Ritual - How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living (Hardcover, Main)

A TELEGRAPH 'Best Smart Thinking Books of 2022' PICK 'A gripping guide to rites and customs around the world' New Scientist 'Fascinating ... pacy, adventurous' Mail on Sunday Ritual is the oldest, and certainly the most enigmatic, thread in the history of human culture. And it presents a profound paradox: people ascribe the utmost importance to their rituals, but few can explain why they are so important. Apparently pointless ceremonies pervade every documented society, from handshakes to hexes, hazings to parades. Before we ever learned to farm, we were gathering in giant stone temples to perform elaborate rites and ceremonies. And yet, though rituals exist in every culture and can persist nearly unchanged for centuries, their logic has remained a mystery - until now. In Ritual, pioneering scientist Dimitris Xygalatas leads us on an enlightening tour through this shadowy realm of human behaviour. Armed with cutting-edge technology and drawing on discoveries from a huge range of disciplines, he presents a powerful new perspective on our place in the world. In coronations, in silent prayer, in fire-walks and terrifying rites of passage, in all the bewildering variety of human life, Ritual reveals the deep and subtle mechanisms that bind us together.

General

Imprint:	Profile Books Ltd
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	June 2022
First published:	2022
Authors:	Dimitris Xygalatas
Dimensions:	236 x 162 x 34mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover - Trade binding
Pages:	320
Edition:	Main
ISBN-13:	978-1-78816-102-2
Categories:	Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social issues > General Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Anthropology > Social & cultural anthropology > General
LSN:	1-78816-102-5
Barcode:	9781788161022

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