Exploring the intersection of human nature and societal success, this book argues that both progressive and conservative ideologies often misinterpret the role of human nature in shaping society. Nicholas Wade examines historical and biological contexts, illustrating how certain policies can enhance human nature while others, like socialism, may lead to societal decline. Drawing from anthropology and evolutionary biology, the work emphasizes that neglecting the evolutionary constraints of human behavior can result in chaos and potential extinction, challenging prevailing political assumptions.
Exploring the fascinating concept of binocular vision, this book features unique illustrations that come alive through anaglyphs, requiring the use of colored filters provided with the hardcover. Readers will experience the interplay of cooperation and competition between their eyes, making each viewing experience distinct. The content delves into the history, science, and art of how we perceive depth, transforming the understanding of vision since the advent of stereoscopes. It invites active participation, ensuring a personalized journey through visual perception.
The book delves into the intricate relationship between visual perception and communication, examining how images convey messages both overtly and subtly. It highlights the interplay between visual stimuli and our mental associations, revealing how pictures can evoke memories or references to the physical world. Through the lens of art and research, the author provides insights into the cognitive processes involved in interpreting visual information, making it a thought-provoking exploration of visual literacy.
The book explores the joy of visual perception, emphasizing the pleasure derived from interpreting images. It delves into how we engage with pictures, inviting readers to appreciate the intricacies of visual storytelling and the cognitive processes involved in deciphering visual information. Through various examples, it highlights the unique connection between observation and understanding, encouraging a deeper appreciation for the art of seeing.
Overview: Drawing on startling new evidence from the mapping of the genome, an explosive new account of the genetic basis of race and its role in the human story. Fewer ideas have been more toxic or harmful than the idea of the biological reality of race, and with it the idea that humans of different races are biologically different from one another. For this understandable reason, the idea has been banished from polite academic conversation. Arguing that race is more than just a social construct can get a scholar run out of town, or at least off campus, on a rail. Human evolution, the consensus view insists, ended in prehistory. Inconveniently, as Nicholas Wade argues in A Troublesome Inheritance, the consensus view cannot be right. And in fact, we know that populations have changed in the past few thousand years-to be lactose tolerant, for example, and to survive at high altitudes. Race is not a bright-line distinction; by definition it means that the more human populations are kept apart, the more they evolve their own distinct traits under the selective pressure known as Darwinian evolution. For many thousands of years, most human populations stayed where they were and grew distinct, not just in outward appearance but in deeper senses as well. Wade, the longtime journalist covering genetic advances for The New York Times, draws widely on the work of scientists who have made crucial breakthroughs in establishing the reality of recent human evolution. The most provocative claims in this book involve the genetic basis of human social habits. What we might call middle-class social traits-thrift, docility, nonviolence-have been slowly but surely inculcated genetically within agrarian societies, Wade argues. These "values" obviously had a strong cultural component, but Wade points to evidence that agrarian societies evolved away from hunter-gatherer societies in some crucial respects. Also controversial are his findings regarding the genetic basis of traits we associate with intelligence, such as literacy and numeracy, in certain ethnic populations, including the Chinese and Ashkenazi Jews. Wade believes deeply in the fundamental equality of all human peoples. He also believes that science is best served by pursuing the truth without fear, and if his mission to arrive at a coherent summa of what the new genetic science does and does not tell us about race and human history leads straight into a minefield, then so be it. This will not be the last word on the subject, but it will begin a powerful and overdue conversation
Exploring the intersection of science and spirituality, a New York Times science reporter presents a compelling argument for the evolutionary origins of religion. The book delves into how religious beliefs may have developed as adaptive traits, influencing human behavior and societal structures. Through a blend of research and analysis, it challenges conventional views and invites readers to reconsider the role of religion in human evolution.
Nicholas Wade's articles are a major reason why the science section has become the most popular, nationwide, in the New York Times. In his groundbreaking Before the Dawn, Wade reveals humanity's origins as never before--a journey made possible only recently by genetic science, whose incredible findings have answered such questions as: What was the first human language like? How large were the first societies, and how warlike were they? When did our ancestors first leave Africa, and by what route did they leave? By eloquently solving these and numerous other mysteries, Wade offers nothing less than a uniquely complete retelling of a story that began 500 centuries ago.
A leading New York Times science reporter, who has covered the Human Genome Project from its inception, writes about how the sequencing of the genome is already changing medical care.
The Science Times Book of the Brain is a superb volume with chapters on senses, emotions, mood, memory, language, consciousness, dreams, medicine, and much more. Articles illuminate key discoveries made within the last decade about the physiology, psychology, and neurology of our most vital organ.
