2024 the best books of 21st century review

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A provocative exploration of the tension between our evolutionary history and our modern woes - and what we can do about it.

We are living through the most prosperous age in all of human history, yet we are listless, divided, and miserable. Wealth and comfort are unparalleled, but our political landscape is unmoored, and rates of suicide, lone­liness, and chronic illness continue to skyrocket. How do we explain the gap between these truths? And how should we respond?

For evolutionary biologists Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein, the cause of our troubles is clear: The accelerat­ing rate of change in the modern world has outstripped the capacity of our brains and bodies to adapt. We evolved to live in clans, but today many people don’t even know their neighbors’ names. In our haste to discard outdated gender roles, we increasingly deny the flesh-and-blood realities of sex - and its ancient roots. The cognitive dissonance spawned by trying to live in a society we are not built for is killing us.

In this book, Heying and Weinstein draw on decades of their work teaching in college classrooms and explor­ing Earth’s most biodiverse ecosystems to confront today’s pressing social ills - from widespread sleep deprivation and dangerous diets to damaging parenting styles and back­ward education practices. Asking the questions many mod­ern people are afraid to ask, A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century outlines a science-based worldview that will empower you to live a better, wiser life.

This audiobook includes a downloadable PDF containing illustrations and charts from the book.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

Reviewer: Steve Ceresnie
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Practical Wisdom: A Hunter-Gatherer Meets a 21rst Century Hyper-Novel Human
Review: This brilliant, provocative book is written by wife and husband evolutionary biologists, Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein. These scientists are unusual. They have the guts to act on their liberal, progressive convictions --- they resigned from their tenured, 15 year long faculty positions at Evergreen College, standing up to the scourge of political correctness.They tackle big questions about our species with clarity, wit, and the wide perspective of the evolutionary lens.They see humans in the modern world as hyper-novel. They say: “ … humans are extraordinary well adapted to, and equipped for, change. But the rate of change itself is so rapid now that our brains, bodies, and social systems are perpetually out or sync. For millions of years, we lived among friends and extended families, but today many people don’t even know their neighbors’ names. Some of the most fundamental truths – like the fact of two sexes are increasingly dismissed as lies. The cognitive dissonance spawned by trying to live in a society that is changing faster than we can accommodate is turning us into people who cannot fend for ourselves. Simply put, it’s killing us.”The authors claim, “if we don’t figure out how to grapple with the problem of accelerating novelty, humanity will perish, a victim of its success.”They understand the need for a revolution to save the human species --- and they comprehend the ancient wisdom to let what works for humans, remain. They rightly observe that most revolutions make things worse ---- we need to respect traditions – such as religious belief and respect for ancient wisdom that informs us what works in our society. They quote the writer G. K. Chesterton who reminds us to be careful when we approach a fence --- we shouldn’t tear down the fence just because we don’t know why the fence is there.Heying and Weinstein are wedded to first principles – assumptions that cannot be deduced from any other assumptions. They are aware of the naturalistic fallacy of what is or what is natural must be good --- a confusion of fact and value. What is, is not always what should be.Heying and Weinstein propose practical guidelines for such important topics, and chapter titles as, “Ancient Bodies, Modern World;” “Medicine;” “Sex and Gender,” “Parenting;” “Becoming Adults;” “Culture and Consciousness,” Heying and Weinstein tell us much about their views of human nature informed by evolution. The following are examples of the “Corrective Lens” offered at the end of each chapter:• Become skeptical of novel solutions to ancient problems.• Become someone who recognizes patterns about yourself.• Move your body every day.• Do not forget that food is social lubrication for humans.• Develop a ritual in advance of sleep.• Avoid sex without commitment.• Do not succumb to social pressure to embrace easy sex.• Do not helicopter or snowplow your children.• Be the kind of person you want your children to be.• Civilization needs citizens capable of openness and inquiry.• Always be learning.• Get over your bigotry.• Learn how to give useful critique without backing the other person into a corner.• Be barefoot as often as possible.• Sit around more campfires.For millennia, humans have been sitting around campfires, sharing ideas, bonding with each other and solving problems.I welcome the opportunity to sit around a campfire with Drs. Weinstein and Heying, college students, and a group of ideological diverse academics from a variety of disciplines to ask questions, discuss disagreements, and digest more intellectual, gourmet food found in this excellent book.Because I’m a psychologist with 45 years of experience, I would challenge the authors allergy to psychiatric medications. I’ve witnessed many children, adolescents and adults benefit from these medications, sometimes preventing suicide, major depression, academic and job failures. It’s difficult to get people to take 8 days of antibiotics; and more difficult to get people to take daily psychiatric drugs unless these medicines help. Psychiatric medications treat our “hard drive” and talking therapy treats our “software.” Both talking therapy and pharmacotherapy are often essential for treating mental distress. Humans have the most flexible software of any animal on the planet. A core deficit in our understanding of the mind is we have no clue how our material brain creates our sense of “I” - our sense of self.I would like to know how these authors would square their pessimistic view of our world with the writings of psychologist Steven Pinker - “Enlightenment Now,” and the physician, the late Hans Rosling, co-author of, “Factfulness.” Both authors describe the tremendous progress we’ve made in the last 200 years such as reducing world poverty from 90% to 10%; increasing life span; reducing infectious diseases; and much more. Perhaps Pinker and Rosling would say even these brilliant evolutionary biologists are shaped by millions of years of evolution to adopt a negativity bias, keenly aware of threats to our species.Don’t miss their Dark Horse podcasts.To help keep my sanity in this world, I turn to another quote of G. K. Chesterton: “He is a sane man who can have tragedy in his heart and comedy in his head.”

