Our Hominid Predecessors
Hominid facial reconstruction, Smithsonian Institution
Humans are a problem-solving animal. We evolve both physically and mentally in response to challenges, which enables us to move beyond our inheritance — to consciously evolve. Throughout our history, innovations and solutions have been linked to religious ideas.
Out of Africa
What drove the first migration of our forebears from Africa some 50,000 years ago and what that tells us about our continued evolution as a species of problem solvers.
“As the problems and challenges facing humankind have changed, so have their religious and ideological solutions. We live among the wreckage of once-potent solutions. If we neglect them, they may become barriers to thought and action. If we understand them, they are a treasure house for all of us to share.”
The Unseen World: The Rise of Gods and Spirits
The Institute for Cultural Research
She Has Her Mother’s Laugh
The Powers, Perversions and Potential of Heredity
Carl Zimmer
Our understanding of heredity has come a long way and holds much promise, but we’ll need wise judgement to manage the emerging science of genetic engineering.
Neanderthal Man
In Search of Lost Genomes
by Svante Pääbo
Reviewed by George Kasabov
Neanderthals, our nearest cousin species, finally died out soon after 40,000 years ago. How are we related to them?
The Age of Empathy and The Bonobo and the Atheist
Frans de Waal
Both reciprocity and empathy – the two pillars upon which morality is built – are found in bonobos, apes and other social animals. But only humans are able to “abstract” the value and extend the behavioral constraints of “one-on-one” morality to the larger society, including strangers.
The Gap
The Science of What Separates Us from Other Animals
Thomas Suddendorf
A leading research psychologist concludes that our abilities surpass those of animals because our minds evolved two overarching qualities.
Before the Dawn
Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors
Nicholas Wade
New York Times science writer explores humanity’s origins as revealed by the latest genetic science.
In the series: Discovering Our Distant Ancestors
- Genetics and Human Evolution
- Our Nearest Relatives: Bonobos and Chimpanzees
- Human Universals
- She Has Her Mother's Laugh
- Neanderthal Man – In Search of Lost Genomes
- The Evolution of Human Morality: The Age of Empathy and The Bonobo and the Atheist
- The Gap: The Science of What Separates Us from Other Animals
- Before the Dawn: New details of human evolution revealed