 4 culori elementare, în timp ce bărbații nu le văd decât pe cele 3 standard (roșu, albastru și verde). Și asta explică cumva exasperarea soțiilor atunci când nu li asortează hainele, deși soților li se pare în regulă acea combinație de culori făcută de ele :))
Am aflat că limita numărului de relații sociale pe care oamenii le pot avea e aproximativ 150 de indivizi și aici, acest număr a lui Dunbar, se referă la tipul de relații personale coerente, nu cazul când te vezi odată în an cu cineva și nu-i cunoști evenimentele personale de peste an.

Am aflat de ce bârfa este benefică :))

Am aflat multe chestii ce ține de evoluția comportamentului uman. Pe alocuri, cartea mi s-a părut de umplutură, în rest, destul de interesantă, mai puțin momentele pur stiințifice, care nu prea m-am străduit să le înțeleg în detalii, doar în context, și asta pentru că nu e domeniul meu de interes.

[Rafal Jasinski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wznowienie wydanej po raz pierwszy w 2010 roku książki Robina Dunbara będzie świetną "drogą na skróty" poprzez teorie i konkluzje wypływające z badań tego wybitnego brytyjskiego antropologa i psychologa. To znakomita publikacja dla czytelników, pragnących poznać tajniki uwarunkowań biologicznych, genetycznych i ewolucyjnych, które składają się na nasze zachowania społeczne, nawiązywanie przyjaźni, wyborów partnerów oraz wszystkich relacji i więzi, jaki nawiązujemy w życiu zawodowym i osobistym.

Z zastrzeżeniem, że nie znają oni wcześniej wydanych i obszerniejszych książek Dunbara, albowiem w "Ile przyjaciół potrzebuje człowiek..." - na którą składają się przeredagowane i publikowane wcześniej w periodykach popularnonaukowych niezbyt obszerne felietony rekapitulujące właśnie odkrycia i teorie zawarte w innych publikacjach naukowca - nie znajdą oni nic, czego nie wyczytaliby u niego wcześniej.

Wszystkich innych informacje z dziedziny psychologii ewolucyjnej, genetyki i antropologii ocucić mogą poniekąd z nazbyt romantycznych wyobrażeń na temat przyjaźni i miłości, ale z drugiej strony świadomość tego, że za błędne, nierozważne bądź zwyczajnie głupie zachowania odpowiadamy nie do końca my sami, ale w znacznej części to "zasługa" egoistycznych genów i tkwiących w nas od wieków uwarunkowań ewolucyjnych, może okazać się krzepiącą.

Bardzo dobra książka dla wszystkich, którzy chcą w łatwy, lekki i przystępny sposób zapoznać się z najświeższymi odkryciami, badaniami i teoriami z dziedzin ewolucji i psychologii a dotąd z Dunbarem, lub publikacjami "pokrewnych" mu naukowców nie mieli do czynienia. Polecam!

[Giselle Odessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

الكتاب عبارة عن مجموعة مقالات علمية كتبها عالم الانثروبولوجي وعلم النفس التطوري دنبار.
قد لا تبدو المقالات مترابطة لكن يجمعها أنها جميعاً تناقش التطور، كل مقالة تركز على ناحية معينة. يبدو واضحاً أن الكاتب يمتلك معرفة واسعة بمختلف المجالات العلمية ويتناول بطريقة ممتعة مواضيع مختلفة مثل عدد دنبار، سبب اختلافنا عن باقي الكائنات، الاخلاق وعلاقتها بعلم الأعصاب و كيف كان الربّ مهماً لتطور البشر وغيرها من المواضيع.
الكتاب جيد لكن مأخذي الوحيد عليه كان أن الترجمة لم تكن جيدة لدرجة أن بعض فقرات الكتاب تبدو غير منطقية لغوياً.

