Is The Ape That Understood the Universe Worth Reading?
How the Mind and Culture Evolve
Ada’s Score
Steve Stewart-Williams's 2018 book applies evolutionary psychology and memetics to answer a deceptively simple question: what kind of creature is a human being, and how did we come to be this way? Drawing on Darwinian theory, cultural evolution, and cognitive science, it examines human universals — from sex differences to art and religion — with clarity and intellectual honesty. Stewart-Williams is scrupulous in distinguishing well-supported findings from speculation, making the book both rigorous and accessible. It is an indispensable overview of what evolution can and cannot tell us about the human mind.
Episode 4“Accessible yet rigorous — this is evolutionary psychology done right. You'll finish it seeing everyday human behaviour in an entirely new light.”
The Strangest Animal, Finally Explained
Steve Stewart-Williams takes evolutionary psychology and makes it genuinely delightful — which is harder than it sounds — asking what an alien scientist would actually make of our species if they studied us without assumptions. It's rigorous, it's witty, and it has a way of making the familiar suddenly strange and wonderful. If you've ever wanted to understand why humans are the way we are, this is a remarkably good place to start.
Ada Brief
AI reading intelligence“Accessible yet rigorous — this is evolutionary psychology done right. You'll finish it seeing everyday human behaviour in an entirely new light.”
The Strangest Animal, Finally Explained
Steve Stewart-Williams takes evolutionary psychology and makes it genuinely delightful — which is harder than it sounds — asking what an alien scientist would actually make of our species if they studied us without assumptions. It's rigorous, it's witty, and it has a way of making the familiar suddenly strange and wonderful. If you've ever wanted to understand why humans are the way we are, this is a remarkably good place to start.
Book Details
- Publisher
- University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations
- Published
- January 1, 2018
- Pages
- 385
- Language
- English
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Ada’s Score
4.4
Ada’s editorial score — not an aggregate of reader reviews.
Common Questions About The Ape That Understood the Universe
- Is The Ape That Understood the Universe worth reading?
- Accessible yet rigorous — this is evolutionary psychology done right. You'll finish it seeing everyday human behaviour in an entirely new light. Ada rates it 4.4 out of 5.
- How many pages is The Ape That Understood the Universe?
- The Ape That Understood the Universe is 385 pages long — around 7–8 hours at an average reading pace.
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