Supercooperators: Beyond the Survival of the Fittest: Why Cooperation, Not Competition, is the Key to Life

by Martin Nowak (Author), Martin Nowak (Author), Roger Highfield (Author)

New
Paperback
2012
$14.25

Beyond The Survival of the Fittest: Why Cooperation, not Competition, is the Key to Life If life is about survival of the fittest, then why would we risk our own life to jump into a river to save a stranger? Some people argue that issues such as charity, fairness, forgiveness and cooperation are evolutionary loose ends, side issues that are of little consequence. But as Harvard's celebrated evolutionary biologist Martin Nowak explains in this groundbreaking and controversial book, cooperation is central to the four-billion-year-old puzzle of life. Indeed, it is cooperation not competition that is the defining human trait.

Synopsis

Beyond The Survival of the Fittest: Why Cooperation, not Competition, is the Key to Life If life is about survival of the fittest, then why would we risk our own life to jump into a river to save a stranger? Some people argue that issues such as charity, fairness, forgiveness and cooperation are evolutionary loose ends, side issues that are of little consequence. But as Harvard's celebrated evolutionary biologist Martin Nowak explains in this groundbreaking and controversial book, cooperation is central to the four-billion-year-old puzzle of life. Indeed, it is cooperation not competition that is the defining human trait.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 352
Edition: Main
Publisher: Canongate Books
Published: 02 Feb 2012
ISBN 10: 1847673384
ISBN 13: 9781847673381
Book Overview: A ground-breaking but accessible popular science book about cooperation

Media Reviews

Groundbreaking . . . SuperCooperators is part autobiography, part textbook, and reads like a best-selling novel. -- Manfred Milinski * * Nature * *
A fantastic journey into the science of cooperation, with important implications for both individuals and society alike. -- Richard Wiseman, bestselling author of 59 SECONDS
Supercooperators looks beyond The Selfish Gene and invites us to think afresh about evolution. Contrary to the simplistic idea that selfishness is the only strategy for survival, the brilliant Martin Nowak proves that cooperation is also vitally important. This rich and rewarding book teems with new ideas and insights, which co-author Roger Highfield makes wonderfully lucid and entertaining. -- Graham Farmelo, winner of the Costa Biography Award
Martin has a passion for taking informal ideas that people like me find theoretically important and framing them as mathematical models. He allows our intuitions about what leads to what to be put to the test. -- Steven Pinker * * The New York Times * *
An absorbing, accessible book about the power of mathematics... Nowak is one of the most exciting modelers working in the field of mathematical biology today. * * New York Times Book Review * *
In a sea of bad books about psychology, behaviour and business, Supercooperators stands out for its robust scientific base and cheerful message. * * Financial Times * *

Author Bio

Martin Nowak is Professor of Biology and Mathematics at Harvard University. Dr Nowak is the recipient of Oxford's Weldon Memorial Prize, the Albert Wander Prize of the University of Bern, the Akira Okubo Prize of the Society for Mathematical Biology, the Roger E. Murray Prize awarded by the Institute for Quantitative Research in Finance, the David Starr Jordan Prize given jointly by Stanford, Cornell, and Indiana universities, and the Henry Dale Prize of The Royal Institution, London. He has held major research posts and teaching posts at Oxford University, Princeton University and now Harvard University. He has published over 300 papers and has been widely praised for revolutionizing the mathematical approach to biology. Roger Highfield, PhD, is the Editor of New Scientist magazine and was the Science Editor of the Daily Telegraph for two decades. He has written or coauthored six popular science books, two of which have been bestsellers. www.rogerhighfield.com