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Es gibt einen Menschenschlag, der sich von anderen stark unterscheidet. Sein Gehirn ist so verdrahtet, dass er Gesichter schlechter erkennt, weniger auf Verwandte achtet und die Welt »scheibchenweise« verstehen will. Bei diesen sonderbaren Personen handelt es sich um »Westler«. Aber warum sind wir im »Westen« so sonderbar und was hat das mit Demokratie und Religion, Falschparken und Heiraten, Totems und Tabus, Aufklärung, industrieller Revolution, Globalisierung und fast allem anderen zu tun? Anhand von faszinierenden psychologischen Experimenten, ausgedehnten Feldforschungen und...

Humans are a puzzling species. On the one hand, we struggle to survive on our own in the wild, often failing to overcome even basic challenges, like obtaining food, building shelters, or avoiding predators. On the other hand, human groups have produced ingenious technologies, sophisticated languages, and complex institutions that have permitted us to successfully expand into a vast range of diverse environments. What has enabled us to dominate the globe, more than any other species, while remaining virtually helpless as lone individuals? This book shows that the secret of our success lies...

Why does language change? Why can we speak to and understand our parents but have trouble reading Shakespeare? Why is Chaucer's English of the fourteenth century so different from Modern English of the late twentieth century that the two are essentially different languages? Why are Americans and English 'one people divided by a common language'? And how can the language of Chaucer and Modern English - or Modern British and American English - still be called the same language? The present book provides answers to questions like these in a straightforward way, aimed at the non-specialist,...