The World's Best Book Summaries
What is animism? How is it related to theism? Who held animistic beliefs? Animism is the belief that every animate and inanimate thing has thoughts and feelings and can communicate with people. This belief system is non-hierarchical—all beings are equal. We’ll dive deep into the animism definition, discussion animism’s origin, and look at animism’s history.
What is the future of Homo sapiens? What might future human evolution look like? Future human evolution will probably go in one of three directions: biological engineering, cyborg engineering, or inorganic life engineering. Each comes with its own advantages and potential problems. We’ll look at each in turn and discuss the possibilities of the future evolution of man and how we are evolving.
Some say capitalism is failing. Is it? How can we tell? Is there anything we can do about it? Capitalists have reason to champion the system. It’s spurred economic, scientific, and imperial growth the way few other imagined realities have. But what happens in situations when it fails to work? We’ll cover two critiques of capitalism that say that capitalism has failed.
Why is childbirth so painful? What happened in the evolution of humans to make it as arduous as it is? Childbirth is painful because of our relatively narrow hips and the relatively large brains of infants. Although we’re not sure why humans evolved such large brains, we do know that narrow hips had some evolutionary advantages. We’ll cover how humans evolved the bodies they did and why childbirth is so painful.
What happened during the first early human migration? Where did humans start, and where did they end up? How did human migration affect other species? The first early human migration was the era in which humans figured out how to cross the sea barrier and made it to Australia, 45,000 years ago. The next major early human migration happened 16,000 years ago, when man reached the American continent. We’ll discuss the progress of the early human migrations and how they caused some of the biggest mass extinctions of all time.
What is the origin of religion? What was the nature of our ancestors’ first beliefs about the universe? The origin of religion is animism, the belief that every animate and inanimate thing has thoughts and feelings and can communicate with people. From the origin of animism developed polytheism and monotheism. We’ll cover the origin of religion, animism, and how it influenced the subsequent history of religion.
What is the relationship between mindfulness and happiness? Can being more mindful make us happier? Can it reduce suffering? Mindfulness and happiness are a well-researched pair, and many people believe that being more mindful can contribute to your happiness. According to this theory, mindfulness can help you keep from grasping at pleasure and avoiding pain, which are the roots of suffering. We’ll cover how mindfulness and happiness are related and explore some other theories of happiness.
What were the causes of the Scientific Revolution? How did the new acceptance of ignorance become the root of our quest for knowledge? The Scientific Revolution was caused by a shift in the way people viewed the world and its future. These paradigm shifts included the willingness to accept our own ignorance, an emphasis on math and observation, the desire for imperial dominance, and the new belief in progress. We’ll cover how these causes of the Scientific Revolution changed the world, formed a web with the economy, politics, and religion, and sparked the movement toward modernity.
Why are human babies so helpless? Is there an advantage to their helplessness? Human babies are so helpless because they’re born prematurely, relative to other animals. Because they’re born before they’re fully developed, human babies are helpless, but this may provide a key to why humans are so successful as a species. We’ll cover why human babies are so helpless and why this could be an advantage in the animal kingdom.
What is the history of agriculture? How did it originate? Was the origin of farming an intentional decision on the part of our ancestors? The history of agriculture includes the domestication of wheat about 10,000 years ago. It was at this time that early Sapiens shifted from a nomadic life to a farming life. We’ll cover the origin of agriculture and its early history.