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Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society Paperback – April 16, 2020
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Drawing on advances in social science, evolutionary biology, genetics, neuroscience and network science, Blueprint shows how and why evolution has placed us on a humane path -- and how we are united by our common humanity.
For too long, scientists have focused on the dark side of our biological heritage: our capacity for aggression, cruelty, prejudice, and self-interest. But natural selection has given us a suite of beneficial social features, including our capacity for love, friendship, cooperation, and learning. Beneath all our inventions - our tools, farms, machines, cities, nations - we carry with us innate proclivities to make a good society.
In Blueprint, Nicholas A. Christakis introduces the compelling idea that our genes affect not only our bodies and behaviors, but also the ways in which we make societies, ones that are surprisingly similar worldwide. With many vivid examples -- including diverse historical and contemporary cultures, communities formed in the wake of shipwrecks, commune dwellers seeking utopia, online groups thrown together by design or involving artificially intelligent bots and even the tender and complex social arrangements of elephants and dolphins that so resemble our own - Christakis shows that, despite a human history replete with violence, we cannot escape our social blueprint for goodness.
In a world of increasing political and economic polarisation, it's tempting to ignore the positive role of our evolutionary past. But by exploring the ancient roots of goodness in civilisation, Blueprint shows that our genes have shaped societies for our welfare and that, in a feedback loop stretching back many thousands of years, societies have shaped and are still shaping, our genes today.
- Print length656 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherLittle, Brown US
- Publication dateApril 16, 2020
- Dimensions4.09 x 1.5 x 6.69 inches
- ISBN-100316497177
- ISBN-13978-0316497176
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Product details
- Publisher : Little, Brown US
- Publication date : April 16, 2020
- Language : English
- Print length : 656 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0316497177
- ISBN-13 : 978-0316497176
- Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
- Dimensions : 4.09 x 1.5 x 6.69 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #3,233,623 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #92 in Genetics (Books)
- #1,052 in Psychologist Biographies
- #12,085 in Cultural Anthropology (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Nicholas A. Christakis, MD, PhD, MPH, is the Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science at Yale University, with appointments in the departments of Sociology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Statistics and Data Science, Biomedical Engineering, and Medicine.
Previously, he conducted research and taught for many years at Harvard University and at the University of Chicago. He was on Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2009. He worked as a hospice physician in underserved communities in Chicago and Boston until 2011.
Nowadays, he spends most of his time in the Human Nature Lab, where his team explores a broad set of ideas, including: understanding the evolutionary, genetic, and physiological bases of friendship; encouraging villages in the developing world to adopt new public health practices (working in locations in Honduras, India, and Uganda); mapping social networks in settings around the world; arranging people into online groups so that they behave better (such as being more cooperative and more truthful); developing artificial intelligence that helps humans address challenges in collective action; exploring the effect of social interactions on the human microbiome; and more. When he is not in the lab, he teaches at Yale University.
Christakis was elected a Fellow to the National Academy of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 2006, to the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2010, and to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2017.
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Customers find the book insightful, with one review describing it as a compellingly-argued treatise on evolutionary precepts of human behavior. Moreover, the book receives positive feedback for its readability, with one customer noting it's a must-read for anyone interested in human nature. Additionally, the writing quality is well-received.
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Customers find the book insightful, with one customer describing it as a compellingly-argued treatise on evolutionary precepts of human behavior.
"...of this remarkable work is the idea that we are genetically primed to build good societies and that, in fact, this is an evolutionary inevitability...." Read more
"...of explaining where genes come in and he builds a nice little mini-body of circumstantial evidence, but I don’t think he quite gets to a QED, or..." Read more
"...than just food for thought it is food for the heart, soul, and mind of mankind. If we are to believe him, there is hope for humanity after all...." Read more
"...He explains cultural evolution in terms of genetical evolution, the evolution of technology, world migrations and history, language, politics, and..." Read more
Customers find the book engaging and enjoyable, with one noting it's a must-read for anyone interested in human nature.
