• The Ape That Understood the Universe: How the Mind and Culture Evolve

  • By: Steve Stewart-Williams
  • Narrated by: Tom Lawrence
  • Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (263 ratings)

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The Ape That Understood the Universe: How the Mind and Culture Evolve

By: Steve Stewart-Williams
Narrated by: Tom Lawrence
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Publisher's summary

The Ape That Understood the Universe is the story of the strangest animal in the world: the human animal. It opens with a question: How would an alien scientist view our species? What would it make of our sex differences, our sexual behavior, our child-rearing patterns, our moral codes, our religions, our languages, and science? The book tackles these issues by drawing on ideas from two major schools of thought: evolutionary psychology and cultural evolutionary theory.

The guiding assumption is that humans are animals, and that like all animals, we evolved to pass on our genes. At some point, however, we also evolved the capacity for culture - and from that moment, culture began evolving in its own right. This transformed us from a mere ape into an ape capable of reshaping the planet, travelling to other worlds, and understanding the vast universe of which we're but a tiny, fleeting fragment.

©2018 Steve Stewart-Williams (P)2019 Steve Stewart-Williams

What listeners say about The Ape That Understood the Universe: How the Mind and Culture Evolve

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Seven Evolutionary Theories U Can't Say On Campus

So this book will obviously ruffle some feathers. And the writer acknowledges that. He explains throughout the book how his science is misrepresented by the general public, by detractors to the evolutionary psychological sciencies, etc. That out of the way this is an fascinating book about our species and the sexual dichotomy and hard-wiring we all have without realizing it. Looking at our species from an alien perspective isn't new, and the way the writer imagines a theoretical alien species is painfully typical, but when the known science is attached to the information it makes for an interesting self reflection of our species. There are some 'one might suppose' moments which can mostly be chalked up to pure speculation being professed as proven science, but he does go out of his way to say when something isn't known or is still being studied. I think most people will like this book and the people that will have a problem with it will stop an hour into it and explain everything they think the book 'must have been about'. It's similar to the book from a few years ago "Who We Are and How We Got Here" in how others could misuse the information (or use a misunderstood/falsified version of the data) for whatever agendas or manifestos they desperately want to be true.

So are we the first animal on Earth to have no prior wiring whatsoever, a being of pure free will? Or are we preprogrammed just following a script? Or something else? Give the book a listen and see what you think.

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6 people found this helpful

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FANTASTIC!! EVERYONE SHOULD EAR/READ

No more dogmas after reading this one! What began as a simply exercise of imagination, turned out to be so much more! Thank so much to Steve Stewart-Williams for this book!

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4 people found this helpful

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This meme machine is ready to spread this meme.

This is effectively the only evolutionary psychology book you will ever need to read if you want a basic understanding of what the field is all about. Obviously, there is always more material to read, but if you want to understand the basics and be able to form an opinion on the field, this is a great place to start. Especially because it's coming from a person with no agenda beyond forming a good, nuanced argument in favor of the field's validity. If you are concerned that this is some Alt-Right dog whistle of a book, fear not. If you are concerned that this is some New Age mumbo jumbo, fear not. If you are concerned that this will undermine your view of humanity and why we are the way we are... this book will be worth the read.

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3 people found this helpful

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  • K
  • 02-17-20

Wrong chapters.

The chapters are completely wrong. chapter 4 is strangely in the section "Chapter 6". I dont understand why someone wouldn't review it before posting it.

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3 people found this helpful

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wonderful!

great read! could definitely read again and again.
would recommend this book to anyone interested in such subjects

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powerful ideas brillliantly communicated

this is exactly what I was looking for: a starting point for memetics and evolutionary psichology that is both accessible and engaging

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    4 out of 5 stars

Long and thorough

At times a tad tedious ("in other words" is a dead giveaway), the arguments are nevertheless thorough and mostly convincing. I found the extraterrestrial approach somewhat silly, but it might just be me, and the catchy song at the end almost made up for it. Recommended.

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Great book for those who want to know why things are!

Great book for those who want to know why things are the way they are and not just say it is.

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Life changing

Gives you greater perspective and insight !!! Highly recommend this book . Trust me you won’t be disappointed.

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Amazing!

A thoroughly well reasoned and thoughtful book. As entertaining as it is enlightening!!! Listen to this book!!!

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