Human Natures: Genes, Cultures, and the Human Prospect [Hardcover]

Paul R. Ehrlich (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2000

"The Bell Curve", "The Moral Animal", "The Selfish Gene" - these and a host of other books and articles have made a seemingly overwhelming case that our genes determine our behaviour. Now, a leading evolutionary biologist shows why most of those claims of genetic destiny cannot be true, and explains how the aguments often stem from a fundamental misunderstanding of evolution itself. "You can't change human nature", the saying goes. But you can, Stanford biologist Paul Ehrlich shows us in "Human Natures", and in fact, evolution is the story of those changing natures. He makes a case that "human nature" is not a single, unitary entity, but is as diverse as humanity itself, and that changes in culture and other environmental variations play as much of a role in human evolution as genetic changes. We simply don't have enough genes to specify behaviour at the level that is often asserted. Never has knowledge of our evolutionary past been more important to our future. Developing intelligent strategies for antibiotic use, pest control, biodiversity protection - even for establishing more equitable social arrangements - all depend on understanding evolution and how it works. A hallmark of "Human Natures" is the author's ability to convey that understanding in the course of presenting a history of our species. Using personal anecdote, and example, Ehrlich guides us through the thicket of controversies over what science can and cannot say about the influence of our evolutionary past on everything from race to religion, from sexual orientation to economic development.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

It's common to blame "human nature" for some of the unpleasant facts of life--road rage, say, or murder, or war. The problem with this convenient out, argues the distinguished scientist Paul Ehrlich, is that there really is no single human nature. Humans, it's true, share a common genetic code with remarkably few large-scale differences (if all but native Africans disappeared from the planet, he notes, "humanity would still retain somewhat more than 90 percent of its genetic variability"); and evolution has endowed us with capabilities shared by no other species. But for all that, he adds, our separation into haves and have-nots, weak and strong, and other such categories is more often than not a product of cultural evolution, a process far more complex than the mere mutation and adaptation of a few genes. And, in any event, those genes "do not shout commands to us about our behavior," Ehrlich says. "At the very most, they whisper suggestions."

In this wide-ranging survey of what it is that has made and that continues to make us human, Ehrlich touches on a number of themes--among them, his recurrent observation that science has taught us little about how genes influence human behavior. (Instead, he notes wryly, "science tells us that we are creatures of accident clinging to a ball of mud hurtling aimlessly through space. This is not a notion to warm hearts or rouse multitudes.") He urges that scientists take a larger, interdisciplinary view that looks beyond mere genetics to the larger forces that shape our lives, a view for which Human Natures makes a handy, and highly accessible, primer. --Gregory McNamee

From Publishers Weekly

Most people know Ehrlich as the environmentalist who brought the world's attention to the overpopulation problem in the 1960s. But this Stanford biologist has also enjoyed a long, eminent career exploring evolution. In his new book, he combines his scientific research and environmental concerns into an enlightening narrative of humanity's evolution. Ehrlich surveys the most important research on the origin and rise of hominids and current ideas about the ascent of language and consciousness. He accepts that we are the products of evolution, but he finds the current trends of evolutionary psychology and genetic determinism to be hopelessly simplistic. Instead, Ehrlich shows how genes, culture and the environment together create a complexity that, he says, science still barely grasps. The 100,000 or so genes in human DNA, he contends, could never determine the 100 trillion connections between the neurons in our brains. Evolution may shape our brains generically, but the culture and environment in which we grow up control its fine details. Moving into the more recent past, Ehrlich charts how cultural (rather than biological) evolution has created civilizations, and how it has later destroyed many of them. Finally, he shows how an understanding of human evolution can inform our ethics and our decisions about how to run our societies. It shows, for instance, that under their skin, all humans are practically identical genetically speaking; we cannot pretend that race has any biological significance. We still have a long way to go from an evolutionary point of view: our ancestors spent millions of years living in small groups and dealing with the immediate struggle of finding food, and we have not yet adapted to the globalized society or such problems as human-created climate change. Although Jared Diamond and others have plowed this ground before, Ehrlich's book is so well researched and so elegantly presented that it stands as one of the best introductions to human evolution in recent memory. And that along with Ehrlich's name recognition should help this break out from the usual. science audience. 20,000 first printing; 8-city author tour; national radio interviews; national print advertising.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 576 pages
• Publisher: Island Press; 1 edition (August 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 155963779X
• ISBN-13: 978-1559637794
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #612,056 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than Biology is Subject to Evolution, September 13, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Human Natures: Genes, Cultures, and the Human Prospect (Hardcover)

Man's evolutional place in the world has been studied for centuries, through the sciences of anthropology, biology, geology, genetics, paleontology, and a host of others, and this book does a masterful job of bringing these together. What it does that is different, is describe the evolution of culture: politics, regligion, art, language, and other features of the upright-walking primate's life not so easily reduced to scientific explanation. Combining these two approaches to man's current predicament, Professor Ehrlich points aut that "the increasing ability to do things has outstripped the evolution of our ability to understand ... the full implications of what we are now doing," and with this approach, examines what is happening to us individually, to the human community, and to the environment in which we live. If you read one new book this year about man's place in the earth's past, present and future, this is the one.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great comprehensive book on human nature!, November 16, 2000

By 

Debbie Lee Wesselmann (the Lehigh Valley, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Human Natures: Genes, Cultures, and the Human Prospect (Hardcover)

I truly appreciated Paul Erlich's HUMAN NATURES, not only for the carefully studied exploration of humanity but also for his clarity. This intelligent, well-written discourse on human evolution gives a balanced view of our species, dispelling myths and explaining complexities, daring to explore controversial subjects. The topics covered - from the origins of language to racial equality to ethics, to name only a few - are well researched and comprehensive. In language and tone, HUMAN NATURES is neither overly technical nor simplistic; it is wonderfully readable without sacrificing depth.

If you have pondered the different roles of genes and the environment, if you are intrigued by the origin and development of cultures, if you encountered too many glib comments about "survival of the fittest" and want to understand the true depth of the concept as it applies to humans, read this book. You'll come away with so much more than you expected.

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Base Against Bias, October 5, 2000

By 

Richard L. Graves (Port Washington, NY 11050) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Human Natures: Genes, Cultures, and the Human Prospect (Hardcover)

HUMAN NATURES, by Paul R. Ehrlich, at last gives laymen like me a readily accessible, comprehensive scientific insight into how the brains of not-so-simple primates evolved to make our "human natures" what we are today. Of more importance, Ehrlich gives us a superbly documented basis for addressing - perhaps even erasing - the genetic myths and phobias that have fueled ethnic prejudice, racism, sexism and all the other "isms" dividing us over the centuries. - Richard L. Graves, author of QUEENOF DIAMONDS, a mystery novel published Decmber 1 by XC Publishing, Tacoma, WA.