-
The WEIRDest People in the World
- How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous
- Narrated by: Korey Jackson
- Length: 19 hrs and 3 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

pick 2 free titles with trial.
Buy for $27.39
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Guns, Germs and Steel
- The Fate of Human Societies
- By: Jared Diamond
- Narrated by: Doug Ordunio
- Length: 16 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Having done field work in New Guinea for more than 30 years, Jared Diamond presents the geographical and ecological factors that have shaped the modern world. From the viewpoint of an evolutionary biologist, he highlights the broadest movements both literal and conceptual on every continent since the Ice Age, and examines societal advances such as writing, religion, government, and technology.
-
-
Compelling pre-history and emergent history
- By Doug on 08-25-11
By: Jared Diamond
-
The Alpha Female's Guide to Men and Marriage
- How Love Works
- By: Suzanne Venker
- Narrated by: Sherry Farmer-Hebert
- Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Alpha Female's Guide to Men and Marriageshows women who have a dominating personality how to love a man. America is in love with the alpha female. She's the quintessential modern woman--assertive, razor sharp, and fully in control. Her success in the marketplace is undeniable, a downright boon to society. But what happens when the alpha female gets married?
-
-
Sorry, not good
- By JMB on 11-04-17
By: Suzanne Venker
-
The Secret of Our Success
- How Culture Is Driving Human Evolution, Domesticating Our Species, and Making Us Smarter
- By: Joseph Henrich
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 17 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Humans are a puzzling species. On the one hand, we struggle to survive on our own in the wild, often failing to overcome even basic challenges, like obtaining food, building shelters, or avoiding predators. On the other hand, human groups have produced ingenious technologies, sophisticated languages, and complex institutions that have permitted us to successfully expand into a vast range of diverse environments. What has enabled us to dominate the globe, more than any other species, while remaining virtually helpless as lone individuals?
-
-
The power of sociality to supercharge evolution
- By Graeme Newell on 09-27-19
By: Joseph Henrich
-
The Tyranny of Merit
- What's Become of the Common Good?
- By: Michael J. Sandel
- Narrated by: Michael J. Sandel
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world-renowned philosopher and author of the best-selling Justice explores the central question of our time: What has become of the common good? World-renowned philosopher Michael J. Sandel argues that to overcome the crises that are upending our world, we must rethink the attitudes toward success and failure that have accompanied globalization and rising inequality. Sandel shows the hubris a meritocracy generates among the winners and the harsh judgment it imposes on those left behind, and traces the dire consequences across a wide swath of American life.
-
-
Enlightening
- By Robert McIntosh on 09-18-20
-
Slouching Towards Utopia
- An Economic History of the Twentieth Century
- By: J. Bradford DeLong
- Narrated by: Allan Aquino
- Length: 20 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Before 1870, humanity lived in dire poverty, with a slow crawl of invention offset by a growing population. Then came a great shift: invention sprinted forward, doubling our technological capabilities each generation and utterly transforming the economy again and again. Our ancestors would have presumed we would have used such powers to build utopia. But it was not so. When 1870-2010 ended, the world instead saw global warming; economic depression, uncertainty, and inequality; and broad rejection of the status quo.
-
-
A clear but sometimes one-sided economic history
- By Anon on 11-22-22
-
Psych
- The Story of the Human Mind
- By: Paul Bloom
- Narrated by: Graham Halstead
- Length: 15 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How does the brain—a three-pound wrinkly mass—give rise to intelligence and conscious experience? Was Freud right that we are all plagued by forbidden sexual desires? What is the function of emotions such as disgust, gratitude, and shame? Renowned psychologist Paul Bloom answers these questions and many more in Psych, his riveting new book about the science of the mind.
