Numbers and the making of us : counting and the course of human cultures / Caleb Everett.
Everett, Caleb, author.
2017
QA141 .E94 2017eb
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Title Numbers and the making of us : counting and the course of human cultures / Caleb Everett.
Author Everett, Caleb, author.
ISBN 9780674979185 (electronic book)
0674979184 (electronic book)
9780674504431
0674504437
Published Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2017.
Copyright ©2017
Language English
Description 1 online resource (viii, 297 pages) : illustrations
Call Number QA141 .E94 2017eb
Dewey Decimal Classification 513.2/11
Summary Numbers and the Making of Us examines the origins and effects of numbers--words and other symbols for quantities. It focuses on the influence that numbers have had on human thought. As a result of this influence, the book claims, numbers transformed the human narrative. This transformation is supported by data from many disciplines: archaeology, linguistics, psychology, and primatology. The book surveys the types of number systems that have been innovated independently in languages around the world, most of which (like our own decimal system) owe themselves in one way or another to the shape of our hands. Furthermore, the book examines evidence from anumeric humans, such as those the author has conducted research with in Amazonia, as it advances the following claim: Numbers served as a pivotal cognitive invention, an underappreciated tool whose usage ultimately resulted in the societies most of us now live in. In short, the book suggests that verbal and written numbers served as a cognitive foundation of sorts, helping to establish the ground floor of all sorts of distinctly human behaviors. These include elaborate agriculture, writing, the telling of time, and many other aspects of the human experience that are all ultimately dependent on the simple invention of numbers.-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography, etc. Note Includes bibliographical references and index.
Access Note Access limited to authorized users.
Source of Description Description based on print version record.
Available in Other Form Numbers and the making of us.
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Prologue: On the success of our species
Part 1. Numbers pervade the human experience. 1. Numbers woven into our present ; 2. Numbers carved into our past ; 3. A numerical journey around the world today ; 4. Beyond number words : other kinds of numeric language
Part 2. Worlds without numbers. 5. Anumeric people today ; 6. Quantities in the minds of young children ; 7. Quantities in the minds of animals
Part 3. Numbers and the shaping of our lives. 8. Inventing numbers and arithmetic ; 9. Numbers and culture : subsistence and symbolism ; 10. Transformative tools.

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