Books
The Social Instinct:
What Nature Can Teach Us About Working Together
Why cooperate? This may be the most important scientific question we have ever, and will ever, face.
Why do we live in families?
Why do we help complete strangers?
Why do we compare ourselves to others?
Why do we cooperate?
The science of cooperation tells us not only how we got here, but also where we might end up. In The Social Instinct Nichola Raihani introduces us to other species who, like us, live and work together. From the pied babblers of the Kalahari to the cleaner fish of the Great Barrier Reef, they happen to be some of the most fascinating and extraordinarily successful species on this planet. What do we have in common with these animals, and what can we learn from them? The Social Instinct is an exhilarating, far-reaching and thought-provoking journey through all life on Earth, with profound insights into what makes us human and how our societies work.
WINNER: Humanists UK Voltaire Lecture Medal, 2021
WINNER: ZSL Prize for Communicating Science, 2023
“A pleasing juxtaposition of insightful scientific theory with illuminating anecdotes.” — Richard Dawkins
“A superb book” —Alice Roberts, author of Ancestors
“Surprising, thoughtful and, best of all, endlessly entertaining.” — Will Storr, author of The Status Game
The Thinking Animal:
What Other Intelligence Reveals About Our Own
The remarkable story of how evolution built minds—and how ours became extraordinary
Why do dogs say hello, but never goodbye?
What makes baby penguins think the first animal they see is their mother?
Why are bonobos impulsive while chimpanzees show restraint?
And what does all this tell us about how humans think?
In The Thinking Animal, Nichola Raihani explores one of science’s most enduring questions: how did evolution build minds? Drawing on the latest discoveries in psychology, neuroscience, and animal behaviour, Raihani reveals how intelligence has evolved across the animal kingdom, and how the human mind became so distinctive.
From elephants keeping vigil over their dead to ants counting their steps and chickadees remembering where they stored thousands of seeds, Raihani shows that evolution has produced many different forms of intelligence. Along the way, she overturns some of our most enduring myths about the mind, changing how we think about intelligence-and the minds of other animals.
The result is a new understanding of intelligence, evolution, and what makes us human. By illuminating both the continuities and the crucial differences between human and animal minds, The Thinking Animal offers a new perspective on the evolutionary origins of the human mind.
“Consistently fascinating and utterly absorbing. I will never look at other animals’ minds, or my own, in quite the same way” — David Robson, author of The Intelligence Trap
“I am so jealous — I really wish I had written this sparkling book. Very highly recommended.” — Matthew Cobb, author of The Idea of the Brain
