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Mike McRae

Tribal Science: Brains, Beliefs, and Bad Ideas Paperback – May 8, 2012

by Mike Mcrae (Author)

8 ratings

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Human beings evolved in a tribal environment. Over the millennia, our brains have become adept at fostering social networks that are the basis of group cohesion, from the primary family unit to the extended associations of clans, villages, cities, and nations. This essential social component of our behavior gave the human species distinct survival advantages in coping with the challenges of an often-hostile environment. This book examines the many ways in which our tribally oriented brains perceive and sometimes distort reality. The author describes how our social nature led to the development of cognitive tricks that have served us so well as a social species. Some examples are our habit of imposing patterns on random phenomena, of weaving entertaining narratives to explain the mysteries of the universe, and of favoring the biases of group think. Luckily, we also stumbled upon science, which McRae views as a fortuitous accident. With this new technique, humans had discovered a method of objectively evaluating the accuracy of our traditional tribal notions. Even more important, the scientific method proved to be self-correcting, allowing us to weed out the bad ideas from those that really work. McRae argues that science is our most successful social enterprise to date. Through the sharing of scientific ideas, our species has expanded the reach of the tribal community to a global scale. Our problems may be bigger than ever, but science gives us a sure basis in reality and the best method of facing the daunting challenges of the future.

Print length

258 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Prometheus
Publication date

May 8, 2012
Dimensions

6.02 x 0.55 x 8.96 inches
ISBN-10

1616145838
ISBN-13

978-1616145835
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Science has never been more important, or more deeply misunderstood. Tribal Science explains what science gets right, with a light sense of humor and a keen sense of why so many—even scientists—get science wrong. McRae’s sharp eye for historical detail and natural storyteller’s art make for a joyous and entertaining tour of science’s evolution and the ways that human evolution and biology have shaped what science became. Readers of all tribes will find much to enjoy in these pages."
-JOSHUA ROSENAU, Programs and policy director, National Center for Science Education

"Whether you’re new to the shadowy intersection of science and belief or a seasoned traveler, Tribal Science will turn your assumptions on their heads. It invites you to marvel at still-stranger vistas and tempts you to walk the paths that others overlook."
-DANIEL LOXTON, Skeptic magazine

"Our modern, luxury-filled world is full of things we tend to take for granted. It is amazing how we as a human tribe have overcome our natural unscientific thinking. McRae has done a superb job of taking readers through a tale that gives insight into how we have gone from nothing but superstition and fallacy-filled understandings of the world to our present civilization built upon a legacy of scientific observations and evidence."
-DEREK COLANDUNO, Podcast co-host and producer at Skepticality.com

About the Author

Mike McRae is a science writer for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Canberra, Australia. He is a former secondary-school science teacher and touring science communicator for Australia’s National Science and Technology Centre. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in medical anthropology at the Australian National University.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Prometheus; 1St Edition (May 8, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 258 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1616145838
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1616145835
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.02 x 0.55 x 8.96 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,898,652 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #13,399 in History & Philosophy of Science (Books)
- #14,584 in Evolution (Books)
- #26,678 in Behavioral Sciences (Books)

Customer Reviews:
8 ratings

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Michael D. Speir

An Excellent Introduction

Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2012

Verified Purchase

Do you want to get a grasp on why we make the basic mistakes in thinking that we do? Have a look at this book. It shows how our reasoning faults, though understandable from an evolutionary perspective, can still be avoided if we're careful. A somewhat rudimentary survey of the subject, the writing is nevertheless clear, engaging, and illuminating.

3 people found this helpful

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Julian Perkins

Why We Usually Don't Think Rationally

Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2012

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Brilliant and readable account of how rational thinking works, why it is the basis of genuine science and why it is so difficult to sustain. If you want to know how your brain works and why what you think is often distorted but you are the last person to realise it, read this! You begin to understand that media sensationalist science is usually giving you a false picture, and you learn that asking a few good questions can often dismantle the illusion of truth presented to you. A great book, strongly recommended.

One person found this helpful

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James J. Rawls

Fascinating and Engaging.

Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2013

Verified Purchase

Mike McRae has an amazing gift for translating the most difficult scientific concepts into readily accessible language. Another friend who also read the book commented, "It made me feel intelligent reading it." Precisely. The prose is lively and the concepts challenging. Highly recommended!

One person found this helpful

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George Poirier

How the Brain Works

Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2012

This book's main focus is the functioning of the human brain and how, because of some of its idiosyncrasies, humans interpret certain things a certain way - often, the wrong way. After describing the brain and its evolution, the author discusses early attempts at human reasoning and, eventually, the birth of philosophy and, eventually, of science. A "philosopher's toolbox" is described and examples of its use in understanding nature are described. Eventually, the author describes various events in history where serious errors in the interpretation of observations were made by otherwise reputable people who were trying to understand the universe. Throughout, the author keeps returning to how the human brain/mind works in an attempt to explain these leaps in the wrong direction.

I found this book to be generally clear, well-written and often humorous. The author is very articulate and certainly seems well-versed in his subject matter. However, I did find some passages, mainly about some aspects of psychology and brain mechanics, to be head-scratchers for me; but overall, I found the book to be interesting, informative and definitely worth the read. It should be of interest to psychology enthusiasts, some science buffs as well as those with a penchant for the philosophy of science.

3 people found this helpful

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Richard L. Sholette

Interesting book with some serious flaws

Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2015

This book could have been excellent, if the author had been able to identify, acknowledge, and control his naturalistic (and atheistic) presuppositions and judgments. I enjoyed his writing style, his fascinating array of illustrations and stories, and his avoidance of aggressive, myopic scientism. Nevertheless, though he had at least a beginners understanding of philosophy of science, he didn't seem to understand that one can approach science with a naturalistic methodology without having a naturalistic worldview. That is, science can be constrained by particular methods that are bounded by rational theory, experimental rigor, and careful qualitative study without rejecting the possibility of this being a theistic universe. Theism and good science are not mutually exclusive. He should know this; many of the early scientists he discusses were committed Christians. If the author were better acquainted with the vast literature by theistic scientists, his thoughts would not so often seem naive and biased. As it stands, this book fails to model what he attempts to promote: appreciation of the social context and "tribal" influences on scientific inquiry. If he were more consistent, he would have tried to avoid--or at least warned the reader about--his own prejudices, repeatedly evident in his dismissive attitude and failure to discriminate between more and less intellectually respectable views of faith, God, and the supernatural. If he ever revises and updates the book, he would do well to learn more about historic Christianity, because his understanding appears limited to one narrow brand of "Christianity": Roman Catholicism. There is much more to Christianity than he seems to realize. It would also be good if he learned more about the philosophy and psychology of science, especially as applied by theists in their work as scientists and philosophers.

Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2012

This is a wonderful book, full of enlightened observations and insights. I found it hard to put down.
I am now interested in other books by this author. There are so many things in the book I wanted to remember that it's filled with
yellow highlights.

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