[Salma abdulrhman · Rating 4 out of 5]

( كم صديقًا يحتاج إليه الشخص؟ عدد دنبار ومراوغات تطورية أخرى )

لعالم الأنثروبولوجيا وعلم النفس التطوري روبن دنبار ، وترجمة أحمد ضاحى

ما كُتب على غلاف الكتاب:

" يعكس هذا الكتاب الثقافة الموسوعية لمؤلفه روبن دنبار والذي ابحر في الكثير من العلوم في الكتاب منها ( علم النفس، الاجتماع، الأنثروبولوجيا، الطب، الأديان، التاريخ، الجغرافيا، الجيولوجيا، علم الأخلاق، البيولوجيا )

عرض المؤلف بعض المفاهيم الحديثة في العلوم المختلفة كما عرض طريقة تعامل الأديان مع قضية التطور بشكل موضوعي وطريقة تحليلية

لكنه تعامل مع قضية التطور بالتسليم والإعتقاد الكامل فيها ومحاولة إثباتها بالأدلة والبراهين التي يرى انها تدعم التطور وهذا هو المأخذ الوحيد عليه في هذا الكتاب"

برأيي الكتاب ثري جدًا ومتنوع في موضوعاته حتى لو لم يكن شخص على علم بنظرية داروين يكفيه قراءة اختصار لها والبدء في قراءة هذا الكتاب الذي سيتكفل في إكمال شرح النظرية.

انصح به للمهتمين وحتى غير المهتمين. لكن تحملوه قليلًا ف تشعباته كثيرة ومعقدة احيانًا. أو ربما هذا فقط بالنسبة لي!

[Kater Cheek · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was recommended to me off of Amazon, and it seemed a sure bet: pop science, original research, and heavy on the sociology. The title refers to Dunbar's number, the supposed maximum number of people that a person can reasonably be expected to know socially. I've heard of this number, and knew something of its background (results from maximum hunter-gatherer tribal sizes and proves that people who have a gazillion friends on FB are just silly). I'd hoped this book would explore similar topics.

The good news, it does. As the cover text promises, it covers many aspects of sociology, from lonely hearts advertisements to job seekers to why most voters pick taller presidential candidates. The subjects are varied and sundry, and presented in such a way that people who have never heard these ideas can understand them.

I did have a few problems with this book. Firstly, I get a little irritated with the Fred Flintstone myth. I made that term up, but you know what I mean. When they say "back when our ancestors were on the savanna" or "back when our ancestors had to hunt mastodon for dinner." I dislike this because it's a readily accepted, easily recognized myth, but I'm not sure of its veracity or significance. There's this idea that evolution only happened in a specific period of time, and then it stopped.

For example, I have a hard time picturing people as being wanderers on the savanna, because no one lives on savannas today, they live on coasts. Look at a map of the world. Where do people live? Coasts and rivers. Where do people not live? Grasslands. (read THE DESCENT OF WOMAN for some interesting insights into this) and I kind of roll my eyes at the notion of all men's spear-chucking prowress (and language, and god knows what else) being attributed to needing to take down mastadons. I cry shenanigans. 1. there are much easier ways to hunt if you aren't concerned about sport, for example, deadfall traps, brush fires, chasing animals off cliffs, etc. and 2. the animals people are most likely to kill are other people. (read CONSTANT BATTLES for insight into this) Cavemen and cave women and cave children rodents and monkeys into a pit of spikes isn't as sexy as brave spearmen carrying home a mastodon. Fred bashing Barney over the head with a rock doesn't fit the Fred Flintstone myth. The Fred Flintstone myth is familiar and easy, which makes it a good tool for explaining things to junior high school kids who don't know about evolution, but I want a few more facts to back things up.

Which brings me into my other complaint about the book. I guess it's nice that it's easy to read and touches on a lot of different topics, but, again, I want something a little meatier. I wanted something that elucidated something I didn't already know about the subject, and I wanted suppositions supported by facts. These read more like articles that were published in a for-public-consumption magazine, where most readers have only a cursory interest in science.

I recommend this for people who are mildly interested in evolutionary sociology, but who want it sexy and watered-down.

