Transcendence : how humans evolved through fire, language, beauty, and time /

Vince, Gaia,

Transcendence : how humans evolved through fire, language, beauty, and time / Gaia Vince. - First edition. - viii, 335 pages ; 25 cm

"January 2020"--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 281-325) and index.

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.

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.

9780465094905 0465094902


Human evolution.
Evolutionary psychology.
Social evolution.
Social history.
Fire--History.
Language and languages--Origin.
Nature (Aesthetics)
Time perception.

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