The Neighborhood Project:
Using Evolution to Improve My
City, One Block at a Time
David Sloan Wilson
Darwin’s theory of evolution is the bedrock of modern biology. Populations
of organisms acquire advantageous
new traits, pass them on to subsequent
generations and sometimes create new
species. In his fascinating new book,
Wilson, an evolutionary biologist, suggests applying the principles of evolution to social and cultural problems.
In an easy-to-read, conversational
style, Wilson describes how he and his
colleagues and grad students use the
techniques of evolutionary biology to
diagnose problems in areas as diverse as
childhood education, human relations,
city governance and even economics.
In Binghamton, N. Y., where Wilson
teaches, he and his students use statistical databases to track, neighborhood by
neighborhood, various aspects of quality
of life, such as prenatal and early childhood care, happiness, and high school
graduation rates. Wilson’s Binghamton Neighborhood Project has helped
Now You See It
Cathy N. Davidson
The author started out as a child with
dyslexia and big-time learning problems. Now she’s an out-of-the box
administrator at Duke University who
has written a stimulating book trumpeting the benefits of computer-based
school and business reforms that exploit
people’s natural tendency to multitask.
Davidson’s debut as a digital rabble-
rouser came in 2003.
She led a controver-
sial program that
gave free iPods to
Duke freshmen, ask-
ing them to think up
learning applications
for the tiny devices
and pitch them to the
faculty. Students found uses for iPods in
nearly every discipline, from environ-
mental science to medicine.
people in the community become more
engaged, working to improve their parks
and other shared spaces.
Human behaviors, he says, respond
to selective pressures just as organ-
isms do: Those that provide benefits to
an individual or group proliferate, and
those that don’t, disappear. In a com-
parison with the animal world, Wilson
says people in a com-
munity can behave
more like water
striders he observed
on a pond, careening
around in pursuit
of their own goals,
or more like wasps,
“working together,
without necessarily knowing it, for the
common good.”
Human cultural evolution, like its
biological counterpart, boils down to
a process of mutation, variation and
natural selection, Wilson contends. A
theory so useful for understanding the
human condition must also be useful for
improving it. — Sid Perkins
Little, Brown, 2011, 416 p., $25.99
ruckus because many people are stuck
in a premillennial mindset that masks
an 800-pound gorilla of a game changer
in their midst, the author contends.
Although Davidson veers uncomfortably close to a utopian view of the
digital revolution, she makes a provocative case for radical educational and
business reforms. She presents vivid
examples of schools and workplaces
unleashing learning and achievement.
A narrow focus on familiar practices
can stifle imagination and change, but
so do other factors unmentioned by
Davidson. Consider the human need for
certainty, father of countless rationalizations for staying on sinking ships and
denying that rising waters are a problem. Still, Davidson’s call to experiment
with digital schemes that turn students
and workers into motivated problem
solvers rings as clear as a bell atop a
little red schoolhouse. — Bruce Bo wer
Rome: Day One
Andrea Carandini
An archaeologist puts
forth a controversial
theory, contending
that a king named
Romulus scratched out Rome’s
boundaries in a day. Princeton Univ.
Press, 2011, 172 p., $24.95
Someone Else’s Twin
Nancy L. Segal
An expert on twins
explores cases of
identical twins raised
apart after one is
switched with another
infant at birth, delving into the effects
of nature and nurture on behavior.
Prometheus Books, 2011, 301 p., $25
When Gadgets
Betray Us
Robert Vamosi
This investigation into
the dark side of the
digital world reveals
hidden risks of smart-
phones and how to manage gadgets
that can expose a user’s every move.
Basic Books, 2011, 222 p., $26.99
The Compass
of Pleasure
David J. Linden
A neuroscientist gives
a lively description of
the pursuit of plea-
sure, one of the most
powerful forces in the human brain.
Viking, 2011, 230 p., $26.95
Ordinary Geniuses
Gino Segrè
A biography of physi-
cists Max Delbrück
and George Gamow
describes their friend-
ship and research in cosmology and
genetics. Viking, 2011, 352 p., $27.95
How to Order To order these books or others,
visit www.sciencenews.org/bookshelf. A click on
a book’s title will transfer you to Amazon.com.
