The Imitation Factor: Evolution Beyond The Gene - Hardcover

Dugatkin, Lee Alan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684864533 ISBN 13: 9780684864532

Publisher: Free Press, 2001

Synopsis

A biologist and science journalist focuses on imitation as a key evolutionary strategy, revealing "animal education" as a universal phenomena.

About this title

Review:

Everyone knows "monkey see, monkey do," but how many of us reflect on the proverb's consequences? Biologist Lee Alan Dugatkin asks just how different animals can be from humans if they engage, as they seem to, in cultural transmission of behavior. Long thought to be one of the last barriers between H. sapiens and the rest of the family, imitation can be found even in fish--and Dugatkin's book, The Imitation Factor: Evolution Beyond the Gene, explores the research on the subject and its implications. His straightforward, accessible style serves him and the reader well. Though there are no tough equations or metaphysical concepts to bar the way to understanding, the delicacy of behavioral research can be tricky to communicate properly. Summarizing his points, he says:

The zoological work on cultural evolution reveals strange and even amazing facts about animals no matter how large or small their brains are--indeed, some just barely have what we can call a brain. The actions of a few individuals, or even just a single one, can dramatically shift the evolutionary future of a particular population fundamentally because individuals are keen copiers.

The author presents his own and others' research into imitative learning and makes a compelling case for its ubiquity. He suggests that a vast range of behavioral science is hampered by its reliance on biological (especially genetic) explanations, and that researchers would do well to sift more carefully between nature and nurture. It's an intriguing notion, and makes The Imitation Factor well worth reading--and besides, everyone else is doing it. --Rob Lightner

From the Author:

Some quotes from the Dust Jacket of The Imitation Factor: "Lee Dugatkin's superb new book on imitation and culture leaves the tired arguments about nature vs. nurture in the dust. His thinking is original, his experiments ingenious, and his writing lucid and engaging. Readers will want to have what I just had: a deeply thought-provoking read." Nancy Etcoff, Ph.D, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, author of "Survival of the Prettiest" (Doubleday Press) "This is a fascinating, readable and important book about what may be the greatest of all human skills, our ability to imitate. It makes me want to write a book just like it!" Dean Hamer, Ph.D., Chief of Gene Structure and Regulation, National Cancer Institute Molecular biologist, author of "The Science of Desire" (Doubleday Press) and "Living with Our Genes" (Doubleday Press). " We humans are so good imitation that we overlooked both its difficulty and its crucial role in evolution. Lee Dugatkin sets this right with his thorough and readable investigation".

Susan Blackmore, Author of "The Meme Machine" "To understand humans, you much understand culture. To understand culture, you must understand imitation in animals. To understand imitation you must read Dugatkin. His clear and entertaining prose weaves a vivid tapestry from a wide range of research and novel ideas. This book will propel the cultural evolution meme to exponentially increasing replication."

Randy M. Nesse, M.D., University of Michigan, Author of "Why We Get Sick".

About this edition

• Publisher: Free Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0684864533
• ISBN 13: 9780684864532
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256