The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture

Rating:
Summary: A fresh start
Review: As my title indicates, in contrast to the contributors before me, i would like to point out some serious downsides of the book at hand. First though, i want to point out that it definitely is an interesting volume, with some quite important contributions. The downside mentioned above consists of a few articles which are outright bad, in that they either seem overly pan-adaptionistic or/and one cannot help but get the impression listening to a child screaming 'I'm right I'm right I'm right!'. A prime example of this last vice are 2 of the editors themselves, namely Tooby and Cosmides in their introduction article, which sadly clutters the book for already 130 of its about 600 pages. To me, they seem to be a prime example of investigators that badly need to step back for a while from their work, to free their minds and maybe become a little bit more open for contrasting views. Their dogmatic approach is almost ridiculed by their intense attacks on dogmatism they perceive on the side of social scientists.It might be a more promising approach to not inherit the mistakes of ones opponents. An example for pan-adaptionism, among some others, is Mr. Pinker. I don't think he needs further introduction here. He has some valid points, but mainly he relies on rhetoric to make up for missing research. There are some quite valuable articles in the book as well, so for example the one by J.Barkow or the research by Silverman/Eals. They make the book worth reading, if one keeps a keen eye for possible mistakes, overeagerness or unappropriate simplifications. The book rates somewhere between 2 and 3 stars for myself, since i don't believe in excessive superlatives as is often exhibited in these rating systems - meaning, ppl either scoring items with 5 or 1 star.

Rating:
Summary: Downsides of this book
Review: As my title indicates, in contrast to the contributors before me, i would like to point out some serious downsides of the book at hand. First though, i want to point out that it definitely is an interesting volume, with some quite important contributions. The downside mentioned above consists of a few articles which are outright bad, in that they either seem overly pan-adaptionistic or/and one cannot help but get the impression listening to a child screaming 'I'm right I'm right I'm right!'. A prime example of this last vice are 2 of the editors themselves, namely Tooby and Cosmides in their introduction article, which sadly clutters the book for already 130 of its about 600 pages. To me, they seem to be a prime example of investigators that badly need to step back for a while from their work, to free their minds and maybe become a little bit more open for contrasting views. Their dogmatic approach is almost ridiculed by their intense attacks on dogmatism they perceive on the side of social scientists.It might be a more promising approach to not inherit the mistakes of ones opponents. An example for pan-adaptionism, among some others, is Mr. Pinker. I don't think he needs further introduction here. He has some valid points, but mainly he relies on rhetoric to make up for missing research. There are some quite valuable articles in the book as well, so for example the one by J.Barkow or the research by Silverman/Eals. They make the book worth reading, if one keeps a keen eye for possible mistakes, overeagerness or unappropriate simplifications. The book rates somewhere between 2 and 3 stars for myself, since i don't believe in excessive superlatives as is often exhibited in these rating systems - meaning, ppl either scoring items with 5 or 1 star.

Rating:
Summary: Belated Paradigm Shift for Psychology
Review: Excellent scholarship that completely re-oriented my approach to psychology. When I completed my BS in psychology I felt as if I knew next to nothing and couldn't seem to make a coherent framework of it all in my mind. On to my MS in both clinical and organizational psychology and I felt somewhat capable. Thanks to the efforts of these and other evolutionary psychologists, now I can see the forest for the trees. Finally an overarching theoretical framework that allows psychology to fall in line with the biological sciences and become unified. It seems too good to be true...makes you ask why it had never occurred to yourself.....or my professors.....or etc.

Rating:
Summary: Great work
Review: Finally, a branch of psychology which does not use the standard psycho-babble which distorted our views of human-kind in the 20th century.

Rating:
Summary: Changed the way I think about human behavior
Review: I read this book in my last semester as a psych major. I was extremely dissapointed with all the theories that I had learned relating to human behavior, until I read this book. This book provides explantions for humnan behavior, that in my opnion, are the "real thing". All the ariticles are well written and based on sound, scientific research. It is not easy reading, but it is well worth it. I think that anyone studying or interested in human behavior should read this book.

Rating:
Summary: More Tooby & Cosmides, please
Review: I was prompted to respond by the review from the individual in Virginia. He or she didn't like the Tooby & Cosmides chapters whereas I feel they were by far the most interesting chapters in the book. Reading their long essay (Chapter 2)is one of the best favors psychologists can do for themselves. Being a psychology major, I know that I was often confused about psychology before reading it, but their combination of cognitive psychology with evolutionary biology finally gave me an idea of where psychology should be going in the future. If only social psychologists and domain-general cognitive psychologists would read it, their research and approach might not be so sterile and boring. My only regret is that the book contained some chapters that were not as strong as the early chapters, but the importance of the good chapters greatly outweighs any weaknesses in the other ones.

Rating:
Summary: More Tooby & Cosmides, please
Review: I was prompted to respond by the review from the individual in Virginia. He or she didn't like the Tooby & Cosmides chapters whereas I feel they were by far the most interesting chapters in the book. Reading their long essay (Chapter 2)is one of the best favors psychologists can do for themselves. Being a psychology major, I know that I was often confused about psychology before reading it, but their combination of cognitive psychology with evolutionary biology finally gave me an idea of where psychology should be going in the future. If only social psychologists and domain-general cognitive psychologists would read it, their research and approach might not be so sterile and boring. My only regret is that the book contained some chapters that were not as strong as the early chapters, but the importance of the good chapters greatly outweighs any weaknesses in the other ones.

Rating:
Summary: A watershed work!
Review: It would be difficult to exaggerate the importance and uniqueness of this work. It is without question, the most comprehensive, most authoritative, most timely, most compelling, most interdisciplinary book ever written on the topic of evolutionary psychology. Practically all the major exponents of this new science are presented and accounted for (Buss, Symons, Daly & Wilson, Tooby & Cosmides, Barkow and Kaplan). In addition, many qualified and distinguished experts in other fields have made valuable supporting contributions (McGrew, Shepard and Fernald). It already stands as a classic in the field of evolutionary psychology and is destined to be a watershed in the development of psychological thought. However, readers beware: this book is not a light, bedside read. It is dense, scholarly reading. Although enjoyable, it is not appropriate for a lay audience looking for pop-psychology. But if you are a social scientists or serious reader who wishes to know what evolutionary psychology is about, there is simply no other book to read. My only question is when can we look forward to a second volume?

Rating:
Summary: A watershed work!
Review: It would be difficult to exaggerate the importance and uniqueness of this work. It is without question, the most comprehensive, most authoritative, most timely, most compelling, most interdisciplinary book ever written on the topic of evolutionary psychology. Practically all the major exponents of this new science are presented and accounted for (Buss, Symons, Daly & Wilson, Tooby & Cosmides, Barkow and Kaplan). In addition, many qualified and distinguished experts in other fields have made valuable supporting contributions (McGrew, Shepard and Fernald). It already stands as a classic in the field of evolutionary psychology and is destined to be a watershed in the development of psychological thought. However, readers beware: this book is not a light, bedside read. It is dense, scholarly reading. Although enjoyable, it is not appropriate for a lay audience looking for pop-psychology. But if you are a social scientists or serious reader who wishes to know what evolutionary psychology is about, there is simply no other book to read. My only question is when can we look forward to a second volume?

Rating:
Summary: Changed the way I think about human behavior
Review: No, it isn't light reading. And I can't say I understand every word of it. But it's the book I've found myself quoting from more often than any other book in the last five years as I've attempted to share my insight and experiences with my colleagues. I'm not a psychologist or social worker: but I deal with people who are addressing (or not) life's greatest issues (money, death, children, philanthropy). Read it a chapter at a time, and you will be rewarded with a greater understanding of the human race-and yourself.