"Humans are a puzzling species. On the one hand, we struggle to survive on our own in the wild, often failing to overcome even basic challenges, like obtaining food, building shelters, or avoiding predators. On the other hand, human groups have produced ingenious technologies, sophisticated languages, and complex institutions that have permitted us to successfully expand into a vast range of diverse environments. What has enabled us to dominate the...

Argues that altruism is an inherent factor of group functionality and discusses how studying group function can promote positive changes to the human condition.

"Dean of Columbia University's medical school explains why our bodies are out of sync with today's environment and how we can correct this to save our health"--Amazon.com.