[Jed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book by evolutionary biologist. Sweet prose. Brief essays on many fascinating subjects, e.g.: Why Eskimos rub noses in greeting (because the way you smell reveals a lot about your genetic qualities); why tall & facially-symmetrical people are more successful (those qualities indicate good health & good genes); .5% of all men alive today, & 8.5% of all men in central Asia, are descended from Genghis Khan & his brothers, who conquered much of the known world in the early 1200's; the Basques are the only western Europeans who survived the Indo-European conquest which began in about 3,000 BC; etc., etc. If you want to learn about the species of which you are a member, read this book.

[Jon Wlasiuk · Rating 2 out of 5]

Capitalizing on the success of his theory of the limits of social connection, Robin Dunbar offers a brief tour of evolutionary physiology trivia. Readers will be disappointed that Dunbar fails to engage recent research on human polyamory or provide details on Dunbar’s number.

[Aravind P · Rating 1 out of 5]

Annoyed at the trash-popular topics discussed and trivial reasoning.

[Richard Subber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robin Dunbar knows so much, and is so good at telling what he knows.
In How Many Friends Does One Person Need? and in Evolution: What Everyone Needs to Know, Dunbar offers well-documented, nuts-and-bolts explanations about the many aspects of evolution, especially human evolution. It turns out that Darwin only scratched the surface.
There is inclusive context for the meaning of “Dunbar’s number,” namely, 150 people, the repeatedly confirmed (approximate) top limit for the number of people an individual can know individually, trust, and engage in a socially meaningful way.
Dunbar gives all the scoop about the many ways in which human beings are unique in the ancient and modern worlds, and the many connections we have with the great apes. Biologically, we are much more similar to chimpanzees than most people could bring themselves to guess.
Part of Dunbar’s generous writing in both books is a minutely careful examination of the intersection of religion and evolution. That’s worth a read.
Read more of my book reviews and poems here:
www.richardsubber.com

[سالم عبدالله · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتاب ..
كم صديقا يحتاج إليه الشخص.
لعالم الانتربولوحيا و علم النفس التطوري.
روبن دنبار ..
لقد شدني عنوان الكتاب ..
وانا التي كانت قناعتي انه من الصعب ان بجد المرء اصدقاء مقربين جدا الا في حدود اصابع اليد الواحدة ..
و الكتاب في الواقع
العنوان لا يعبر تماما على المحتوى وان اشتمل على فصلين تقريبا تخص العنوان .
في الواقع الكتاب عبارة عن مجموعة مقالات للكاتب نفسه لاعمدة بعض الصحف على مدار 14 عاما .
و المقالات رائعة ومشوقة دون شك .
و رغم ان بعض المعلومات تحمل غرابة جميلة غير ان الكتاب اجزائه غير مترابطة وهذا شي طبيعي باعتبار انه في الاصل مجموعة مقالات .
الكاتب لا انكر انه ملم بالعلوم الاجتماعية و الاحياء و غيرها .. تميز باسلوب شيق
كما ان الترجمة جيدة جدا .
اما ما يخص عدد دنبار .. وهو عدد الاصدقاء التي بامكان المرء معرفتهم معرفة كاملة وهو 150 وهذا يعني ان الانسان يصعب عليه التعرف على اكثر من هذا الرقم .. ولهذا كانت السرايا و المفارز العسكرية لا تتجاوز 100 او 130
اما من يدعي عكس ذلك كاصحاب المواقع الاجتماعية فيقول الكاتب ان ذلك لا يتحقق الا في حدود 200 شخص فأقل .
و ان وجد فلا يمكن للمرء معرفتهم او على الاقل لا يشعر بالحرج لو لم يكامهم او يحييهم اذا ما وقع نظره عليهم .
اما فيما يتعلق بالافراد الاصدقاء closed friends فهو لا يتجاوز 5 اي بين 3 و 5
وهذا ما كنت اعتقده بالفعل ..
هولاء هم الاشخاص المقربين منا والذين يمثلون قيمة لنا ..
اما الاخرين فهم يمثلون قيمة مضافة لنا ونخن ايضا قيمة مضافة لهم
اما ان يكون السخص قيمة لك فهو الذي يعلم بما بنفسك واحتياجك وظروفك ..
اي بمعنى انت وهو واحد ..
ويتناول الكاتب الحياة التطورية للبشر .. و ما يميز البشر عن غيره من الكائنات .. كبر حجم الدماغ ..
والثقافة ..واللغة ...الخ .
و يتناول العديد من الموصوعات الشيقة ..
الزواج الاحادي ..اي من يحتفظ بزوجة واحدة من الكائنات .
و اثر طول القامة في النجاح
و جين الحب والذي من خلاله يمكن توقع نجاح الحياة الزوجية من عدمها ..
والخيانات التي يتعرض لها طيور الزواج الاحادي .. فخمس انتاجها لا يمت لاباءها بصلة وما الدوافع للخيانة اصلا
للبشر .. كبح جماخ الرجل الى التطلع للنساء و هناك غاية تطورية وهي تحسين النسل .
وهناك موضوعات اخرى شيقة مثل الاخلاق والدبن
والاثار المترتبة على الذكاء
كطول العمر مثلا ..
الكتاب ظريف وجميل ..
ويستحق الاطلاع .

