How our ability to learn from each other has been the essential ingredient to our remarkable success as a species

Human beings have evolved to become the most dominant species on Earth. This astonishing transformation is usually explained in terms of cognitive ability-people are just smarter than all the rest. But Robert Boyd argues that culture-our ability to learn from each other-has been the essential ingredient of our remarkable success. He shows how a 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. Based on the Tanner Lectures delivered at Princeton University, A Different Kind of Animal 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.

About the Author
Robert Boyd is Origins Professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University. His books include How Humans Evolved, Not by Genes Alone: How Culture Transformed Human Evolution, and The Origin and Evolution of Cultures.

Reviews
"In this lucid, well-argued treatise, anthropologist Robert Boyd avers that we are 'culture-saturated creatures', and that it is culturally transmitted knowledge that sets us apart and explains our dramatic range of behaviours, from rampant violence to great feats of cooperation."-Barbara Kiser, Nature
"A Different Kind of Animal is a fascinating introduction to a fertile field of cultural research that should be better-known. Approachable and clearly argued, it is a brave revival of the autonomy of culture and a breath of fresh air for those tired of the narrow claims of evolutionary psychology."-Cosmos
"Thought-provoking."-Publishers Weekly



Book Information
ISBN 9780691195902
Author Robert Boyd
Format Paperback
Page Count 248
Imprint Princeton University Press
Publisher Princeton University Press