Unbound: How Eight Technologies Made Us Human, Transformed Society, and Brought Our World to the Brink

Drawing on evidence gathered by archaeologists, primatologists, and anthropologists, Currier (Paragons of Sex: The Natural History of Human Sexuality ) presents this history of the human race from its inception to the present, with a particular emphasis on the technologies that transformed us and the world around us. Currier works chronologically, beginning at approximately five million years ago, when scientists estimate that hominids began to stand upright and walk bipedally. From there, he progresses through eight technologies that dramatically impacted humanity (and Earth), including spears/digging sticks, fire, clothing and shelter, symbolic communication, agriculture, technologies of interaction, precision machinery, and digital information. Using this framework, Currier's seamless narrative recalls Jared Diamond's sprawling histories of human civilization, and like Diamond, Currier manages to be thorough in synthesizing a great deal of specialized knowledge about sociology and evolutionary biology while telling a story that is gripping even to lay readers. The book employs some upstreaming, or attribution of later traditions to earlier groups where evidence is sparse, but given the scope of the project, this complaint is minor indeed.