-
-
Not particularly interesting
- By michelle gourgeot on 07-10-23
By: Paul Bloom
-
Guns, Germs and Steel
- The Fate of Human Societies
- By: Jared Diamond
- Narrated by: Doug Ordunio
- Length: 16 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Having done field work in New Guinea for more than 30 years, Jared Diamond presents the geographical and ecological factors that have shaped the modern world. From the viewpoint of an evolutionary biologist, he highlights the broadest movements both literal and conceptual on every continent since the Ice Age, and examines societal advances such as writing, religion, government, and technology.
-
-
Compelling pre-history and emergent history
- By Doug on 08-25-11
By: Jared Diamond
-
The Alpha Female's Guide to Men and Marriage
- How Love Works
- By: Suzanne Venker
- Narrated by: Sherry Farmer-Hebert
- Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Alpha Female's Guide to Men and Marriageshows women who have a dominating personality how to love a man. America is in love with the alpha female. She's the quintessential modern woman--assertive, razor sharp, and fully in control. Her success in the marketplace is undeniable, a downright boon to society. But what happens when the alpha female gets married?
-
-
Sorry, not good
- By JMB on 11-04-17
By: Suzanne Venker
-
The Secret of Our Success
- How Culture Is Driving Human Evolution, Domesticating Our Species, and Making Us Smarter
- By: Joseph Henrich
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 17 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Humans are a puzzling species. On the one hand, we struggle to survive on our own in the wild, often failing to overcome even basic challenges, like obtaining food, building shelters, or avoiding predators. On the other hand, human groups have produced ingenious technologies, sophisticated languages, and complex institutions that have permitted us to successfully expand into a vast range of diverse environments. What has enabled us to dominate the globe, more than any other species, while remaining virtually helpless as lone individuals?
-
-
The power of sociality to supercharge evolution
- By Graeme Newell on 09-27-19
By: Joseph Henrich
-
The Tyranny of Merit
- What's Become of the Common Good?
- By: Michael J. Sandel
- Narrated by: Michael J. Sandel
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world-renowned philosopher and author of the best-selling Justice explores the central question of our time: What has become of the common good? World-renowned philosopher Michael J. Sandel argues that to overcome the crises that are upending our world, we must rethink the attitudes toward success and failure that have accompanied globalization and rising inequality. Sandel shows the hubris a meritocracy generates among the winners and the harsh judgment it imposes on those left behind, and traces the dire consequences across a wide swath of American life.
-
-
Enlightening
- By Robert McIntosh on 09-18-20
-
Slouching Towards Utopia
- An Economic History of the Twentieth Century
- By: J. Bradford DeLong
- Narrated by: Allan Aquino
- Length: 20 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Before 1870, humanity lived in dire poverty, with a slow crawl of invention offset by a growing population. Then came a great shift: invention sprinted forward, doubling our technological capabilities each generation and utterly transforming the economy again and again. Our ancestors would have presumed we would have used such powers to build utopia. But it was not so. When 1870-2010 ended, the world instead saw global warming; economic depression, uncertainty, and inequality; and broad rejection of the status quo.
-
-
A clear but sometimes one-sided economic history
- By Anon on 11-22-22
-
Psych
- The Story of the Human Mind
- By: Paul Bloom
- Narrated by: Graham Halstead
- Length: 15 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How does the brain—a three-pound wrinkly mass—give rise to intelligence and conscious experience? Was Freud right that we are all plagued by forbidden sexual desires? What is the function of emotions such as disgust, gratitude, and shame? Renowned psychologist Paul Bloom answers these questions and many more in Psych, his riveting new book about the science of the mind.
-
-
Not particularly interesting
- By michelle gourgeot on 07-10-23
By: Paul Bloom
-
End Times
- Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration
- By: Peter Turchin
- Narrated by: Robin McAlpine
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Peter Turchin, one of the most interesting social scientists of our age, has infused the study of history with approaches and insights from other fields for more than a quarter century. End Times is the culmination of his work to understand what causes political communities to cohere and what causes them to fall apart, as applied to the current turmoil within the United States.
