Hanging on to the Edges book published

I am delighted to be able to say that my new book Hanging on to the Edges is now published. Thanks to Open Book Publishers, it’s an open access book; you can read it online, download the PDF, or order paper copies here.

People often ask me what Hanging on to the Edges is about, and it is not entirely easy to say. It is based on fourteen blog essays I published on this site over the past two years, though they are revised and re-ordered in the book version. It is an attempt to reflect on the major things I care about most in life: science and being a scientist; human nature and human cognition; the relationship between the social and the biological; inter-disciplinarity; politics; and human well-being.

To give you some idea of the scope, here’s a word cloud of the terms in the index:

And here’s the table of contents:

1. How my theory explains everything: And can make you happier, healthier, and wealthier
2. What we talk about when we talk about biology
3. The cultural and the agentic
4. What is cultural evolution like?
5. Is it explanation yet?

6. The mill that grinds young people old
7. Why inequality is bad
8. Let them eat cake!
9. The worst thing about poverty is not having enough money
10. Getting your head around the Universal Basic Income

11. The need for discipline
12. Waking up and going out to work in the uncanny valley
13. Staying in the game
14. Morale is high (since I gave up hope)