http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
ix, 302 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.
We humans pride ourselves on our capacity to have ideas, but perhaps this pride is misplaced. Perhaps ideas have us. After all, ideas do appear to have a life of their own. Many biologists have already come to the opinion that our genes are selfish entities, tricking us into helping them to reproduce. Is it the same with our ideas? Jonnie Hughes, a science writer and documentary filmmaker, investigates the evolution of ideas in order to find out. Adopting the role of a cultural Charles Darwin, Hughes heads off, with his brother in tow, across the Midwest to observe firsthand the natural history of ideas--the patterns of their variation, inheritance, and selection in the cultural landscape. In place of Darwin's oceanic islands, Hughes visits the "mind islands" of Native American tribes. Instead of finches, Hughes searches for signs of natural selection among the tepees.
Only human. Weirdos ; The New World -- What's the idea? Evolution, Minnesota ; Variation, North Dakota ; Inheritance, South Dakota ; Selection, Wyoming -- History lessen. Mind out? ; How the West was won I: finding the edges ; How the West was won II: June 25, 1876 ; How the West was won III: America making -- Who's driving? A beginner's guide to tepee taxonomy ; Bound by imagination ; The genes of culture -- Mysteries solved. The past ; The present.
Includes bibliographical references and index.