-
-
History Simulator v2.0
- By Mike on 06-28-23
By: Peter Turchin
-
The Dawn of Everything
- A New History of Humanity
- By: David Graeber, David Wengrow
- Narrated by: Mark Williams
- Length: 24 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A trailblazing account of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution—from the development of agriculture and cities to the emergence of "the state", political violence, and social inequality—and revealing new possibilities for human emancipation.
-
-
exactly what I've been looking for
- By DankTurtle on 11-10-21
By: David Graeber, and others
-
How to Be Animal
- A New History of What It Means to Be Human
- By: Melanie Challenger
- Narrated by: Hannah Curtis
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How to Be Animal tells a remarkable story of what it means to be human and argues that at the heart of our existence is a profound struggle with being animal. We possess a psychology that seeks separation between humanity and the rest of nature, and we have invented grand ideologies to magnify this. As well as piecing together the mystery of how this mindset evolved, Challenger's book examines the wide-reaching ways in which it affects our lives, from our politics to the way we distance ourselves from other species.
-
-
A lucid description of what we are
- By Desert Reader on 05-31-21
-
The End of History and the Last Man
- By: Francis Fukuyama
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 15 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ever since its first publication in 1992, The End of History and the Last Man has provoked controversy and debate. Francis Fukuyama's prescient analysis of religious fundamentalism, politics, scientific progress, ethical codes, and war is as essential for a world fighting fundamentalist terrorists as it was for the end of the Cold War. Now updated with a new afterword, The End of History and the Last Man is a modern classic.
-
-
An important discussion expertly narrated
- By Kevin Teeple on 06-27-19
By: Francis Fukuyama
-
God, Human, Animal, Machine
- Technology, Metaphor, and the Search for Meaning
- By: Meghan O'Gieblyn
- Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For most of human history the world was a magical and enchanted place ruled by forces beyond our understanding. The rise of science and Descartes's division of mind from world made materialism our ruling paradigm, in the process asking whether our own consciousness—i.e., souls—might be illusions. Now the inexorable rise of technology, with artificial intelligences that surpass our comprehension and control, and the spread of digital metaphors for self-understanding, the core questions of existence urgently require rethinking.
-
-
Confessions of an Evangelical Pastor
- By Jonathan F. on 10-28-21
By: Meghan O'Gieblyn
-
Identity
- The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment
- By: Francis Fukuyama
- Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan
- Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2014, Francis Fukuyama wrote that American institutions were in decay, as the state was progressively captured by powerful interest groups. Two years later, his predictions were borne out by the rise to power of a series of political outsiders whose economic nationalism and authoritarian tendencies threatened to destabilize the entire international order. These populist nationalists seek direct charismatic connection to “the people”, who are usually defined in narrow identity terms that offer an irresistible call to an in-group and exclude large parts of the population as a whole.
-
-
Robotic narrator
- By Shahin on 09-19-18
By: Francis Fukuyama
-
The Case Against the Sexual Revolution
- By: Louise Perry
- Narrated by: Louise Perry
- Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The sexual revolution has liberated us to enjoy a heady mixture of erotic freedom and personal autonomy. Right? Wrong, argues Louise Perry in her provocative new book.
-
-
A feminist's advice to girls and young women
- By Wayne on 02-17-23
By: Louise Perry
-
The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution
- By: Francis Fukuyama
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 22 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Virtually all human societies were once organized tribally, yet over time most developed new political institutions which included a central state that could keep the peace and uniform laws that applied to all citizens. Some went on to create governments that were accountable to their constituents. We take these institutions for granted, but they are absent or are unable to perform in many of today’s developing countries—with often disastrous consequences for the rest of the world.
-
-
Few forests, but lots of trees
- By Steve Pagano on 10-05-15
By: Francis Fukuyama
-
Blueprint
- The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society
- By: Nicholas A. Christakis
- Narrated by: Nicholas A. Christakis
- Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For too long, scientists have focused on the dark side of our biological heritage: our capacity for aggression, cruelty, prejudice, and self-interest. But natural selection has given us a suite of beneficial social features, including our capacity for love, friendship, cooperation, and learning. Beneath all our inventions - our tools, farms, machines, cities, nations - we carry with us innate proclivities to make a good society.
