The Neighborhood Project: Using Evolution to Improve My City, One Block at a Time 1st Edition, Kindle Edition

"I am convinced that evolutionary science provides an essential tool kit for making the world a better place at all scales, from individuals seeking to thrive to nurturing neighborhoods, to nations that responsibly manage their affairs at a worldwide scale. I am convinced that the evolutionary paradigm will eventually become the accepted view for all things human in addition to the rest of life." (p24). Therein is the guiding principle for The Neighborhood Project: Using Evolution to Improve My City, One Block at a Time by author David Sloan Wilson. I have to admit, I was more than a bit skeptical based on the title alone. In the last chapter of the book Wilson writes, "The Binghamton Neighborhood Project is entering its fifth year as I conclude this book......We had not started any valley lifting projects at that point...." (p381). Truly, I spent a good portion of the book wondering how he was going to relate all of the topics and concepts he introduces to his hometown (the small University town of Binghamton, NY).
To be sure, the author makes some rather bold statements, like the quote that opens this review. He seems to vacillate between really arrogant, elitist statements such as, "Evolutionary science will eventually prove so useful on a daily basis that we will wonder how we survived without it. I'm here to make that day come sooner rather than later....." (p144) and (in referring to himself and a group of his colleagues at a post-conference supper) "We were talking so boisterously and probably sounded so incomprehensible to the average American that the diners at nearby tables gave us sidelong glances, as if they had suddenly been transported to a foreign country." (p248) and self-deprecating statements like, "Compared with these two titans of civic virtue, what did I have to offer with my theories and my survey, fretting about my car on my first to visit to the Columbus school?" (p87). In all fairness, the self-deprecating statements tend to seem just a bit less sincere than the self-aggrandizing ones. After quoting a paragraph from behaviorist BF Skinner, Wilson then writes, "The ounce of humility at the end of this passage is nothing compared with the pound of hubris that precedes it." (p195).
However, the book is enjoyable. The author is witty and humorous. He well understands the value of character development. For many of the people he introduces in the book, he writes an interesting vignette about where they came from, who nurtured and mentored them along the way to a point of prominence in their given professions. The work is scholarly; the author is very well read on a wide range of biological and social sciences as well as theology. Each chapter tends to introduce a new topic and how it can be viewed from an evolutionary science point of view. It covers water-striders, wasps and crows. There are chapters concerned primarily with paleontology and evolution, the human immune system, genetics and environmental influences, education theory, prevention science and economics. To say the book is wide-ranging is a woeful understatement. In the author's opinion evolution, "...provides a common language for all scientific and academic disciplines that deal with living processes." (p193). Wilson is not afraid to call out his professional colleagues either. He refers to the atheist evolutionist Richard Dawkins as one of the, "four horseman of the `New Atheism' movement." He refers to the Fundamental Theorem of Natural Selection by RA Fisher (one of my personal heroes) as "vain". He basically dismisses all neoclassical economists as being fundamentally wrong in their assumptions about human behavior and writes, "They also don't bother to read much outside their own field, they live in a self-contained world and want to keep it that way." (p348).
"I am happy to call science a religion that worships truth as its god." (p142). "Anyone can join the faith, regardless of their day jobs, expanding the norms associated with science into other arenas that are currently sorely lacking in accountability." (p386). Dr. Wilson really does seem to see "science" as inviolable. He has spent nearly his entire professional life in academia; surely he does not really believe "scientists" are above careerism, pettiness, vindictiveness, falsification of data, elitism and pursuing solely self-serving interests? "I like writing things that seem outrageous at first but then make perfect sense after they have been fully explained. Let's see if I can deliver on my claim....." (p363). Read the book and judge for yourself whether or not he does deliver.

this is a lot more than a defense of evolution theory. Wilson walked his talk in Binghamton, NY where he used "evolution theory" (and statistics and good old fashioned hard science) to map, measure and improve his city. Gave it four instead of five stars because of the author's over-use of "the hammer blows of evolution". A little editing would have gone a long way