[Петър Стойков · Rating 3 out of 5]

Съжалявам бай Дънбар, ама макар идеите ти да са интересни, ти самият ме дразниш.

Дразни ме безсрамното ти неуморно настояване да наричаме 150 "числото на Дънбар" когато говорим за групи хора, макар идеята ти да има еволюционна логика и макар усилията ти да имат успех и наистина на много места "числото на Дънбар" да се използва като израз, просто ме дразниш. Не, честно - що за самовлюбен кретен трябва да си, за да кръстиш сам числото на свое име?

Дразнят ме безкрайните ти опити да се правиш на забавен и да опростяваш езика си до степен да бъдеш на косъм от опростачването му само и само да бъдеш по-популярен и лесен за четене, въпреки че наистина книгите ти са станали доста популярни точно заради това, просто ме дразниш.

Дразни ме начина, по който изразяваш теориите си без да смяташ за нужно да приведеш някакви по-сериозни доказателства за верността им, освен повърхностни примери, макар някои от тия теории да са наистина любопитни и заслужаващи развитие, просто ме дразниш.

Дразни ме стилът ти на писане, макар ти да не си виновен, че си британец и тамошната научно-популярна литература е всичката в този стил.

Просто ме дразниш.

[Hamed · Rating 4 out of 5]

كالكتاب هو مجموعة من المقالات التي لها صبغة علمية والتي نشرت في العديد من المجلات والدوريات العلمية المتخصصة والتي تتناول العديد من الموضوعات الإجتماعية والنفسية والسلوكية والعلاقات بينها وبين نظرية التطور وكذلك يرصد الكثير من السلوكيات المتشابهة بين البشر وبين الحيوانات والطيور ودور العلوم الحديثة في تفسير سلوك الإنسان الكتاب مفيد للغاية وممتع والكاتب له حس فكاهي عال جدا وقد لاأوافق على كل الآراء الموجودة به لكنه قام بفتح الهديد من الآفاق والأفكار والترجمة جاءت جيدة إلى حد كبير لاأنكر أن بعض الفقرات جاءت عسيرة الفهم وتحتاج لإعادة القراءة مرة أخرى من أجل الإستيعاب

[Abdallah Moh · Rating 1 out of 5]

موضوع الكتاب ابعد ماكون عن عنوانه
مقالات مشتتة للتطبيل للتطور وداروين والتغزل بالقردة العليا والسفلى والوسطى واي نوع من القردة يمشي حاله