-
-
Many interesting thoughts
- By Jonas Blomberg Ghini on 06-01-19
-
Liberalism and Its Discontents
- By: Francis Fukuyama
- Narrated by: Christopher Ragland
- Length: 5 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's no secret that liberalism didn't always live up to its own ideals. In America, many people were denied equality before the law. Who counted as full human beings worthy of universal rights was contested for centuries, and only recently has this circle expanded to include women, African Americans, LGBTQ+ people, and others. Conservatives complain that liberalism empties the common life of meaning. As Francis Fukuyama shows in Liberalism and Its Discontents, the principles of liberalism have also, in recent decades, been pushed to new extremes by both the right and the left.
-
-
An important voice at the table...
- By Kindle Customer on 10-25-22
By: Francis Fukuyama
-
The Decadent Society
- How We Became a Victim of Our Own Success
- By: Ross Douthat
- Narrated by: Ross Douthat
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The era of the coronavirus has tested America, and our leaders and institutions have conspicuously failed. That failure shouldn’t be surprising: Beneath social-media frenzy and reality-television politics, our era’s deep truths are elite incompetence, cultural exhaustion, and the flight from reality into fantasy. The Decadent Society explains what happens when a powerful society ceases advancing - how the combination of wealth and technological proficiency with economic stagnation, political stalemate, and demographic decline creates a unique civilizational crisis.
-
-
Another Liberal Arts Intellectual who does not rea
- By Trebla on 03-24-20
By: Ross Douthat
-
American Nations
- A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America
- By: Colin Woodard
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
North America was settled by people with distinct religious, political, and ethnographic characteristics, creating regional cultures that have been at odds with one another ever since. Subsequent immigrants didn't confront or assimilate into an "American" or "Canadian" culture, but rather into one of the 11 distinct regional ones that spread over the continent each staking out mutually exclusive territory. In American Nations, Colin Woodard leads us on a journey through the history of our fractured continent....
-
-
One of a Kind Masterpiece
- By Theo Horesh on 02-28-13
By: Colin Woodard
Publisher's summary
A bold, epic account of how the co-evolution of psychology and culture created the peculiar Western mind that has profoundly shaped the modern world.
Perhaps you are WEIRD: raised in a society that is Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. If so, you’re rather psychologically peculiar.
Unlike much of the world today, and most people who have ever lived, WEIRD people are highly individualistic, self-obsessed, control-oriented, nonconformist, and analytical. They focus on themselves—their attributes, accomplishments, and aspirations—over their relationships and social roles. How did WEIRD populations become so psychologically distinct? What role did these psychological differences play in the industrial revolution and the global expansion of Europe during the last few centuries?
In The WEIRDest People in the World, Joseph Henrich draws on cutting-edge research in anthropology, psychology, economics, and evolutionary biology to explore these questions and more. He illuminates the origins and evolution of family structures, marriage, and religion, and the profound impact these cultural transformations had on human psychology. Mapping these shifts through ancient history and late antiquity, Henrich reveals that the most fundamental institutions of kinship and marriage changed dramatically under pressure from the Roman Catholic Church. It was these changes that gave rise to the WEIRD psychology that would coevolve with impersonal markets, occupational specialization, and free competition—laying the foundation for the modern world.
Provocative and engaging in both its broad scope and its surprising details, The WEIRDest People in the World explores how culture, institutions, and psychology shape one another, and explains what this means for both our most personal sense of who we are as individuals and also the large-scale social, political, and economic forces that drive human history.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
Critic reviews
"A fascinating, vigorously argued work that probes deeply into the way “WEIRD people” think." (Kirkus)
"Joseph Henrich has undertaken a massively ambitious work that explains the transition to the modern world from kin-based societies, drawing on a wealth of data across disciplines that significantly contributes to our understanding of this classic issue in social theory." (Francis Fukuyama, author of The Origins of Political Order and Political Order and Political Decay)
"Ambitious and fascinating...This meaty book is ready-made for involved discussions." (Publisher's Weekly)
More from the same
Author
Narrator
What listeners say about The WEIRDest People in the World
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Phillip Falk
- 10-24-20
Lots of mispronounced words
Just a quick note that the narrator mispronounces lots of words. Not super difficult stuff - isn’t there a producer / editor to catch this stuff?
