Human Myth

50 Great Myths of Human Evolution uses common misconceptions to explore basic theory and research in human evolution and strengthen critical thinking skills for lay audiences, listeners, and students. Includes myths such as: "Humans lived at the same time as dinosaurs"; "Lucy was so small because she was a child"; "Our ancestors have always made fire"; and "There is a strong relationship between brain size and intelligence."

50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology uses popular myths as a vehicle for helping students and laypersons to distinguish science from pseudoscience. It also explores topics that listeners will relate to, but often misunderstand, such as "opposites attract", "people use only 10% of their brains", and "handwriting reveals your personality", and provides a "mythbusting kit" for evaluating folk psychology claims in everyday life.

Josephson-Storm traces the history of the myth of disenchantment in the births of philosophy, anthropology, sociology, folklore, psychoanalysis, and religious studies. Ironically, the myth of mythless modernity formed at the very time that Britain, France, and Germany were in the midst of occult and spiritualist revivals. It was specifically in response to this burgeoning culture of spirits and magic that they produced notions of a disenchanted world.

Presenting scientific evidence from diverse fields, including anthropology, biology, and psychology, Fuentes devises a myth-busting toolkit to dismantle persistent fallacies about the validity of biological races, the innateness of aggression and violence, and the nature of monogamy, sex, and gender. This revised and expanded edition provides up-to-date references, data, and analyses, and addresses new topics, including the popularity of home DNA testing kits and the lies behind ‘"incel" culture.

Why were Prometheus and Loki envisioned as chained to rocks? What was the Golden Calf? Why are mirrors believed to carry bad luck? How could anyone think that mortals like Perseus, Beowulf, and St. George actually fought dragons, since dragons don't exist? Strange though they sound, however, these "myths" did not begin as fiction.

The Education Myth questions the idea that education represents the best, if not the only, way for Americans to access economic opportunity. As Jon Shelton shows, linking education to economic well-being was not politically inevitable. In the 18th and 19th centuries, for instance, public education was championed as a way to help citizens learn how to participate in a democracy. By the 1930s, public education, along with union rights and social security, formed an important component of a broad-based fight for social democracy.

Darwin considered humans one part of the web of life, not the apex of a natural hierarchy. Yet today many maintain that we are the most intelligent, virtuous, successful species that ever lived. This flawed thinking enables us to exploit the earth towards our own exclusive ends, throwing us into a perilous planetary imbalance. But is this view and way of life inevitable? The Arrogant Ape shows that human exceptionalism is an ideology that relies more on human culture than our biology, more on delusion and faith than on evidence.

"لم يرفض ماركس فكرة الطبيعة البشرية. وقد كان على حق في ذلك" هذا ما يصل إليه هذا العمل الجديد، والجريء، والجدلي، بقلم نورمان كريس. حيث يضع كريس في هذا الكتاب سادس أطروحات ماركس عن فيورباخ تحت عدسة المجهر الصارمة، ويجادل كريس بأن هذه العبارة الغامضة – التي يُستشهد بها على نطاق واسع كدليل على أن ماركس قد تخلى عن جميع مفاهيم الطبيعة البشرية في عام 1845 – ينبغي أن تُقرأ في سياق عمل ماركس ككل. حيث استرشدت كتاباته اللاحقة بفكرة الطبيعة البشرية المحددة التي تفي بكل من الوظائف التفسيرية والمعيارية.