Mere Mortals Book Reviews

Mere Mortals Book Reviews


The Social Leap (William von Hippel) - Book Review

April 26, 2022

A book that's chockas full of useful info, but that probably only needs to be deeply learnt once.

'The Social Leap' by William von Hippel is a basic overview of our evolutionary past to explain how/why we behave and interact with others. In this case 'we' can be families, communities, companies, nations, couples, etc. It's split into 3 parts (past, present and future) with a mix of case studies, his own work as a psychology professor, quotes from famous books and personal anecdotes.

I summarised the book as follows. "The value here isn't in new info but in a solid theme (i.e., how evolution dictates human communication and behaviour) presented in a new way. It helped me to re-examine my own actions and think about hidden influential factors in my own life. I would have rated it higher if this had been my first book about evolution, nevertheless I still enjoyed it a lot."

I hope you have a fantastic day wherever you are in the world. Kyrin out!

Timeline:
(0:00) - Intro
(0:52) - Synopsis
(4:03) - Evolutionary Basics: Is this essential knowledge?
(9:27) - Observations/Takeaways
(13:45) - Summary

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