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
36 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Douglas Osborne
- 12-30-20
bad narration of a good book
I highly recommend this book-- for reading. I don't recommend the audible version. The narrator has a pleasant enough voice and enunciates clearly (hence two stars instead of one), but his pronunciation is often distracting (e.g., "-ure" words such as "endure" sound like "-oor" words, and "prevalence" is read with the stress on the second syllable and a long "a" sound ...). The real problem, though, is that the narrator doesn't read as if he understands what he's saying. He seems to be reading word by word, rather than seeing where a sentence is going and adjusting his delivery to reflect the larger structure and the various components --phrases, clauses, conjunctions-- within it. I've been listening to audiobooks for at least 25 years, and I don't recall having come across another narrator who does so little to help me keep track of where I am in a sentence. Nevertheless, I did manage to listen to the whole book despite nearly giving up after 30 minutes. Switching to 1.25 speed (a first, for me) made a big difference.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
26 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Brian
- 01-02-21
Ruined by Poor Narration - Save your Money
A great book ruined by sloppy narration. Pathetic. The narrator sounds like he’s never read a book aloud before.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
13 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- T. Hagstrom
- 01-14-21
poor narrator
the narrator destroys this audiobook, it is almost unbearable to listen to. story is great en enlightening.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
10 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- hans sandberg
- 12-06-20
One of the best books I've read about who we sre
This book continues and expands on Joe Henrich's excellent "The Secret of our Success" (2015). It must be one of the best books about anthropology, economics, and psychology in a long time. it explains who we (Europeans and North Americans) are, and we became this way. It's a well told story and very convincing.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Austin Tyler Wilford
- 12-15-20
Digestible Academia
This book does a dantastic job using high level behavioral studies to make its point, while making it graspable for any level reader.
The book falls a bit short of the apex because I feel that there wasnt a good point made for what should be done with the information given in this book. It makes it point and then ends.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 09-28-21
Dense with ideas, Narration is perfectly fine
Despite some negative reviews, I found the narration perfectly fine. The audio performer has many credits to his name for good reason.
The book itself is dense with theories and ideas about cultural evolution. It’s a narrative about societies/cultures shaping the future. In our current time of partisan divides it’s worth contemplating how our societies are shaping us and how we can in turn shape them, hopefully for the better.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- C. Quane
- 05-22-23
Narration made understanding the book more difficult.
The tone and tempo of the narrator was very distracting. Consider another performer next time.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Gregory Stark
- 12-22-22
Probably better experience with non-audio book
This book gets 5 stars for content, but definitely not for reading experience, especially on audible. This is probably worth getting the paper copy and re-reading at some point.
You could basically teach an undergrad level anthropology/history/psychology course with this as the textbook.
That’s how dense it is with theory, research references, and historical data.
The biggest takeaway is that there are objective differences in culture, developed as a result of a variety of specific historical factors, that play a huge factor in the success or failure of any group of people.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Chris
- 04-15-21
Mostly harmless
While the pronunciation errors other reviewers have noted are significantly more frequent than in any other audiobook I've listened to, and sometimes embarrassingly silly, they rarely impeded comprehension. The only instance I can recall in which it came close was when 'causal' was read as 'casual' in a setting where the latter could have also made sense.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- andrewjlockley
- 04-02-23
Outstandingly informative
This is a tough but exquisitely rewarding read. You'll learn why the woke narrative of all peoples being alike is such an outrageous and dangerous lie. Henrich makes meticulously evidenced claims to show why Chinese people copy, Arabs overreact to perceived insults, and why incestuous societies don't act like integrated societies at all - but rather mere groupings of families and clans. Civilisations are rare and precious things; if you've ever doubted the need to defend yours against those who regard its values with contempt or cavalier disregard, then this is the book to make you hold your nerve against the polite lie. We're not all the same, and this book shows how our deepest cultural values change with glacial pace across the generations. No amount of inculcation can turn even a Sicilian into a Berliner - let alone transform someone from an even more widely separated culture. This book offers very detailed descriptions of all the supporting evidence for its claims, making it both worthy and wordy - it's fascinating, but expect deep details, not bouncy narrative and engaging anecdotes.
