Transcendence : how humans evolved through fire, language, beauty, and time /
What enabled us to go from simple stone tools to smartphones? How did bands of hunter-gatherers evolve into multinational empires? Readers of Sapiens will say a cognitive revolution, a dramatic evolutionary change that altered our brains, turning primitive humans into modern ones, caused a cultural...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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New York :
Basic Books,
[2020]
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| Edition: | First edition. |
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| Summary: | What enabled us to go from simple stone tools to smartphones? How did bands of hunter-gatherers evolve into multinational empires? Readers of Sapiens will say a cognitive revolution, a dramatic evolutionary change that altered our brains, turning primitive humans into modern ones, caused a cultural explosion. In Transcendence, Gaia Vince argues instead that modern humans are the product of a nuanced coevolution of our genes, environment and culture that goes back into deep time. She explains how, through four key elements, fire, language, beauty and time, our species diverged from the evolutionary path of all other animals, unleashing a compounding process that launched us into the Space Age and beyond. Provocative and poetic, Transcendence shows how a primate took dominion over nature and turned itself into something marvelous. |
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| Physical Description: | viii, 335 pages ; 25 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780465094905 0465094902 |