Not mentioned:
Why zebras don't get ulcers
by Robert Sapolski. This is the book of the last decade or two that
actually changed my interactions with others. Stress is a basic factor
in social biology and it contributes something like 50% of your quality
of life. Our social interactions constantly play with our own and
others stress levels so understanding stress is understanding a lot of
what is being done to you and what you are doing to others. This covers
the chemistry, physiology and biology of stress and it's role in social
interactions and dominance. I thought I understood stress but I didn't
real get it. This book provided clear insight in to social interactions
in a new light so I could both soften up and toughen up, appropriately.
The Mating Mind
by Geoffrey Miller. Ever wondered why people make art, polish their
cars, write poetry, etc. I don't mean what peoples stories are about
these things, but why they really want to do them. Biological organisms
have evolved to minimize energy use, to only expend energy when it
counts. Why did a species of great apes evolved the desires to engage
in these weird waste-of-time-and-energy activities. Find out.
Just about anything by John Gray but Straw Dogs or maybe The Silence of Animals.
We think of mythologies as belonging in historical times but we are
embedded in modern myths so thoroughly that we can't see beyond them.
"Most
people today think they belong to a species that can be master of its
destiny. This is faith, not science. We do not speak of a time when
whales or gorillas will be masters of their destinies. Why then humans?"