تحاول ان تبحث عن رابطة عن فائدة .. لاتجد

الكاتب نفسه لايعرف مايريد ان يقول

سيء

[Neil Pasricha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you heard of Dunbar's Number? It's 148, more casually rounded to 150, and is the "suggested cognitive limit for the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships." The number came up in Chapter 101 with Daniels, during our discussion of Sex at Dawn (04/2022) and afterwards I fell into a rabbit hole looking into Dunbar's Number which led me to this wonderful book. Robin Dunbar is Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Oxford and he has that rare Feynmanny gift of being smarter than everybody else but still speaking like you're sitting beside him on the train. "We share a history, you and I," he begins in Chapter 1. "A history in which our respective stories snake back through time, edging ever closer to each other until finally they meet up in a common ancestor. Perhaps our lineages meet up only a few generations back, or maybe it was a thousand years ago. Perhaps it was so long ago that it predates history — though even that could not have been more than two hundred thousand years ago, a mere twinkle in Earth time. For we modern humans all descended from a common ancestor who roamed the plains of Africa a mere ten thousand generations ago, ten thousand mothers giving birth to ten thousand daughters ... no more than would fit in a town of very modest size today." From this underpinning he goes on to discuss the 'expensiveness' of our giant brains, how they're unbelievably good at coordinating social relationships and connections — but only up to a point. Then we start talking about Dunbar's Number. Robin Dunbar says one good definition for Dunbar's Number is the number of people who would feel an obligation to you and would turn up for you. (He shares how it's no coincidence that data on average wedding size shows that — for years and years — it's been 150.) But 150 is just one in a series of numbers. He uses a metaphor of a stone being thrown into a lake that causes a set of ripples — as the ripples go out they get bigger but the amplitude, the height of the wave, gets gradually smaller. 5 are really intense relationships closest to you ("shoulders to cry on" friends), 15 are "best friends," 150 are friends, 500 are acquaintances (maybe coworkers, maybe people who send happy birthday messages on Facebook), and then, finally, there's a 5000-person layer which is the total number of faces you can recognize. Beyond 5000? Strangers. Despite the fact that we have very recently decided to live in teeming cities of 10s of millions of people our brains haven't changed — and neither has the size of our friendship circles. The book is full of endless anthropological trivia — why gossip is good for you, the benefits of nepotism as it relates to connection, how 200 million men alive today are direct descendants of Genghis Khan, and on and on. The book is much more conversational ("good-meandering") than you might expect but a detailed Table of Contents and Index can help you skip around. A particularly fascinating chapter near the end called "Be smart... live longer" shares lines like how there's "a direct link between IQ at age eleven and your chances of celebrating your eighty-fifth birthday" and how "beautiful people are, on average, more intelligent." I've just skimmed a few of the juicier arguments he puts forward in this fascinating book. Highly recommended. (PS. Who else suddenly wants a 'number' named after them so they can be cool like Dunbar, Avagadro, or Planck? I'm going to hereby declare Pasricha's Number to be the number of pages you have to read in order to say you read the book. For fiction, it's every page [minus any front or back matter] and for non-fiction, it's all the front and back matter [plus at least one chapter inside.])

[A. Kaya · Rating 2 out of 5]

book was a compilation of essays or articles I don't know. as a pop-sci book it was enough to make people curious about evolutionary psychology but argumentatively, the book was so weak(except some points). even questions in the cover of book have not answered at all. in a nutshell, there are 4 different subjects and their arrangements in this book.

1-Morality 2-Human Behaviour 3-Biology 4-Evolution.

biologic explanations were enough but the other parts were not well. for instance there was a part which it was about tending to save people differences between upper and lower social class. auther wrote "the upper social class people didn't tend to save people because they were upper class and selectively they didn't need that, they have power and reputation but lower social class people tended to save people because they need power and reputation." this was the weakest argument which I heard in my entire life. upper social class people didn't tend to save people maybe the reason of this was that: they didnt work on hard jobs!! physicially they didn't trust theirself.

if you want to begin evolutionary psychology and you want a perspective, I recommend you to read this. but besides of that, it is not worth to read at all.

