Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • The Secret of Our Success

  • How Culture Is Driving Human Evolution, Domesticating Our Species, and Making Us Smarter
  • By: Joseph Henrich
  • Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
  • Length: 17 hrs and 15 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (64 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
The Secret of Our Success cover art

The Secret of Our Success

By: Joseph Henrich
Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Buy Now for £25.99

Buy Now for £25.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

The WEIRDest People in the World cover art
What We Owe the Future cover art
The Righteous Mind cover art
The Dictator's Handbook cover art
The Case Against Education cover art
The Scientist in the Crib cover art
Rationality: From AI to Zombies cover art
Parfit cover art
Justice for Animals cover art
Guns, Germs and Steel cover art
Seeing Like a State cover art
The Origin of Humankind cover art
Close Encounters with Humankind cover art
Blueprint cover art
The Myth of the Framework cover art
The Women Are Up to Something cover art

Summary

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 globe, more than any other species, while remaining virtually helpless as lone individuals? This book shows that the secret of our success lies not in our innate intelligence, but in our collective brains - on the ability of human groups to socially interconnect and learn from one another over generations.

Drawing insights from lost European explorers, clever chimpanzees, mobile hunter-gatherers, neuroscientific findings, ancient bones, and the human genome, Joseph Henrich demonstrates how our collective brains have propelled our species' genetic evolution and shaped our biology.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2015 Princeton University Press (P)2018 Tantor

What listeners say about The Secret of Our Success

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    48
  • 4 Stars
    12
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    34
  • 4 Stars
    11
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    40
  • 4 Stars
    11
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

I'd prefer Paris Hilton narrating

Why do publishers inflict this in audio? Especially on an audience like the UK, why not Jonathan Kebble, Simon Vance, Peter Noble, Derek Perkins, Stephen Fry, Jeremy Irons, Kate Winslet, Emma Thompson or any actor able to emote and speak in a clear variable intonation about a clearly interesting topic? For many books it's the same bottom line thought that it's cheaper to have one narrator so UK can just be shelled out the American one! But it makes it like getting through mud to me. The author speaking would be better even because normal people vary their voice which would be more interesting than Mr Roboto here and on other American 'academic' books such as How The Mind Works. Even in fiction, too, such as the Nabakov narrator for his stories is unbearable.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great! Perhaps a tad long

Incredibly interesting, I'd definitely recommend if you're interested in the topic. I wouldn't recommend if you're looking for something a bit more casual; although interesting, I feel like the content could have been more concise and condensed, and would have still been effective below 12 hours. Narrator was great, do ignore any of the complains made here.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing book on how humans have evolved

Loved it, good stories and robust scientific basis - but I'd expect that from someone who is one of the top experts in this topic. Great narrator too!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Paradigm-shifting book, despite far-too-American..

The book certainly deserves to be a best seller and I'm very happy to have it in audiobook format. I just wish they had a bit less affected narrator...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Second listen needed

So many great insights in this book! I will be listening again in the hope I can retain more of it!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Too much detail for a casual reader of the subject

The subject is interesting and seems well explained, but 17h of it were just too much for me a as a casual reader of the subject. At some point, I got the impression of being listening to the same idea over and over, with small differences in nuances and demonstrations. I didn't finish it.

I would have liked to come across a shorter version of the same content, perhaps max 6-7h

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A Must Read!

Interested in how and why we are the way we are? Then read this. I shall be reading it again ASAP. It’s that important.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

fascinating and well-argued

fascinating and well-argued. well worth reading for insights into our evolutionary history and the vital role that culture has played

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!