Reviewer: Annie Thompson
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A Scientific View of Humanity and Culture in a Technological World
Review: This book and it’s authors are phenomenal. It’s a great scientific look at the trends of humanity toward modernity and how to put into proper context the best way to approach the rapidly advancing technological age we find ourselves in while being able to focus on enhancing our well-being and culture as human beings. They look at the human body, medicine, food, sleep, sec and gender, parenthood and relationships, childhood, schooling, and cultural consciousness. It’s an approachable scientific look at what’s important and healthy in community building and natural body wellness in the face of an very rapidly changing modern landscape where technology radically changes how humans interact with (or are separated from) the natural world.Personally, this is a good challenge to move myself outside to cultivate a more harmonious relationship with my natural environment. It also challenges me to look at food, medicine, and relationships as a more holistic approach to approving my human body, mind, and connection to others. It’s a good reminder!Even as these two evolutionary biologists approach these topics from a scientific viewpoint, it’s anything but a bland, boring, technical read. They explain the scientific perspectives from approachable and anecdotal supported story telling that makes the scientific explorations very accessible for any level of scientifically-minded reader. This is definite a fantastic read!

Reviewer: Sharon Wells
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Very interesting and informative
Review: Very interesting and informative

Reviewer: Bill Conerly
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Worthwhile, but science and bias intermixed
Review: A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide is informative and thought provoking, though also frustrating and irritating. It’s well written and worth reading as a whole. The central theme is very important: We have traits, both genetic and cultural, that worked well as we evolved, but the world has changed so much that we are not sure which traits are still necessary and which can be abandoned. The downside to the book is that it mixes real science with the authors’ personal biases without clear delineation.On the positive side, the book explains evolutionary science well (to this non-scientific reader), connecting it occasionally to economics (my own specialty), which is also an evolutionary, competitive process. And the science is explained well.Especially useful to me were several observations. On nature versus nurture, they write, “genes and … culture are inextricably linked, and they evolved together ….” (pp. 42-42). Trade-offs are part of the evolutionary process in which competition and survival identify a good balance between resources used and value to procreation. (Antlers on p. 48, sexual reproduction on p. 106, monogamy on p. 128).Although the book could be a quick read, many times I was led to close it and think. For example, following tradition works well in stable times, but analysis is needed when the environment is changing (p. 212). Is that a statement about how to hunt and gather, or how to manage a company’s supply chain, or how to talk to teenagers about sex? Maybe all three. They also offer rules for “building a system that is resistant to senescence” (p. 229) that are worth pondering in any endeavor.The frustrating part of the book is that the authors are not clear where the science ends and their own biases begin. “We are generating new problems at a new and accelerating rate, and it is making us sick—physically, psychologically, socially, and environmentally” (p. xv). They sound like well-educated hippies, highly suspicious of modern ways even though they acknowledge modern medicine has saved millions of lives (pp. 66-67). They point out errors in modern medicine, valid points, but have trouble with order of magnitude: Mistakes that cause a few deaths are given more attention than achievements that have saved millions. They roll into anecdotes about their own families’ efforts to be healthy by not following doctors’ orders, giving little credence to doctors who have seen not one or two cases, but hundreds or thousands of cases (pp. 69-70).We learn that our ancestors “did not have the sleep difficulties that many 21-st century humans do,” in a section that ranges from hunter-gatherers to spider monkeys (p. 97). Maybe we know the sleep patterns of spider monkeys, but I doubt we know much about the sleep of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. This sounds like anti-modern bias.The limits of their scientific statements are sometimes made clear (“we posit …”, p. 157) but often not. A clearer separation of the science from backyard barbecue pontificating would improve the book.Overall, a worthwhile read despite its drawbacks.

Reviewer: alex lindsay
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great book
Review: A must read for how to live happy and healthy in our modern world.

Reviewer: Chris
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: The book really is good. Broken down into sections representing different areas of life. I like the way it ties together rational and scientific thinking with sensible advice on how to live life. I feel like I learned many tips about how to approach different obstacles in life. Recommended read.

Reviewer: Janet
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I was worried that this book would be over my head as I don't consider myself an intellectual by any means. But it was easy to read, well organized, and valuable to everyone and anyone. It was not obscure intellectual jargon, but well articulated tips for living in our ever changing fast paced "hyper-novel" society. Thanks Heather and Bret! You are two of my biggest inspirations and I love your podcast. Please write another book! I especially would love your take on auto immune disorders as I keep reading that they are on the rise, and I suffer from two of them myself.

Reviewer: Elizabeth Anne Beaggeal
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Sometimes, I like to deep dive into sources everyone is ripping through. I am thoroughly enjoying and impressed by the premise and contents of this book and highly recommend!

Reviewer: Erik
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: A fun read that enourages reflection on our modern lives. I will probably come back and re-read it in the future.

Reviewer: Patidifusa
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: No necesitas estar totalmente de acuerdo en todo, pero hay solidez en los razonamientos y conclusiones. Un libro que me ha enseñado más sobre quienes somos que las decenas de libros de psicología que he consumido hasta hoy.Me ha resultado ameno, me ha gustado el tono serio, de igual a igual, y la distribución de los temas. He aprendido y para eso lo compré. He disfrutado, y eso ha hecho del aprendizaje una experiencia satisfactoria.