[Ken Muldrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robin Dunbar’s book, “How Many Friends Does One Person Need?” is a collection of short essays that he wrote for various popular science magazines. They are all entertaining and interesting, and provide a good overview of Dunbar’s work to anyone who is only casually interested. However, the reader is often a bit chuffed at the lack of detail as the heavy hand of an editor overly concerned with word count makes their presence felt. As a book, it also lacks the coherence and development that gives impact to novel ideas. Readers who wish to learn of Dunbar’s work in a more thoughtful and systematic presentation will be better served by his earlier book, “Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language”. Readers who are more interested in short, surprising, and often delightful snippets will find “How Many Friends” right up their alley.

[Jeff Maughan · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a strange book. I had heard about Dunbar's Number, and wanted to read more about it. Well, Chapter 3 covers it, in about 14 pages, and the rest of the book is a rambling mess largely talking about evolution and anthropology in very loose terms.

Dunbar's number is a theory about how many people any individual can really have in their life.

5 best friends, 15 close friends, then 50 regular friends, then 150 lesser acquaintances are all this guy thinks we can really keep in our lives.

The concept grabbed me because it seems about correct for myself. However after reading how this guy thinks, it just is so arbitrary. The studies and science at how he arrived at this is sketchy and cherry picked.

This book has lots of passages that begin with things like, 'I suspect....'

Not a good read, but Dunbar's Number itself is kinda fun.

[Sung Won · Rating 5 out of 5]

제목이 훅 들어와서 집어들고 보니, 무려 던바가 직접 말하는 던바의 수(=150명)에 관한 책이었다. 제목만 보면 한 인간에게 필요한 친구 수의 최소값에 대해 말하는 책 같지만, 실제로는 친구 수의 최대값이 150명이라는 내용이다. <사피엔스>의 인지혁명에 대한 내용 - 사회 규모, 험담, 털 고르기, 종교의 역할 - 의 상당수가 던바의 학설이었음을 알게 되었다. 결국 <사피엔스>는 협력할 수 있는 인간의 수가 눈에 보이는 150명에서 어떻게 전 인류로 늘어났는지에 대한 책으로, 책의 모티브 자체가 던바의 수에 있었음을 이제야 알았다. 던바의 수에 대해서는 전에도 많이 들었는데, 역시 저자 직강이 주는 감동은 다른 책에서는 경험할 수 없는 것이었다.

처음에는 엔돌핀, 전두엽, intentionality, 일부일처제 등 진화심리학의 여러 가지 서로 상관없는 주제들에 대한 독립된 칼럼의 모음이라고 생각하고 읽었다. 그런데 갑자기 마지막 칼럼에서 그 동안 나왔던 이야기들이 다 연결되면서 모자이크 픽션을, 아니 모자이크 논픽션을 이루고 있었다. 50만년 전, 전두엽이 커지고, intentionality이 4단계에서 5단계로 높아지고, 던바의 수가 120명에서 150명으로 높아지고, 종교가 발생하는 진화가 동시에 일어났다는 것인데, 인류 진화의 장대한 역사를 마치 한 편의 시처럼 간결하게 펼쳐보이는 것이, 진정 대서사시라고 할 만 하다. 별 다섯 개는 바로 이런 순간을 위해 아껴둔 것. 사실 150개도 모자라지만 내 인지능력의 한계로 일단 5개 드림. ㅎㅎ

[Louise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting facts and thoughts. However, I'm left questioning how much of it is objectively true due to lack of citation and some glaring errors (for example stating all babies are born with blue eyes - they are not!). Whilst the tone is an enjoyable read in places the book seems to jump from subject to subject tenuously. Meanwhile whilst the tone may come across as friendly the implications (& sometimes outright statements) of what is said can be disturbing. The author obviously has their own biases and comes across as ableist, misogynistic and ignores LGBT+ people at points. The author does recognise but not address his slight obsession with sex which I frankly found disturbing in many places. Can I just iterate that there can be loving relationships without sex...

