The Human Algorithm
Tags
Summary
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- General readers interested in human evolution and group behavior who want a framework for explaining everyday social life.
- Community operators and managers seeking to understand the inherent limits of small-group size and trust-building.
- Beginning readers in psychology, anthropology, and sociology who need a book balancing readability with a chain of inference.
- Readers who like to think about business and social issues from an interdisciplinary perspective and are willing to read slowly and take notes.
Not a good fit for
- Readers expecting concrete action checklists or business case templates; the book leans toward explanatory frameworks rather than execution manuals.
- Casual readers who only want light stories and are unwilling to follow inferences and concepts.
- Researchers needing rigorous quantitative models and statistical methods training; the book is not primarily a methods tutorial.
Reading tips
- Read in the order of the six chapters; after each, write the core inference and one life observation in three sentences.
- When reading the chapters on pair bonds and language instinct, annotate against your own intimate relationships and daily conversation habits.
- Think about passages on 'Dunbar's number' alongside the size of your team, and record verifiable differences.
- If time is limited, read the evolution and group consciousness chapters first, then fill in the middle chapters.
About the publisher
Sichuan People's Publishing House is a comprehensive publisher whose list spans social fiction, art, foreign literature, finance and biography; the 358 titles in the database show a catalogue balancing classics with general reading. Representative books include Lu Xun's A Madman's Diary, Feng Zikai's Paintings for the Protection of Life, works associated with Li Shutong, and foreign-literature translations such as André Gide's Strait Is the Gate and Yasunari Kawabata's Snow Country and The Dancing Girl: Classic Works of Yasunari Kawabata. In finance there is Security Analysis, and in biography the New Biography of Su Dongpo. Authors represented include Lu Xun, Feng Zikai, Li Shutong, Li Yumin, Zhu Zuci and Ye Zongmin. The publishing profile emphasizes literary classics alongside art books, and uses thematic series such as the "banned books" collection to address intellectual and scientific themes. Public information is limited, so this introduction focuses on the directions reflected in the database.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 推荐序 社会脑的演化
- 引言 是什么让人类如此与众不同
- 谁创造了美轮美奂的史前壁画
- 开启探索与自我发现之旅
- 01 直立的思想家，双足与大脑的完美组合
- 人猿何时分道扬镳
- 基因测量工具的使用
- 进化的难题和补丁
- 再见了，猿类兄弟
- 尼安德特人的谜题
- 02 心智探奇，会思考如此重要
- 读心是门学问
- 知其然与知其所以然
- 欺骗是门艺术
- 思考的深度和力量
- 大脑和新皮质的那些事儿
- 03 伴侣关系，我们选择了稳定的一夫一妻制
- 森林里的田园牧歌
- 做爱而不作战
- 不是冤家不聚头
- 生育、伴侣和杀婴
- 04 语言本能，高效的沟通方式为我所用
- 八卦可是件大事
- 口吐人言，绝非一日之功
- 语言何时产生？
- 逗人笑就是在“梳毛”？
- 音乐曼妙，大家一起来跳舞
- 05 高级文化，人类是唯一拥有文化的物种
- 语言文化：说话有多重要？
- 物质文化：石头、棒子，不容小觑
- 医药文化：赤脚医生上场
- 社会学习：追寻圣杯的菜鸟们
- 猿类文化：到底是否存在？
- 06 群体意识，信仰是一把双刃剑
- 够用的框架，幸福的承诺
- 宗教是一种怎样的体验？
- 社区：集体与归属感
- 花衣魔笛手与集体性狂热
- 宗教领袖是稀有的
- 墓穴做证，逝者能言：又见尼安德特人
- 结语 不断进化的我们
FAQ
Can I understand this book without a background in anthropology?
What is the relationship between this book and 'Dunbar's number'?
Can I apply it directly to community operations after reading?
Is it suitable for a book club to read together?
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About the author
Robin Dunbar is an author known for his work on evolutionary science and human behavior, whose books are often categorized in the Chinese market as popular science, inspirational growth, and social science. The database currently contains four of his works, including The Human Value Nonet, The Evolution of Community, The Best Intimate Relationships, and The Human Algorithm. Because public information is limited, details such as his full biography, nationality, and dates of birth and death remain unclear. Nevertheless, these works show that he combines perspectives from evolutionary biology, psychology, and sociology to discuss how humans form communities, maintain intimate relationships, and where human behavior and values come from. His writing balances academic substance with readability, explaining complex issues of human behavior to general readers and holding appeal in popular science and social science reading.
Hu Zhengfei is an author with wide-ranging interests; publicly available information about him is limited, and details of his life remain unclear. Judging from the six works held in the library, his writing centers mainly on popular science and social science, with forays into world history and management. His representative works include The Story of Human Origins, The Human Algorithm, How to Solve Complex Problems, Can Humans Still Cooperate Well?, and his contribution to the "Conversations with the Great Minds" series, Which Scientific Ideas Must Die?, as well as Animal Weapons. These works revolve largely around human evolution, scientific ideas, and complex problems, showing that he is skilled at turning cutting-edge scientific topics into accessible narratives for general readers. His subjects span history, popular science, and the social sciences, and are suited to readers interested in interdisciplinary knowledge.
