General Books - John S. Allen Anthropologist and Author Tue, 12 Jul 2016 03:01:15 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Home: How Habitat Made Us Human https://www.johnsallen.com/book/home-how-habitat-made-us-human/ Sun, 12 Jun 2016 11:04:59 +0000 http://www.johnsallen.com/?post_type=books&p=810 As the adage goes, home is where the heart is. This may seem self-explanatory, but none of our close primate cousins have anything like homes. Whether we live in an igloo or in Buckingham Palace, the fact that Homo sapiens create homes is one of the greatest puzzles of our evolution. In Home, neuroanthropologist John […]

The post Home: How Habitat Made Us Human appeared first on John S. Allen.

]]> The Omnivorous Mind: Our Evolving Relationship with Food https://www.johnsallen.com/book/the-omnivorous-mind/ Sun, 12 Jun 2016 11:03:20 +0000 http://www.johnsallen.com/?post_type=books&p=793 In this gustatory tour of human history, John S. Allen demonstrates that the everyday activity of eating offers deep insights into human beings’ biological and cultural heritage. We humans eat a wide array of plants and animals, but unlike other omnivores we eat with our minds as much as our stomachs. This thoughtful relationship with […]

The post The Omnivorous Mind: Our Evolving Relationship with Food appeared first on John S. Allen.

]]> The Lives of the Brain: Human Evolution and the Organ of Mind https://www.johnsallen.com/book/the-lives-of-the-brain/ Sun, 12 Jun 2016 11:02:20 +0000 http://www.johnsallen.com/?post_type=books&p=791 Though we have other distinguishing characteristics (walking on two legs, for instance, and relative hairlessness), the brain and the behavior it produces are what truly set us apart from the other apes and primates. And how this three-pound organ composed of water, fat, and protein turned a mammal species into the dominant animal on earth […]

The post The Lives of the Brain: Human Evolution and the Organ of Mind appeared first on John S. Allen.

]]>