{"product_id":"a-different-kind-of-animal-robert-boyd-9780691177731","title":"A Different Kind of Animal: How Culture Transformed Our Species","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eHow our ability to learn from each other has been the essential ingredient to our remarkable success as a species\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHuman beings are a very different kind of animal. We have evolved to become the most dominant species on Earth. We have a larger geographical range and process more energy than any other creature alive. This astonishing transformation is usually explained in terms of cognitive ability--people are just smarter than all the rest. But in this compelling book, Robert Boyd argues that culture--our ability to learn from each other--has been the essential ingredient of our remarkable success. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eA Different Kind of Animal\u003c\/i\u003e demonstrates that while people are smart, we are not nearly smart enough to have solved the vast array of problems that confronted our species as it spread across the globe. Over the past two million years, culture has evolved to enable human populations to accumulate superb local adaptations that no individual could ever have invented on their own. It has also made possible the evolution of social norms that allow humans to make common cause with large groups of unrelated individuals, a kind of society not seen anywhere else in nature. This unique combination of cultural adaptation and large-scale cooperation has transformed our species and assured our survival--making us the different kind of animal we are today. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBased on the Tanner Lectures delivered at Princeton University, \u003ci\u003eA Different Kind of Animal\u003c\/i\u003e features challenging responses by biologist H. Allen Orr, philosopher Kim Sterelny, economist Paul Seabright, and evolutionary anthropologist Ruth Mace, as well as an introduction by Stephen Macedo.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Robert Boyd\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0691177732\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780691177731\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Princeton University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/07\/2017\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 248\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.00lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.60h x 5.80w x 1.10d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/01\/2018\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/01\/2018","brand":"Robert Boyd","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":43981105627391,"sku":"9780691177731","price":27.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_42bb7fb9-607e-418a-a049-f0a7ce2f6139.jpg?v=1683253686","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/a-different-kind-of-animal-robert-boyd-9780691177731","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}