Culture

Name: Culture
ISBN: 9787213091087

约翰·布罗克曼 / 侯新智 / 许云萍 / Sheng YangyanZhejiang People's Publishing House · ChinaDec 2021

3.5

Word count: 164K words
Chapters: 21
ISBN: 9787213091087

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Summary

Every year, Edge, the world's smartest website, brings 100 of the world's greatest minds to the same table to answer the same big question about the fate of humanity, launching an intellectual adventure and a journey of thought! Culture is a vast and little-known force that shapes society, art, science, and even human biological development; it is the stage on which human experience plays out. But what exactly is culture? In this captivating book, Edge founder John Brockman joins philosopher and cognitive scientist Daniel Dennett, evolutionary biologist Jared Diamond, philosopher of art Denis Dutton, complex systems researcher Brian Arthur, nonfiction writer and historian George Dyson, Whole Earth Catalog founder Stewart Brand, "father of virtual reality" Jaron Lanier, sociologist Nicholas Christakis, and others to bring you a grand reflection on culture.

Editor's review

The value of this book lies not in providing a standard answer to "what culture is," but in turning the question back into a conversation you can join. Drawing on Edge's annual question, Brockman brings minds from different backgrounds—Daniel Dennett, Jared Diamond, Denis Dutton, Brian Arthur, Stewart Brand, Jaron Lanier, Nicholas Christakis, and others—to the same topic, letting philosophy, evolutionary biology, philosophy of art, complex systems, history of technology, and sociology collide at the intersection of "culture." While reading, you can clearly feel that each author is using the language of their own discipline to unpack how culture shapes society, art, science, and even human biological development. The short essays move at a brisk pace, and the viewpoints both echo and strain against one another. It works well as an "idea trigger" in general reading: you do not have to read it in order from start to finish; open to any piece and you enter a way of thinking. For readers accustomed to a single disciplinary framework, this book offers not a systematic textbook but a way of approaching big questions across disciplines, helping readers stay sensitive to grand questions in fragmented time.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers interested in culture, intellectual history, and interdisciplinary discussion
People who like short essays and want to read intellectual pieces in fragmented time
Students of philosophy, sociology, biology, and other fields seeking to broaden their perspectives
Organizers looking for diverse viewpoints for book clubs or classroom discussions

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a systematic textbook of cultural theory or a complete knowledge framework
Academic researchers who prefer long-form argument and rigorous systematic derivation
People who only want single-author monographs and dislike multi-author collections

Reading tips

Start with the author from the discipline you know best in the table of contents, then move outward to unfamiliar fields to lower the interdisciplinary threshold.
After each piece, note in two or three sentences how the author defines "culture," and compare similarities and differences at the end.
Suitable as a bedside or commute read; read one or two pieces at a time without trying to finish it in one sitting.
If organizing a book club, discuss in groups around controversial points such as whether culture influences biological evolution.

About the publisher

Zhejiang People's Publishing House China · Founded in 1951

Zhejiang People's Publishing House is a comprehensive publisher known for its social science, history and foreign literature titles, covering philosophy, politics, law, economics, culture and history. Among the books in the library catalogue, its foreign literature list includes Yasunari Kawabata's Snow Country and The Old Capital in well-known translations, as well as Wuthering Heights; its history list is represented by Dangnian Mingyue's Ming Dynasty series, and its politics list by Zhejiang New Discourse. Authors represented include Yasunari Kawabata, Ye Weiqu, Tang Yuemei, Dangnian Mingyue, Emily Brontë and René Wellek, with Wellek's Theory of Literature (newly revised edition) among its titles in literary theory. Beyond these areas, the press also publishes works on literary appreciation and social culture, giving it a profile that combines classic translations, popular history and academic works. As publicly available information is limited, other details are not covered here.

版权信息
各方赞誉
总序
前言
01 文化的进化
02 为什么一些社会做出了灾难性的决策？
03 艺术与人类现实
04 文化大理论
05 吾众为神，须善为之
06 图灵的大教堂值约翰·冯·诺伊曼提议发明数字计算机60周年之际访问谷歌公司
07 是时候认真对待互联网了
08 间接互惠、评估硬连线与声誉
09 新网络集体主义的危害
10 对杰伦·拉尼尔新网络集体主义的评论
11 社会网络就像眼睛一样
12 下一次文艺复兴个人民主论坛上的专题演讲
13 数字权力及其不满
14 技术会进化吗？
15 亚里士多德知识网
16 煎饼人VS哥德尔到谷歌网
17 信息人时代

FAQ

Is this book a monograph by John Brockman alone?

