Human Instinct: How our primeval impulses shape our modern lives

by Robert Winston

Hardcover, 2002

Status

Available

Call number

570

Genres

Collection

Non-Fiction

Publication

Transworld Publishers (2003), 352 pages

Description

From caveman to modern man ... Few people doubt that humans are descended from the apes; fewer still consider, let alone accept, the psychological implications. But in truth, man not only looks, moves and breathes like an ape, he also thinks like one. Sexual drive, survival, competition, aggression - all of our impulses are driven by our human instincts. They explain why a happily married man will fantasize about the pretty, slim, young woman sitting across from him in the tube and why thousands of people spend their week entirely focused on whether their team will win their next crucial match. But how well do our instincts equip us for the twenty-first century? Do they help or hinder us as we deal with large anonymous cities, stressful careers, relationships and the battle of the sexes? In this fascinating book, Robert Winston takes us on a journey deep into the human mind. Along the way he takes a very personal look at the relationship between science and religion and explores those very instincts that make us human.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member nandadevi

Well I have doubts about this book on two levels. Firstly it is 'the book of the television series' which leads to questions about whose book is it? Winston's or the researchers for the TV series? Winston kinda mentions that its not all his own work, but without being altogether forthright about it

being - perhaps - in fact the work of everyone else. Which leads to the second criticism (and the fatal flaw), lack of attribution of 'facts'. Try this: "There are some studies which bizarrely indicate that, for some unknown reason, the chances of a woman conceiving from a single act of rape are more than twice those of a woman engaged in a single act of consensual sex." There's no reference to these 'studies'. For me this was the thirteenth strike of the crazy clock - everything had seemed tolerably amateurish up to this point. I resisted the temptation to throw the book in the bin, but it wasn't really worth persisting with. For wide-eyed viewers of some hack television channel this might seem like brilliant stuff, but it is all borrowed. Winston doesn't stand on the shoulders of genius, rather he is trudging along behind sweeping up scraps. The only meritorious part of this book was the very short bibliography. Scientific trash.

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