Inertia Wins!

Frans de Waal – Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are

De Waal is the world’s most famous expert on bonobos, who along with chimpanzees are humanity’s closest relatives. Here, he shows how observing primate behavior can shed light on human behavior. This book takes an informal, almost chatty tone, with de Waal often writing in the first person about his personal experiences with both apes and with humans. Even though our species branched apart a good 6 or 7 million years ago, we still have very much in common with chimps and especially bonobos. Our resemblance is more than physical. It is also cultural. Moreover, the two are often intertwined.

Chimps form complex alliances in the same way humans do, forming 2-against-1 relationships where possible, and scheming to divide enemies where so they don’t put up a united front. In a 2-against-1, don’t be the 1. As de Waal points out, human diplomacy follows similar strategies, just on a global scale. Nation-states play the same roles as individual chimps.

De Waal also offers some insight on biology and anatomy, especially sexual dimorphism. Species with drastically different male-to-female size ratios tend to have male-dominant cultures. Similarly, testicle size is related to promiscuity. Gorillas and human cultures tend towards monogamy, and this manifests itself in smaller testicles. Promiscuous chimps and bonobos have more competition, so they have larger testicles to produce more sperm. These dynamics show up in their behavior. Male chimps will often commit infanticide when they know the child is not theirs. Females intentionally confuse matters by having several possible fathers. This strategy changes male behavior, saving young lives.

De Waal goes off the rails toward the end, when he makes it uncomfortably clear that his expertise does not extend to economics or public policy. Here, the discussion is on par with a Facebook or Twitter political rant, lacking of command of either emotions or facts. That awkwardness can be safely skipped. The rest of the book is excellent.

Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan – Comet

The first edition of this lavishly illustrated book coincided with Halley’s comet’s 1986 appearance, and the second edition was timed for 1994’s Hale-Bopp comet. A further 20 years of observation—not to mention landing freaking satellites on comets and returning samples to Earth—make some of the science here dated. But Sagan and Druyan’s book contains their trademark accessibility and sense of wonder, which will never be obsolete.

Brian Switek – Skeleton Keys: The Secret Life of Bone

A history of bones that makes for a fun read. The stuff initially began as armored plating for fish nearly 500 million years ago. It also turned to be a good protector for the spinal cords that were starting to appear, and eventually became spines with separate vertebrae. Bones made possible complicated nervous systems, our sense of hearing (ears have bones to shape and conduct sound), and more. Ribcages guarded organs. Without them, lungs would never have evolved, and neither would air-breathing animals like us. Bones do not move, but they make movement possible. Bones gave structure to fins. Their radial structure turns out to also have been perfect for land-dwellers’ limbs, and fins gradually became feet with toes and hands with fingers and knuckles. The bone structure was already there in fins; they just needed to lose the webbing and add some new muscles to control the articulation points.

Switek also shows how much bones can tell us from both archaeological and paleontological finds, and even among the living. He also briefly discusses bones in literature in popular culture near the beginning. People associate bones and skeletons with death, and rightly do. Switek’s goal is to bring some life to the subject, and mostly succeeds.