Transcendence

Transcendence

How Humans Evolved Through Fire, Language, Beauty, and Time

Vince, Gaia, author.
New York : Basic Books, 2020.
Format: Book
Edition: First edition.
Description: viii, 335 pages ; 25 cm
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.
Contents: Introduction -- Genesis. 1. Conception ; 2. Birth -- Fire. 3. Landscaping ; 4. Brain building ; 5. Cultural levers -- Word. 6. Story ; 7. Language ; 8. Telling -- Beauty. 9. Belonging ; 10. Trinkets and treasures ; 11. Builders -- Time. 12. Timekeepers ; 13. Reason ; 14. Homni.
Subjects:
Human evolution.
Evolutionary psychology.
Social evolution.
Social history.
Fire -- History.
Language and languages -- Origin.
Nature (Aesthetics)
Time perception.
HISTORY / Civilization.
SCIENCE / Life Sciences / Biology.
SCIENCE / Life Sciences / Evolution.
SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social.
Evolutionary psychology.
Fire.
Human evolution.
Language and languages -- Origin.
Nature (Aesthetics)
Social evolution.
Social history.
Time perception.
ISBN: 9780465094905
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SCIENCE Human Vin Northeast Indoors Nonfiction In
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