"At the heart of this remarkable work is the idea that we are genetically primed to build good societies and that, in fact, this is an evolutionary..." Read more
"This is a must read for every person on the planet. It is such a refreshing perspective on where humanity is headed and why...." Read more
"This was a very interesting read about the fundamental properties behind human societies!..." Read more
"...combination of talents of being an excellent researcher, he studies interesting and relevant topics, he writes in a very clear and engaging way..." Read more
Customers find the book well written, with one customer noting it is easier to read.
"...researcher, he studies interesting and relevant topics, he writes in a very clear and engaging way without seeming like he's "dummying it down" to..." Read more
"With lucid prose and wide-ranging knowledge on the human sciences, this book is a must-read for anyone who is curious about the origins of social..." Read more
"...I thought the author did a great job narrating." Read more
"The book is based upon an interesting premise and well written. not sure of the reality of the thinking, but interesting read." Read more
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2019Format: HardcoverVerified PurchaseAt the heart of this remarkable work is the idea that we are genetically primed to build good societies and that, in fact, this is an evolutionary inevitability. Christakis refers to this deeply ingrained imprint as the social suite. At its core lies our capacity for love, cooperation, friendship, teaching and learning. These capacities manifest in many different ways, from our ability to recognize the identity of strangers to our tendencies toward tribalism and organizing into “mildly hierarchical” societies.
In the first chapters, Christakis discusses the critical role of the social suite in determining a society’s continuity. For example, the survival of societies born out of shipwrecks is correlated with the degree of cooperation among its members. A dramatic example is recounted of two separate shipwrecks on an island south of New Zealand in the late 19th century. Risking their own lives, the men in the first shipwreck saved another member from drowning, establishing a sense of cooperation from the outset. Meanwhile, concerned with the scarcity of supplies, members of the second shipwreck decided to leave an injured companion behind. These initial events set the stage for the eventual prosperity of the first and utter collapse of the second community. Christakis also evaluates how artificial societies that attempt to suppress parts of the social suite—such as pair-bonding in both polyamorous and chaste communes in America—almost inevitably collapse.
In the second part, the focus is geared towards exploring the genetic origins of the social suite, focusing on how it emerges in animal societies. Intelligent mammals—such as chimpanzees, whales, dolphins and elephants—all display some, and sometimes all, elements of the social suite. Many interesting examples are discussed, such as the mourning rituals of elephants and the way chimpanzees can easily recognize themselves in the mirror. A beautiful by-product of this discussion is that it connects our humanity to other animals, and more generally, introduces the ethos of humanity as part of nature. Although trivial from a biological perspective, this idea is lacking in our man-above-nature Judeo-Christian culture, which, over time, has led us to the ecological crisis of our age (as was explained half a century ago by Lynn White Jr.). Thus, the recognition of the social suite is not merely an academic insight, but possibly a compass pointing toward a betterment of our culture.
In the final pages, Christakis addresses two important (and related) points. First, he argues for a shift of perspective on societal issues from a divisive, purely historical paradigm to acknowledge the underlying evolutionary forces—the same forces that shaped the social suite and allowed cooperative societies to arise. Second, with the advent of gene-modifying technology, we will soon have the ability to alter the stream of evolution, and as a corollary, society itself. As we enter this new era, we need to do more than recognize the importance of evolutionary forces. A new social contract will need to position the social suite as an inalienable foundation of humanity.
Evolutionary forces have shaped our ability to love, cooperate, make friends, teach and learn. They have led us, as a species, to self-domesticate and reject both tyranny and complete anarchy. Christakis and his colleagues have shown that societies throughout the world display the same structural patterns, evidence of the evolutionary origin of the social suite.
Blueprint reveals a fundamental truth: the essence of human society may be a blueprint for goodness. In the words of Christakis, “the arc of our evolutionary history is long. But it bends toward goodness”.
- Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2019Format: HardcoverVerified PurchaseAuthor Nicholas Christakis spells out the main claim of this book on page 397: “The social suite is founded on human evolutionary biology and is therefore a universal feature of our societies.” In other words, the way we behave versus one another, the structure of our society, is built-in and it’s gotten to where it is now through natural selection.
I read the whole thing, carefully, and my feeling is that “the jury’s out,” but I truly enjoyed this (epically discursive) exploration regardless.
The structure of the book is that the author does not get down to the business of laying out his argument straight away. You’re first taken on a number of “tours” where you get to observe behavioral traits of groups. The sundry tours include, among other things:
1. an enumeration of castaways from the nineteenth century: what binds these people is that they did not plan to form a “society”
2. a tour of utopian (American) experiments, who explicitly aimed to do so;
3. an attempt at describing a taxonomy of communities;
4. a full exploration of all the ways societies make their family arrangements (from Hazda foragers of Tanzania to the Na people in the Himalayas via the the Nuer of Sudan and the Tapirape people of Brazil)
5. a study of monogamy and polygamy in animals (including its relation to “key” genes that might potentially catalyze these behaviors)
6. an exploration of friendship in animals, including the examination of mathematical graphs of the links between animal “friends” which –amazingly, one must admit-- looks pretty much the same as it does for primitive humans
With one or two exceptions, what I took away from this tour (that takes you all the way to page 280 out of 420) is how immensely diverse all these arrangements are, which I think is pretty much the opposite of what I thought was the central tenet of the book. I mean, if the author is to believed when he says (p. 128) that “a global, cross-cultural survey found that kissing was present in only 46 percent of one hundred and sixty-eight cultures studied” I think we have conclusive proof that there ain’t no “Blueprint.” To say nothing of the castaways, some of whom looked after one another all the way to safety, when others went on to capture and subjugate women and form a child-exploitation colony that lasted generations.
So Nicholas Christakis has his work cut out to convince you there is a “Blueprint,” let alone to do so in only half as many pages as he takes you on his wacky tour. He does do a tremendous job of explaining where genes come in and he builds a nice little mini-body of circumstantial evidence, but I don’t think he quite gets to a QED, or even an “aha” moment. Not for me, at any rate.
Still, there are rewards to paying attention. It was interesting to read the argument regarding why the width and the length of a human nose --in contrast to the width and the length of one’s hand-- are uncorrelated: society rewards good people with progeny, but you need to identify those good people first and variety in facial characteristics is an aid in that quest. It was fascinating to follow the argument regarding teaching and how that can feed back into genes through the shaping of one’s environment, even if this was not the first time I heard the argument regarding fire, cooking, brain size etc. And it was intriguing to follow the argument that the pathogens make me sneeze so they can spread, much as I found it to otherwise be a non-sequitur.
But did I REALLY change my mind about the fundamental question here? Do I now think my genes have predestined me to check on Linked In to see if I have any more links? Not really, especially since I know it’s my investor Andreas who demanded I get to 500+
Top reviews from other countries
- Shaillesh TannuReviewed in India on October 13, 2019
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read
A must read
- Guilherme Quadros dos SantosReviewed in Brazil on January 26, 2023
5.0 out of 5 stars You cannot stop until you finish it
The book looks for standards of what is “natural” human behavior on several different societies. Great book
- JKReviewed in Canada on August 29, 2021
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic.
Format: KindleVerified PurchaseChristakis brings together such a remarkable array of information across fields to create a wonderful read. He truly is one of the great optimists of our time.
- Davide CaprettaReviewed in Japan on May 13, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended
Really insightful book with really interesting information on who we are and how societies can function.
- KieranReviewed in the United Kingdom on November 30, 2019
5.0 out of 5 stars Natural Humanism, why we are basically good.
This is a fascinating and important book. It sets out why human behaviour evolves towards more cooperation and order - it promotes survival. This explains clearly that morality is natural (and does not require any divine prompting).
If everyone understood this fundamental point the world would get better faster. This, not by coincidence, is also the theme of the book.