[İdil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gündelik, sıradan olayları evrimsel psikolojik ve biyolojik köklere giderek açıklayan nefis bir kitap. Kitaba ismini veren makale Dunbar Sayısı üzerinden aslında belki de sosyal medyada geniş kütlelerle istemli/istemsiz yığın etkileşiminin neden gerçek olmayabileceğini ve bir yönüyle hala avcı toplayıcı dönemdeki kadar ilkel olan beynimiz için neden yorucu olabileceğini açıklıyor. Kitabın bana çok ilginç gelen makalelerinden biri de nepotizme övgü dizdiği bölümdü ama hayatta kalma becerilerimizi hısım/akrabalık ilişkilerinin kusursuz biçimde garantilemesi, güçlendirmesi üzerinden açıkladığı için sanırım batmadı.

[William · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hodge podge of evolutionary facts. Not a fan of the additional commentary, mostly tasteless and thoughtless. Don't understand why there's a chapter lamenting the unsubstantiated claim that artists don't embrace the sciences enough though the sciences embrace the arts... Overall this was wasted time. I wanted a book about friendship but that was just a chapter amidst a bunch of random short sighted evolutionary commentary.

[Piotr Borowski · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ta książka pozostawiła na mnie złe wrażenie. Autor chwali się swoim odkryciem czyli tytułową liczbą Dunbara. Najśmiesze były próby połączenia tej liczby z ewolucją. Zamiast pozostać przy tym na czym się znał, czyli badaniach nad tytułowym pytaniem "ile przyjaciół może mieć człowiek" autor zapuszcza się w rejony, w których wysuwa odważne ale jednocześnie niczym nie poparte teorie nie trzymające się kupy.

[S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Evrim sürecinin davranışlarımızı nasıl etkilediğine dair bilimsel çalışmalardan bahsediyor. Kaynakça kitabın sonunda bulunmadığı için yazılanların doğruluğu tartışılır. Ancak birçok farklı bilgi öğrendiğimi söyleyebilirim. Kitabı tek seferde okumak bunaltıcı olduğu ve hızlı hızlı geçtiğimi fark ettiğim için her gün bir bölüm okumaya çalıştım. Çevirisi de oldukça akıcı ve anlaşılırdı. Davranışlarımızın kökenini merak ediyorsanız okuyabilirsiniz.

[Rhysand · Rating 2 out of 5]

Benim gibi evrim süreciyle ilgili bilimsel bir kitap olduğunu düşünerek başlarsanız hayal kırıklığına uğrarsınız. Maalesef bilimsel makalelerden ziyade yazarın varsayıma dayalı denemelerinden oluşuyor. Hadi farklı denemeler olduğu için bölümleri birbirine bağlayamadın bari bölümler kendi içinde konu bütünlüğü sağlayabilseydi. Konudan konuya geçerek okunması zorlaşmış. Açıkçası bir yada iki bölüm dışında keyifli bir okuma olmadı benim için.

[Mario Sailer · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are lot of interesting evolutionary developments depicted. Some explain why people in some areas of the world are (or at least have been) different from people living in other areas. Others explain other traits humans have. One of them is the Dunbar Number stating that we can only have a close relationship only to a limited number of others.

[Haidar Canaan · Rating 2 out of 5]

ان كنت تبحث عن كتاب تنمية ذاتية او كتاب يعلمك كيف تكسب الاصدقاء او ما هي الصداقة فليس هذا الكتاب الذي تبحث عنه
الكتاب جيد نوعا ما بالرغم من العنوان المضلل الذي ليس له علاقة بفصول الكتاب تقريبا فالكاتب لم يتطرق الى عدد الاصدقاء الا عبر فصل واحد او فصلين من الكتاب لضخم
و كان تركيز الكاتب عن نظرية التطور و النظريات العلمية المرتبطة بها