One small beef: Korey Jackson is an odd choice to narrate this book; his accent and rhythmically precise, rap-like delivery is incongruous with the occasionally quasi-autobiographical perspective of the author. He's obviously not from the European-rooted culture described in personal terms by the author, so it's a bit like having a cat narrate a book written by a dog - albeit a very eloquent cat.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Nicolai zoffmann
- 04-13-23
Manipulative, unscientific and potentially harmful
Most late anthropologists will strive to provide nuanced and non monolithic culture predictions when possible. Joseph Henrich tries to consolidate multiple psychological studies (which many are either flawed, disproven or recalled) into a narrative regarding first: societies with early Protestantism are special
And secondly men in monogamous societies are less criminal because they have a statistically entrée chance of breeding (super strange btw)
Through a wishwash of academic sounding phrases he tries to gaslight the reader into thinking that he the author is not favourable to western white men - but merely stating “facts” - most of which are either cherrypicked, unrelated or hard to reproduce
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 05-31-22
Very insightful
I would be interested to read this and Gun's Germs and Steel. This kind of cultural analysis is interesting because it not only offers explanations but also shows (or at least tries to show) causal links using study designs that are robust. Combined with other understandings of human behaviour from behavioural genetics I think you get a good understanding of our species
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Scott
- 04-21-22
Great! but quite hard
amazing content, beautifully presented. it was just over my cognitive threshold so really had to struggle through it, but very much enjoyed its lessons where I understood it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall

- Ahti Tomi
- 02-27-22
Fascinating ... but how true?
His argumentation makes sense as a hypothesis. Time will tell if facts hold. I have my doubts
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 09-27-21
A Fascinating Yet Overconfident New Worldview
This book presents a grand thesis - that the medieval church and its family policy are ultimately responsible for how psychologically and therefore socially peculiar Western societies are. As is the case with any overarching narrative, it is more likely to be wrong than completely right. Henrich presents compelling evidence, yet in my view, the number of chains in his causal link that he has to forge is rather large. Whether this thesis is true or not, this book has nevertheless had great impact on me. It shows the reader a completely new way of how we might explain the social world around us and its history - through the lenses of cultural evolution. Too few social scientists and historians take it seriously, yet Henrich shows it to be crucial and tears the blindfold of Western-centric views of human cognition, sociality and morality from our eyes. A must (critical) read.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Daniel Holt
- 06-17-21
enlightenment puzzle
an important piece of the puzzle in solving the mystery of why the enlightenment and industrial revolution happened in western Europe.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 04-02-21
Extraordinary book
A vast and compelling account of why we weirds are the way we are, and aren’t. A vast and convincing array of research and so many “bloody hell” lightbulb moments that may change the way you think about the world. If you love your Harari’s and Breman’s of this world you’ll love this. Essential reading and a future classic.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Matthew
- 03-07-21
Think game changer
This is one of the best books I have read ever. it adds so much not just to my thinking but understanding of people and the world around me. very impressed
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- njaal foldnes
- 02-24-21
Difficult to listen to
I was seriously thinking that this was a robot reading, ie., AI reading of book. I was not able to listen, so I can not judge the contents
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 08-25-23
Is weird the new normal?
Great book and ideas. Excellent read and splendid vocabulary. Poor performance. The narrator spoiled it somewhat for me. Nevertheless the content was great.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Momo C
- 04-12-23
Interestingly presented
Well organised chapters and interestingly written language!
