The Social Leap: The New Evolutionary Science of Who We Are, Where We Come From, and What Makes Us Happy
Written by William von Hippel
Narrated by Michael David Axtell
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
In the compelling popular science tradition of Sapiens and Guns, Germs, and Steel, a groundbreaking and eye-opening exploration that applies evolutionary science to provide a new perspective on human psychology, revealing how major challenges from our past have shaped some of the most fundamental aspects of our being.
The most fundamental aspects of our lives—from leadership and innovation to aggression and happiness—were permanently altered by the ""social leap"" our ancestors made from the rainforest to the savannah. Their struggle to survive on the open grasslands required a shift from individualism to a new form of collectivism, which forever altered the way our mind works. It changed the way we fight and our proclivity to make peace, it changed the way we lead and the way we follow, it made us innovative but not inventive, it created a new kind of social intelligence, and it led to new sources of life satisfaction.
In The Social Leap, William von Hippel lays out this revolutionary hypothesis, tracing human development through three critical evolutionary inflection points to explain how events in our distant past shape our lives today. From the mundane, such as why we exaggerate, to the surprising, such as why we believe our own lies and why fame and fortune are as likely to bring misery as happiness, the implications are far reaching and extraordinary.
Blending anthropology, biology, history, and psychology with evolutionary science, The Social Leap is a fresh and provocative look at our species that provides new clues about who we are, what makes us happy, and how to use this knowledge to improve our lives.
William von Hippel
William von Hippel grew up in Alaska, got his B.A. at Yale and his PhD at the University of Michigan, and then taught for a dozen years at Ohio State University before finding his way to Australia, where he is a professor of psychology at the University of Queensland. He has published more than a hundred articles, chapters, and edited books, and his research has been featured in The New York Times, USA Today, The Economist, the BBC, Le Monde, El Mundo, Der Spiegel, and The Australian. He lives with his wife and two children in Brisbane, Australia.
Related to The Social Leap
Related audiobooks
The Enigma of Reason Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Evolution: What Everyone Needs to Know Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Taste for the Beautiful: The Evolution of Attraction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Story of Us: A New Look at Human Evolution Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why is Sex Fun?: The Evolution of Human Sexuality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Social Instinct: How Cooperation Shaped the World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Meaning of Human Existence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Human Story Retold Through Our Genes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stories, Dice, and Rocks That Think: How Humans Learned to See the Future–and Shape It Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo Devo and the Making of the Animal Kingdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Human Nature Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Innate: How the Wiring of Our Brains Shapes Who We Are Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Accidental Mind: How Brain Evolution Has Given Us Love, Memory, Dreams, and God Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Human Instinct: How We Evolved to Have Reason, Consciousness, and Free Will Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This Explains Everything: Deep, Beautiful, and Elegant Theories of How the World Works Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Will Make You Smarter: New Scientific Concepts to Improve Your Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Village Effect: How Face-to-Face Contact Can Make Us Healthier, Happier, and Smarter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ape that Understood the Universe: How the Mind and Culture Evolve Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Consciousness Instinct: Unraveling the Mystery of How the Brain Makes the Mind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolved Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Irrationality: A History of the Dark Side of Reason Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Minds Make Societies: How Cognition Explains the World Humans Create Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mindwise: Why We Misunderstand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thinking: The New Science of Decision-Making, Problem-Solving, and Prediction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Psychology For You
How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 48 Laws of Power Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How To Win Friends And Influence People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Win Friends and Influence People: Updated For the Next Generation of Leaders Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Do the Work: Recognize Your Patterns, Heal from Your Past, and Create Your Self Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You’re Not the Only One F*cking Up: Breaking the Endless Cycle of Dating Mistakes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values, and Spritual Growth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Starts with Self-Compassion: A Practical Road Map Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Games People Play: The Basic Handbook of Transactional Analysis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Land of Delusion: Out on the edge with the crackpots and conspiracy-mongers remaking our shared reality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Seduction: An Indispensible Primer on the Ultimate Form of Power Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Do Hard Things: Why We Get Resilience Wrong and the Surprising Science of Real Toughness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Banish Your Inner Critic: Silence the Voice of Self-Doubt to Unleash Your Creativity and Do Your Best Work Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Speed-Reading People Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Man's Search for Ultimate Meaning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Create: Tools from Seriously Talented People to Unleash Your Creative Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dad on Pills: Fatherhood and Mental Illness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Writing into the Wound: Understanding trauma, truth, and language Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Social Leap
73 ratings9 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book provides a solid view on the evolutionary causes of our behavior, perception and community. It not only delivers facts and figures, but is also presented in an entertaining way. I would've wished to have an ebook format as well, but the audio version was extremely well narrated, so I don't feel I missed out much.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5A disappointing mixture of fascinating evolutionary psychology (the good) and unnecessary political jabs at half of America (the bad).
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Awesome book that goes into detail about our ancestral beings. The author is super informative and I’d recommend buying this book as well.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A beautifully written book, and offers numerous interesting theories on why humans social life is how it is. I definitely recommend it!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nice and articulated book for those wanting to start with anthropology.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Attention grasping thought provoking insights with easily recognizable examples from everyday life. Each new portion of audio book gave bits and pieces, that helped me look at daily problems from different and I would even say "fun" perspective. Narrator is the same wonderful as story itself. Not sure, if this is something to do with all humans ears , or just mine, but listening to that voice was relaxing.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Logically set along man's evolution. Lots of insights which are not obvious in the day to day world. Most concepts explained well.
Sometimes the author falters - for example when he calls the internet a social innovation. Internet is a technical innovation which expands, democratizes and energizes the social phenomena of networking. Networking has existed for aeons. Internet is only the modern tool which makes global and random networking possible.
Author also takes liberties with cause and effect arguments- sometime using A-> B to argue that B-> A. He uses this when showing the link between happiness and immune systems. He starts with showing that immunity build up happens when we are not stressed and when we are not defending or attacking. He then flips the argument and claims that immune systems work well when we are happy.
In fact the whole discussion on happiness feels misplaced. Why is happiness important to survival and evolution.
Another challenging argument is on grandmothers and their importance for raising children. Did children not survive without grandmothers?
But overall a well written book and worth reading! - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nice book! Very instructive! I really liked it and it taught me a lot.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My favorite sort of book exploring and explaining Homo Sapiens: no woo-woo; all about evidence, critical observation, experimentation; nuanced, cautiously speculative; well-written and well-documented. Loved it. A great companion book to Sapiens by Yuval Harari.