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One of the world's greatest scientists of human behaviour shows
that free will does not exist - and challenges us to rethink the
very notion of choice, identity, responsibility, justice, morality
and how we live together. 'One of the best scientist-writers of our
time' Oliver Sacks Behind every thought, action and experience
there lies a chain of biological and environmental causes,
stretching back from the moment a neuron fires to the dawn of our
species and beyond. Nowhere in this infinite sequence is there a
place where free will could play a role. Without free will, it
makes no more sense to punish people for antisocial behaviour than
it does to scold a car for breaking down. It is no one's fault they
are poor or overweight or unsuccessful, nor do people deserve
praise for their talent or hard work; 'grit' is a myth. This
mechanistic view of human behaviour challenges our most powerful
instincts, but history suggests that we have already made great
strides toward it: where once we saw demonic possession or
cowardice, for example, now we diagnose illness or trauma and offer
help. Determined confronts us with our true nature: who and what we
are is biology and nothing more. Disturbing and liberating in equal
measure, it explores the far-reaching implications for society of
accepting this reality. Monumentally difficult as it may be, the
reward will be a far more just and humane world.
One of the world's greatest scientists of human behaviour shows
that free will does not exist - and challenges us to rethink the
very notion of choice, identity, responsibility, justice, morality
and how we live together. 'One of the best scientist-writers of our
time' Oliver Sacks Behind every thought, action and experience
there lies a chain of biological and environmental causes,
stretching back from the moment a neuron fires to the dawn of our
species and beyond. Nowhere in this infinite sequence is there a
place where free will could play a role. Without free will, it
makes no more sense to punish people for antisocial behaviour than
it does to scold a car for breaking down. It is no one's fault they
are poor or overweight or unsuccessful, nor do people deserve
praise for their talent or hard work; 'grit' is a myth. This
mechanistic view of human behaviour challenges our most powerful
instincts, but history suggests that we have already made great
strides toward it: where once we saw demonic possession or
cowardice, for example, now we diagnose illness or trauma and offer
help. Determined confronts us with our true nature: who and what we
are is biology and nothing more. Disturbing and liberating in equal
measure, it explores the far-reaching implications for society of
accepting this reality. Monumentally difficult as it may be, the
reward will be a far more just and humane world.
How do imperceptibly small differences in the environment change
one's behavior? What is the anatomy of a bad mood? Does stress
shrink our brains? What does "People" magazine's list of America's
"50 Most Beautiful People" teach us about nature and nurture? What
makes one organism sexy to another? What makes one orgasm different
from another? Who will be the winner in the genetic war between the
sexes?
Welcome to "Monkeyluv," a curious and entertaining collection of
essays about the human animal in all its fascinating variety, from
Robert M. Sapolsky, America's most beloved
neurobiologist/primatologist. Organized into three sections, each
tackling a Big Question in natural science, "Monkeyluv" offers a
lively exploration of the influence of genes and the environment on
behavior; the social and political -- and, of course, sexual --
implications of behavioral biology; and society's shaping of the
individual. From the mating rituals of prairie dogs to the practice
of religion in the rain forest, the secretion of pheromones to bugs
in the brain, Sapolsky brilliantly synthesizes cutting-edge
scientific research with wry, erudite observations about the
enormous complexity of simply being human. Thoughtful, engaging,
and infused with pop-cultural insights, this collection will appeal
to the inner monkey in all of us.
**NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER** Why do human beings behave as they
do? 'Awe-inspiring... You will learn more about human nature than
in any other book I can think of' Henry Marsh, bestselling author
of And Finally. We are capable of savage acts of violence but also
spectacular feats of kindness: is one side of our nature destined
to win out over the other? Every act of human behaviour has
multiple layers of causation, spiralling back seconds, minutes,
hours, days, months, years, even centuries, right back to the dawn
of time and the origins of our species. In the epic sweep of
history, how does our biology affect the arc of war and peace,
justice and persecution? How have our brains evolved alongside our
cultures? This is the exhilarating story of human morality and the
science underpinning the biggest question of all: what makes us
human? 'One of the best scientist-writers of our time' Oliver Sacks
Renowned primatologist Robert Sapolsky offers a completely revised
and updated edition of his most popular work, with nearly 90,000
copies in print Now in a third edition, Robert M. Sapolsky's
acclaimed and successful Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers features new
chapters on how stress affects sleep and addiction, as well as new
insights into anxiety and personality disorder and the impact of
spirituality on managing stress. As Sapolsky explains, most of us
do not lie awake at night worrying about whether we have leprosy or
malaria. Instead, the diseases we fear-and the ones that plague us
now-are illnesses brought on by the slow accumulation of damage,
such as heart disease and cancer. When we worry or experience
stress, our body turns on the same physiological responses that an
animal's does, but we do not resolve conflict in the same
way-through fighting or fleeing. Over time, this activation of a
stress response makes us literally sick. Combining cutting-edge
research with a healthy dose of good humor and practical advice,
Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers explains how prolonged stress causes or
intensifies a range of physical and mental afflictions, including
depression, ulcers, colitis, heart disease, and more. It also
provides essential guidance to controlling our stress responses.
This new edition promises to be the most comprehensive and engaging
one yet. Renowned primatologist Robert Sapolsky offers a completely
revised and updated edition of his most popular work, with nearly
90,000 copies in print Now in a third edition, Robert M. Sapolsky's
acclaimed and successful Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers features new
chapters on how stress affects sleep and addiction, as well as new
insights into anxiety and personality disorder and the impact of
spirituality on managing stress.
Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize From the man who
Oliver Sacks hailed as "one of the best scientist/writers of our
time," a collection of sharply observed, uproariously funny essays
on the biology of human culture and behavior.In the tradition of
Stephen Jay Gould and Oliver Sacks, Robert Sapolsky offers a
sparkling and erudite collection of essays about science, the
world, and our relation to both. "The Trouble with Testosterone"
explores the influence of that notorious hormone on male
aggression. "Curious George's Pharmacy" reexamines recent exciting
claims that wild primates know how to medicate themselves with
forest plants. "Junk Food Monkeys" relates the adventures of a
troop of baboons who stumble upon a tourist garbage dump. And
"Circling the Blanket for God" examines the neurobiological roots
underlying religious belief. Drawing on his career as an
evolutionary biologist and neurobiologist, Robert Sapolsky writes
about the natural world vividly and insightfully. With candor,
humor, and rich observations, these essays marry cutting-edge
science with humanity, illuminating the interconnectedness of the
world's inhabitants with skill and flair.
The New York Times Bestseller "It's no exaggeration to say that
Behave is one of the best nonfiction books I've ever read." -David
P. Barash, The Wall Street Journal "It has my vote for science book
of the year." -Parul Sehgal, The New York Times "Hands-down one of
the best books I've read in years. I loved it." -Dina
Temple-Raston, The Washington Post Named a Best Book of the Year by
The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal From the celebrated
neurobiologist and primatologist, a landmark, genre-defining
examination of human behavior, both good and bad, and an answer to
the question: Why do we do the things we do? Sapolsky's
storytelling concept is delightful but it also has a powerful
intrinsic logic: he starts by looking at the factors that bear on a
person's reaction in the precise moment a behavior occurs, and then
hops back in time from there, in stages, ultimately ending up at
the deep history of our species and its evolutionary legacy. And so
the first category of explanation is the neurobiological one. A
behavior occurs--whether an example of humans at our best, worst,
or somewhere in between. What went on in a person's brain a second
before the behavior happened? Then Sapolsky pulls out to a slightly
larger field of vision, a little earlier in time: What sight,
sound, or smell caused the nervous system to produce that behavior?
And then, what hormones acted hours to days earlier to change how
responsive that individual is to the stimuli that triggered the
nervous system? By now he has increased our field of vision so that
we are thinking about neurobiology and the sensory world of our
environment and endocrinology in trying to explain what happened.
Sapolsky keeps going: How was that behavior influenced by
structural changes in the nervous system over the preceding months,
by that person's adolescence, childhood, fetal life, and then back
to his or her genetic makeup? Finally, he expands the view to
encompass factors larger than one individual. How did culture shape
that individual's group, what ecological factors millennia old
formed that culture? And on and on, back to evolutionary factors
millions of years old. The result is one of the most dazzling tours
d'horizon of the science of human behavior ever attempted, a
majestic synthesis that harvests cutting-edge research across a
range of disciplines to provide a subtle and nuanced perspective on
why we ultimately do the things we do...for good and for ill.
Sapolsky builds on this understanding to wrestle with some of our
deepest and thorniest questions relating to tribalism and
xenophobia, hierarchy and competition, morality and free will, and
war and peace. Wise, humane, often very funny, Behave is a towering
achievement, powerfully humanizing, and downright heroic in its own
right.
This resource comprises a collection of accessible, flexible,
tried-and-tested activities for use with people in a range of care
and therapy settings, to help them explore their knowledge of
themselves and to make sense of their experiences. Among the issues
addressed by the activities are exploring physical changes,
emotional trauma, interpersonal problems and spiritual dilemmas.
Designed with simple and inexpensive art tools in mind for
individual and group activities of varying difficulty, it also
includes real-life anecdotes that bring the techniques to life.
This new edition contains extra activities and resources to promote
the continuing wellness of patients and clients outside of therapy
settings. This new edition of the Expressive Arts Activity Book is
full of fun, easy, creative ideas for workers in hospitals,
clinics, schools, hospices, spiritual and religious settings, and
in private practice.
Discover this remarkable account of twenty-one years in remote
Kenya with a troop of Savannah baboons from the New York Times
bestselling author of Behave. 'One of the best scientist-writers of
our time' Oliver Sacks Brooklyn-born Robert Sapolsky grew up
wishing he could live in the primate diorama in the Museum of
Natural History. At school he wrote fan letters to primatologists
and even taught himself Swahili, all with the hope of one day
joining his primate brethren in Africa. But when, at the age of
twenty-one, Sapolky's dream finally comes true he discovers that
the African bush bears little resemblance to the tranquillity of a
museum. This is the story of the next twenty-one years as Sapolsky
slowly infiltrates and befriends a troop of Savannah baboons. Alone
in the middle of the Serengeti with no electricity, running water
or telephone, and surviving countless scams, culinary atrocities
and a surreal kidnapping, Sapolsky becomes ever more enamoured with
his adopted baboon troop - unique and compelling characters in
their own right - and he returns to them summer after summer, until
tragedy finally prevails. 'A Primate's Memoir is the closest the
baboon is likely to come - and it's plenty close enough - to having
its own Iliad' New York Times Review of Books Exhilarating,
hilarious and poignant, A Primate's Memoir is a uniquely honest
window into the coming-of-age of one of our greatest scientific
minds.
Described by Oliver Sacks as 'one of the best scientist-writers of
our time', Robert M. Sapolsky here presents the human animal in all
its quirkiness and diversity. In these remarkable essays, Sapolsky
once again deploys his compassion and insights into the human
condition to tell us who, why and how we are. Monkeyluv touches on
themes such as sexuality, aggression, love, parenting, religion,
ageing, and mental illness. He ponders such topics as our need to
seek out beauty; why our preferences in food become fixed; why we
are sexually attracted to one another; why Alzheimer's disease
tends to be a post-menopausal phenomenon; and why grandmothers
buying groceries for their grandchildren are part of nature's
Darwinian logic.
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