How We Think: The Hidden Life of Everyday Ideas

A sweeping, thought-provoking exploration of how humans think about the world and themselves

Humans are the product of millions of years of evolution as well as various forces of culture that influence how we think. Humans also spend much of their brain power on self-reflection. We want to understand ourselves, to decide if there is a universal “human nature” or if we are cultural beings that can think our way out of everything. Can we agree on who we are and what motivates our thoughts? What is the purpose of such an enormous brain? Does it guide us or restrict us?

A sweeping, thought-provoking exploration about how humans, as a species and as individuals, think about the world and themselves, How We Think presents essays about research, questions the way humans use their minds, and considers how that information informs each of us about ourselves. This is a book for everyone—for those interested in anthropology and human behavior and the “big questions” about who we are. How We Think takes the anthropological view about the human thought process, a view that is both evolutionarily deep and widely cross-cultural, always focusing on what makes humans so different from each other, although we are also universally so much alike.

Meredith F. Small is Professor Emerita, Department of Anthropology, Cornell University, and a science journalist. Her books include What’s Love Got to Do With It; Our Babies Ourselves; Kids, Together: The Anthropology of Family (forthcoming), and most recently Here Begins the Dark Sea: Venice, a Medieval Monk, and the Creation of the Most Accurate Map of the World.