Archives de catégorie : Anthropology/Sociology

WIE WIR MENSCHEN WURDEN de Madelaine Böhme, Rüdiger Braun et Florian Breier

Spectacular finds throw a new light on the history of human evolution

WIE WIR MENSCHEN WURDEN
(How We Became Human)
by Madelaine Böhme, Rüdiger Braun, & Florian Breier
Heyne/Random House Germany, November 2019

A criminalistic search for clues of the origins of humanity

The cradle of humanity is in Africa – for a long time this was the incontrovertible truth. In recent years, however, ever more bones have been found that chronologically and geographically do not fit into the picture: archaeologists have found numerous fossils in Europe of early ancestors of present-day apes from which later the human line of evolution emerged. The latest of those findings: the Danuvius guggenmosi, an ape with arms suited to hanging in trees but human-like legs.
In the renowned Nature magazine, Madelaine Böhme and her team just published their research article on this new fossil ape and how it changes the previously applied models of the evolution of bipedalism. These approximately 11.6-million-year-old fossils suggest a form of locomotion that might push back the timeline for when walking on two feet evolved and extend the theory for a common ancestor of great apes and humans. In her book, Böhme and her team describe their paradigm-changing findings and bring to life the fascinating world of our earliest ancestors. A truly absorbing scientific crime story!

Madelaine Böhme, geo-scientist and palaeontologist, is professor of terrestrial palaeoclimatology at the University of Tübingen and founding director of the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment. She is one of the most esteemed palaeoclimatologists and palaeoenvironmental scientists examining human evolution with regard to changes in climate and environment.
Rüdiger Braun is a science journalist and contributes to Stern and Geo.
Florian Breier is a science journalist and works as a filmmaker and author for ZDF television, arte, SWR broadcasting and others.

WIE WERDEN WER WIR SIND de Joachim Bauer

How we become who we are

WIE WERDEN WER WIR SIND
by Joachim Bauer
Blessing, publication Mai 2019

Why there is no me without you – the new major book by bestselling author Joachim Bauer.
Recent neuroscientific research indicates that human beings are born without a self. But how do we develop this « self », this « me » that can later define itself as distinct from others? How do we manage to think and feel in terms of me, you or we? What makes a human being into an individual? These are the central questions Joachim Bauer examines in his new major work, in which he demonstrates that our « true self » does not slumber within us like some natural resource waiting to be found and polished. It is rather the product of our encounters and relationships with others – experiences, joys and fears we share. Joachim Bauer makes us realise that this « me », in contrast to what had long been thought, is not engraved in stone but instead is a process of perpetual self-construction and life-long transition and can grow and change.
In an age of rampant egocentricity and social currents forcing us to assert ourselves by erecting a border between our own self and others, Bauer has drawn a new image of how we become who we are and explains why we can only find this path if we tread it together.

Also by Joachim Bauer, Selbsteuerung, the re-discovery of free will. blessing, May 2015
Self-control is an ability that in the world we live in is a prerequisite for professional success, happy relationships, and psychological and physical health. Those of us with selfcontrol– in other words, people who are in a position to postpone the short-term satisfaction of personal needs in favour of long-term advantages – don’t fall victim to unhealthy eating habits and lack of exercise; they don’t spend too much time in front of the television or computer screens and are not at risk of addiction. This book makes it clear how self-control works, why it is so important for a successful life and what we can do to relearn what we have forgotten. Joachim Bauer emphasises that abstinence, putting off wants and consciously tackling problems are by no means unnatural forms of self-castigation. In fact, the contrary is true: the ability to learn self-control is inherent in human beings. If it is to develop, we have to practice it from an early age – an observation that radically runs counter to the idea of children not having to make an effort, of perpetually being « enthusiastic ».

 Joachim Bauer is a university teacher and professor at the University of Freiburg. He is a doctor of internal medicine, psychosomatic medicine, psychiatry and psychotherapy. For his research work, he was awarded the renowned Organon Prize of the German Society for Biological Psychiatry.Spiegel bestselling author: More than 700,000 copies of his books sold.