Description

‘A landmark in social thought. Henrich may go down as the most influential social scientist of the first half of the twenty-first century’ MATTHEW SYED

‘A brilliant performance – accessible, playful and scholarly, turning conventional history on its head and approaching it in a new way’ SIMON SEBAG-MONTEFIORE

Do you identify yourself by your profession or achievements, rather than your family network? Do you cultivate your unique attributes and goals? If so, perhaps you are WEIRD: raised in a society that is Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic.

Unlike most who have ever lived, WEIRD people are highly individualistic, nonconformist, analytical and control-oriented. How did WEIRD populations become so psychologically peculiar? What part did these differences play in our history, and what do they mean for our collective identity?

Joseph Henrich, who developed the game-changing concept of WEIRD, uses leading-edge research in anthropology, psychology, economics and evolutionary biology to explore how changing family structures, marriage practices and religious beliefs in the Middle Ages shaped the Western mind, laying the foundations for the world we know today. Brilliant, provocative, engaging and surprising, this landmark study will revolutionize your understanding of who – and how – we are now.

‘Phenomenal … The only theory I am aware of that attempts to explain broad patterns of human psychology on a global scale’ Washington Post

‘You will never look again in the same way at your own seemingly universal values’ Uta Frith, Professor of Cognitive Development, University College London

Publisher Review

Henrich has thought more deeply about cultural evolution than anybody alive. His fascinating insights into just how weird people like he and I are, with our western lifestyles, and what the implications of that are for better and for worse, are a great contribution to scholarship. -- Matt Ridley * author of 'How Innovation Works' * There's nothing so fascinating as a social anthropologist's analysis of his own tribe. Henrich shows how strange and exceptional Western society is when compared with most of the world -- John Barton, author of A History of the Bible Phenomenal ... The only theory I am aware of that attempts to explain broad patterns of human psychology on a global scale. -- Coren Apicella, Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania * Washington Post * The most absorbing, provocative and compelling book I have read in a long time. Joseph Henrich's thrilling expose of cultural variety and evolution is grounded in meticulous science, and his arguments go beyond the milestone of Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel. You will never look again in the same way at your own seemingly universal values. -- Uta Frith * Emeritus Professor of Cognitive Development, University College London * A massively ambitious work that explains the transition to the modern world ... Significantly contributes to our understanding -- Francis Fukuyama, author of The Origins of Political Order Illuminates a journey into human nature that is more exciting, more complex and ultimately more consequential than has previously been suspected. * Nature * A masterpiece. Staggering in range, intricate in detail, thrilling in ambition, this book is a landmark in social thought. Henrich may go down as the most influential social scientist of the first half of the twenty-first century. -- Matthew Syed * bestselling author of 'Black Box Thinking' and 'Bounce' *