I skim many books and read very few. David Sloan Wilson's recent book, "The Neighborhood Project," is one that I read. And I didn't just read it. I purchased a second copy, just for my kindle reader, and gave it to friends and colleagues for Christmas because I knew they would read it, and I knew we'd have hours of conversation about it. We're in San Francisco and Berkeley, hotbeds of social activism, or so it is claimed. To have a book that examines contemporary society and spells out the need for change by using evolutionary theory is quite remarkable. To link the social systems of wasps, the immune system, attributes of neighborhoods, the culture of crows, and the larger economic system -to name a few-- is brilliant. In his many "parables" (the topics he covers) he is teaching us to think about systems, rules by which they operate across specific examples, the self-organization of complex adaptive systems, and the absolute significance of context in which they are embedded. He is teaching painlessly, by way of presenting numerous examples of this broad message, by telling stories.

The story of Wilson's research in Binghamton New York is an awesome piece of social science, seen through the lens of evolution. It's inspiring. It made me want to study San Francisco, using similar methods. I'm a social and clinical evolutionary psychologist and throughout my "fields" there is almost always the absence of the perspective of the ultimate purpose of individual, group, city and national behavior. The ultimate purpose -the evolutionary purpose--is what allows Wilson to ask: "Why?" That said, he doesn't always ask "why" enough, as he is looking for how to do things better, in line with our wired-in and cultural characteristics "hammered" into shape by evolution (I love the way he writes that). In some cases, for example education, he points to the possibility of a better system, one that takes into account how we learn, how we are wired to learn, how hunter gatherer children (and adults) learn, but he doesn't answer the question "Why do we have such a terrible system of education?" other than to point out the context. We have often fallen into dysfunctional patterns because the environment in which we operate is so different from that of our earlier evolution. Nevertheless, I think we need to know a great deal more about the "why" if we are to change our contemporary systems (of education, of government, of neighborhood organization, of health care -the list could go on). I want to badger Wilson with the "why" questions.

While some reviewers are saying they found the book scattered, and they objected to the personal stories about scientists and how they came to do the work they do, this may be one of the several unique qualities that I loved most about "The Neighborhood Project." "Science" is too isolated in our culture, perhaps too rarified -to the point that some of our presidential candidates make sure everyone knows that they are "anti-science." Wilson teaches using the method often cited as "the best" by education researchers, he teaches us through stories. When science is put forth without these stories of why and how research really happens, it loses impact for most students. Wilson dissects both the findings and the doing of science, he makes it human and social which of course it is. The parables each have a place in the overall story he's telling. He's writing about complex adaptive systems, complexity science, emergence and evolution. He is offering us an easy lesson in the hierarchical levels of evolutionary adaptation. He's writing about Gaia, a planetary ecosystem, where everything is connected and following principles of evolution. It is fabulous to read about the complexities of the immune system, the social life of wasps, the human-like behavior and culture of crows -it brings to us a new and exciting view of human ethology, our behavior in our natural habitat that may no longer be a natural enough habitat for optimal functioning, and how to change it by altering the context. The Neighborhood Project teaches evolution through stories, through Wilson's own research story and those of his colleagues, stories that I, personally, can't ever get enough of.

The Neighborhood Project: Using Evolution to Improve My City, One Block at a Time

Readable and fascinating for the theist, the evolutionist or anyone wondering how humanity might possibly be able to eventually save itself from itself. Hard work, cooperation and creativity will be required. Are we up to the challenge?

Interesting premise and ideas but would prefer to see some evidence of reforms as opposed to theories

Very pleased with the ordering, delivery, and quality of the book. Heard about this on an interview of David Wilson on NPR radio.

Really interesting and informative book! A truly out of the box thinker! David Sloan Wilson is a great author. I enjoyed it a lot!

David Sloan Wilson does it again! This book will change the way you engage the world-- I truly appreciate being reminded to look for the "connectedness" of all things. An exciting book you'll want to share with others.