What do your dating life, financial illiteracy, and the characterisation of Mickey Mouse have in common?
These are all factors deeply affected by evolutionary psychology and the environments we developed in as a species.
In this book, financial journalist Richard Amador weaves a comprehensive irreverent tale linking all aspects of humanity in order to make sense of our modern day lives. No topic is off bounds in his attempt to find the truth.
Whether you’re living mammoth to mammoth, or paycheque to paycheque, this book will allow you to better understand politics, financial markets, history and yourself.”
________
Table of Contents
Preface
Part I: Damn Dirty Apes – Psychology and Evolution
1 – The Blind Watchmaker
2 – The Red Queen and Game Theory
3 – A Day in the Life of a Hunter-Gatherer
4 – Why Gossiping Got Us to the Moon
5 – Animal Instincts
6 – The Flintstones and the Modern Stone Age Family
7 – The Meme Doctor
8 – On Fake Boobs and Happiness
9 – Sex: Need I Say More?
10 – Culture Vultures
11 – The Merchant’s Collective Brain
Part II: We Didn’t Start the Fire (It was Always Burning Since the World’s been Turning): History and its Mechanisms
1 – People Person: Culture vs. Man
2 – An Unsure Thing: Black Swan Driven
3 – Making Shit Up: Mythologising and Propaganda
4 – Hegelian Dialectics: That Thing your Commie Friend Keeps Raving About
Part III: Death of a Caveman: Society and Bureaucracy
1 – Alcohol and the Malthusian Trap
2 – The Specialisation of Labour and the Root of all Evil
3 – Bloody Murder: A Brief History of Violence
4 – State of the Art: Culture, Tradition, Philosophy and Religion
5 – Bureaucratic Oversights: Trade, Laws and Taxes
6 – The Holy, Rich and Morally Dubious Kings
7 – The Keys to Power: Why Politics is a Corrupting Influence
8 – Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend: Marriage, Love, Monogamy and Prostitution
Part IV: The Hidden Clockwork: An Analysis of Unconscious Mechanisms
1 – The Weatherman’s Lament
2 – All in Good Time
3 – A Matter of Perspective
4 – The Path of Least Resistance
Part V: Proto Modernity: Are We There Yet?
1 – Crawling out of the Abyss of the Not-so-Dark Ages
2 – Paper Trading: The Rise of Planet Finance
3 – A Tale of Capital and Labour: How Economic Considerations Change Society
4 – The Communication Revolution: From Silence to a Cacophony
5 – Vox Populi: Democracy and the End of Slavery
Part VI: Running with the Bulls and Sleeping with the Bears – The Stock Market
1 – Welcome to the Jungle: Market Composition
2 – The Sisyphean Investor: Successful Investing Philosophy
3 – Perverse Perception: How Opinions Shape Prices
4 – Economic Moats: an everyman’s guide to becoming a robber baron
5 – Bigger, Faster and Stronger: how organizational structure affects social and technological developments
Part VII: The Century of Self: Modernity
1 – Consumerism and Social Tribes
2 – Mr. Roboto – or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Upcoming Robot Apocalypse
3 – Pandora’s Computer Box: Knowledge and Lies
4 – Fun and Games: Social Control through Amusement
5 – Messing with Biology: How Changes in Physiological Phenomena Affect Society
6 – The Economic Lovecraftian Horror
Conclusion
A Humble Addendum
Leave a Reply