No. Brockman is the founder of Edge and the initiator and editor of this book. It gathers short essays by many philosophers, scientists, writers, and others around the theme of "culture," so readers see multiple disciplinary perspectives and writing styles rather than a systematic argument by a single author throughout.

Can I understand it without a background in cultural studies?

Yes. Most pieces are short essays that rely less on layer upon layer of professional terminology; their core is to offer different disciplinary angles on culture. When you encounter unfamiliar concepts, you can skip them first and grasp the author's basic judgment. It is better treated as an entry point to ideas than as a professional textbook.

Should I read it in order from start to finish?

Not necessarily. The hallmark of a multi-author collection is that the pieces are relatively independent. Reading in table-of-contents order lets you feel the editorial rhythm, but jumping around by interest is entirely feasible. It is advisable to start with authors from fields you know and then move into unfamiliar disciplines, which makes comparison and contrast easier.

Can this book answer "what culture actually is"?

It tends to show how different minds understand and unpack the question rather than give a single definition. What readers gain is multiple paths of thought and points of controversy. It suits a mindset of "comparing different answers" rather than looking for a standard answer.

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About the author

约翰·布罗克曼 Author

John Brockman is a curator-like author focused on science, ideas, and frontier issues, with 16 works included in the collection. Public information is limited, and details such as his birth and death dates, nationality, and education have not been confirmed. Judging from the available works, he excels at organizing the views of experts from different fields into accessible public discussions through dialogues, interviews, and themed anthologies. His representative works include the "Great Minds" series of big-idea conversations, This Idea Must Die-style collections of key scientific discoveries, My Einstein, The Universe: From Origins to the Future, and How the Human Mind Evolved with the Internet. His writing often centers on scientific discovery, artificial intelligence, evolutionary biology, genetics, anthropology, environmental science, and decision-making and prediction, while also touching on scientists' biographies and formative experiences. His works are mainly classified under popular science, biography, artificial intelligence, and social psychology. Aimed at general readers, they emphasize interdisciplinary perspectives and the clash of ideas, helping readers understand how scientific advances shape humanity's understanding of itself and the world.

侯新智 Author

Hou Xinzhi is a translator who has long worked on social science and popular science books. Public information about him is limited, and his nationality, dates of birth and death, and educational background are not clearly documented. Judging from the six works recorded in the database, his translations span social psychology, popular science, social science, management, and culture. His representative translations include Steven Pinker's Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress (Zhejiang People's Publishing House, 2018), co-translated with Ouyang Mingliang and Wei Wei, and Terry Leahy's The Truth About Winning: The 10 Key Lessons That Made Tesco a World Retail Giant (Zhejiang People's Publishing House, 2014). He has also translated popular science works such as The Secret Quantum Life. His translations cover cutting-edge subjects ranging from rationalist social science to quantum biology, combining intellectual substance with readability.

许云萍 Author · China

Xu Yunping is a Chinese author about whom publicly available information is limited. Details such as birth and death dates, educational background, and professional experience are not clearly recorded. According to the library's holdings, one work currently appears under this name, classified under culture, and the representative work is likewise titled Culture. This classification suggests that the book may address cultural phenomena, cultural concepts, or everyday cultural issues, written for general readers and combining popular knowledge with observation and reflection. Because the number of works is limited and reviews and introductory materials are scarce, it is difficult to assess the author's writing style or overall body of work systematically, and it cannot be confirmed whether writings in other genres or fields exist. On the available evidence, Xu Yunping's writing shows a fairly concentrated cultural orientation, and readers may treat the work as an entry point for understanding related cultural topics. Should more works and public introductions appear in the future, a fuller picture of the author and the characteristics of the writing could be presented.

Sheng Yangyan Author · Chinese

Sheng Yangyan received her master's degree from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in 2014 and currently serves as general manager of Chengdu Shulian Culture Communication Co., Ltd. She is mainly engaged in translating IT-related books. Public information about her is limited, and few details of her life have been disclosed, but her 13 published works offer a rough outline of her main interests. She has long worked on topics in finance, management and artificial intelligence, and her translations span big data, the science of thought and the history of innovation. Among them, her translations of Big Data, How to Create a Mind and Where Good Ideas Come From have been relatively influential, helping Chinese readers understand the data revolution, cognitive science and the generation of creative ideas. Her translations emphasize accurate conveyance of concepts and fluent, readable narration, balancing expertise with accessibility, and are well suited to popular science and business reading for general audiences.