Some statistics makes it a little bit academic to chew up but overall it’s very informative and evidently supported.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 11-04-22
Very dense but very interesting
Really interesting and well argued points. Not ideal for listening as it is very dense and I wanted to go back and revisit concepts. Overall fabulously well argued concept.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Misha
- 11-01-22
The single most important work
A Trojan horse of radical ideas, it is the single most important work I’d prescribe to someone to understand the modern world
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- sachin
- 05-10-22
Such amazing findings
This book has given me all the answers to my questions about the Western civilisation. I love how the book started out with all the attributes of Westerners at a high level, then explain through anthropology, and studies what has contributed to them being the way they are. great book! Highly recommend!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Geoff Stewart
- 05-29-21
Pronunciation
Pity that neither corey jackson nor his manager are literate.
Simpleminded phonetic mis-pronounciations not satisfactory.
Rgds
Gws
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Secret of Our Success
- How Culture Is Driving Human Evolution, Domesticating Our Species, and Making Us Smarter
- By: Joseph Henrich
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 17 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Humans are a puzzling species. On the one hand, we struggle to survive on our own in the wild, often failing to overcome even basic challenges, like obtaining food, building shelters, or avoiding predators. On the other hand, human groups have produced ingenious technologies, sophisticated languages, and complex institutions that have permitted us to successfully expand into a vast range of diverse environments. What has enabled us to dominate the globe, more than any other species, while remaining virtually helpless as lone individuals?
-
-
The power of sociality to supercharge evolution
- By Graeme Newell on 09-27-19
By: Joseph Henrich
-
Who We Are and How We Got Here
- By: David Reich
- Narrated by: John Lescault
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Geneticists like David Reich have made astounding advances in the field of genomics, which is proving to be as important as archaeology, linguistics, and written records as a means to understand our ancestry. In Who We Are and How We Got Here, Reich allows listeners to discover how the human genome provides not only all the information a human embryo needs to develop but also the hidden story of our species.
-
-
Great Book, No Maps Available thru Audible
- By Jane W. on 07-15-18
By: David Reich
-
Summary of Joseph Henrich's The WEIRDest People in the World
- By: Falcon Press
- Narrated by: Paul Bartlett
- Length: 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
WEIRD is an acronym made up by Joseph Henrich, which stands for Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. WEIRD people are those who were brought up in a country with these five attributes.
By: Falcon Press
-
Viral
- The Search for the Origin of COVID-19
- By: Matt Ridley, Alina Chan
- Narrated by: Gavin Osborn
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A new virus descended on the human species in 2019 wreaking unprecedented havoc. Nearly two years into the pandemic, the crucial mystery of the origin of SARS-CoV-2 is not only unresolved but has deepened. In this uniquely insightful book, a scientist and a writer join forces to try to get to the bottom of how a virus whose closest relations live in bats in subtropical southern China somehow managed to begin spreading among people more than 1,500 kilometers away in the city of Wuhan.
-
-
A pivotal work in search of truth around the Covid19 virus in a world where facts got downgraded in favour of politics
- By Pal on 11-25-21
By: Matt Ridley, and others
-
Expert Political Judgment
- How Good is it? How can We Know?
- By: Philip E. Tetlock
- Narrated by: Anthony Haden Salerno
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The intelligence failures surrounding the invasion of Iraq dramatically illustrate the necessity of developing standards for evaluating expert opinion. This audiobook fills that need. Here, Philip E. Tetlock explores what constitutes good judgment in predicting future events, and looks at why experts are often wrong in their forecasts. Tetlock first discusses arguments about whether the world is too complex for people to find the tools to understand political phenomena, let alone predict the future.
-
-
Five-star book, one-star reading
- By Christian Tarsney on 01-23-19
-
Bourgeois Dignity
- Why Economics Can't Explain the Modern World
- By: Deirdre N. McCloskey
- Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin
- Length: 20 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall