Listen free for 30 days
-
Unbound
- How Eight Technologies Made Us Human, Transformed Society, and Brought Our World to the Brink
- Narrated by: Noah Michael Levine
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Unbound
Buy Now for £24.19
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Summary
Although we usually think of technology as something unique to modern times, our ancestors began to create the first technologies millions of years ago in the form of prehistoric tools and weapons. Over time, eight key technologies gradually freed us from the limitations of our animal origins.
The fabrication of weapons, the mastery of fire, and the technologies of clothing and shelter radically restructured the human body, enabling us to walk upright, shed our body hair, and migrate out of tropical Africa. Symbolic communication transformed human evolution from a slow biological process into a fast cultural process. The invention of agriculture revolutionized the relationship between humanity and the environment, and the technologies of interaction led to the birth of civilization. Precision machinery spawned the industrial revolution and the rise of nation-states; and in the next metamorphosis, digital technologies may well unite all of humanity for the benefit of future generations.
Synthesizing the findings of primatology, paleontology, archeology, history, and anthropology, Richard Currier reinterprets and retells the modern narrative of human evolution that began with the discovery of Lucy and other Australopithecus fossils. But the same forces that allowed us to integrate technology into every aspect of our daily lives have also brought us to the brink of planetary catastrophe. Unbound explains both how we got here and how human society must be transformed again to achieve a sustainable future.
Technology: "The deliberate modification of any natural object or substance with forethought to achieve a specific end or to serve a specific purpose."
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
More from the same
Narrator
What listeners say about Unbound
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- hellojoanie
- 10-01-22
I almost didn't listen to this
There are a lot of very critical and negative reviews out there about this book, so many that I almost gave it a miss. I am very glad I decided to make up my own mind.
I enjoyed narration, and the subject captured my interest from the first page. I really found the subject, which is a massive one, to be interesting and informative.
Give it a go, you won't be disappointed.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- david fryer
- 23-01-22
Fascinating
A fascinating study of the effects of various technologies on human development. Starting with the evolutuon of homo sapiens from earlier hominids we are taken through the influence of such developements as tool making, developement of language, use of fire for warmth, protection and cooking and how these all interacted and influenced and facilitated brain developement in a very plausible thesis. The story proceeds through the introduction of farming, metalworking to the introduction of precision machine making, the age of fossil fuel use and on to electricity and the digital age. Very informative and thought provoking. I'll be listening to it for a second time in the near future.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Tom O'Rourke
- 29-12-21
An exceptional tome.
Although the bulk of this work is easily absorbed there are far too many words i.e. ' if's, might, may, possible, estimated, assumed, mostly, agreeable ' etc that, as always, affect the psyche of the easily alarmed, that is the young and the generationaly insecure of the global population of innocent ignorance.
In my own 68 years of existence, lifelong learning, experience, observation and understanding, the alarmism of each decade has largely been of insignificance due to the usage of the 'if's, etc. Despite this perpetual repetition I remain a lifelong skeptic and optimist and anti-alarmist.
Tom O'Rourke 1953 ? love always
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 31-08-22
interesting
Interesting read, but I have no idea why the Author mentions Jehova God, in the last chapter.
-
Overall1 out of 5 stars
-
Performance2 out of 5 stars
-
Story1 out of 5 stars
- SiCon
- 31-05-22
Bad science
An interesting history of scientific discovery, until the final chapter when the author suggests man made climate change may be a good thing, as it might stave off another ice age. Clearly he is more of a historian than a scientist.
Dangerous nonsense from someone far less informed than he first appears.
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story2 out of 5 stars
- Joel B. Gordon
- 30-10-16
Good facts, not much else
This is the book Jared Diamond would have written, had Jared Diamond been deprived of vision or originality. It covers the cultural and, to a significant degree, the physical evolution of hominids from earlier life forms till the hopes and fears of the future. It is a successful compilation of good information and accepted theory, with a lot of well articulated declarations of the obvious, and, here and there, some juicy surprises. But lacking is any interesting focus or vision, other than, if we choose wisely, we can survive; if not... well, you know. It's the grandeur of human evolution in pedestrian wrap. I learned many good things, but I wish there had been more.
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story3 out of 5 stars
- Maya Beit Yaacov
- 05-05-21
Missing an important fact
This book is very interesting and enlightening. However, he speaks of the rise of pollution and mentions the causes - plastic, fossil fuel consumption, deforestation. He does not even mention animal agriculture, that is a leading cause for environmental catastrophe.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- J. L. Smith
- 29-01-21
Very good until the last two chapters.
The author assumes, in the last two chapters, that in the past, and in
some future "global culture", that people will have no problems maintaining their family, clan, tribal, village, and regional identities.
What fantasy history has he been reading? In the last several centuries, Eurocentric cultures have been diligently attempting to 'civilize' innumerable clans, tribes and entire nations.
It seems to be in the nature of most dominant cultures to assume that they are the best culture, and to convert others to that belief at gunpoint.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story3 out of 5 stars
- Apollo
- 22-02-19
Start at Chapter 8
unless you are an anthropologist, the book is dry until chapter 8... then it gets relevant and interesting in a way that can be applied to our current day life. the title "Unbound" made me think the book would be a bit more entertaining. a more appropriate title may have been, "The history and evolution of mankind". Very well researched by an obvious pro.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars
-
Story2 out of 5 stars
- Arthur W. Brown
- 13-01-19
Interesting but not mind blowing
I was hoping for more, it was neat but I didn't have any goosebump moments
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall1 out of 5 stars
-
Performance1 out of 5 stars
-
Story2 out of 5 stars
- laura h.davis
- 14-09-21
Irritatingly tedious
the narrator sounds like an asperger stilted person . it's impossible to listen to. there is no flow it's way too choppy .it offends the mind.
the author is only reiterating that which we already know and offers no solutions. he's a fear monger only.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars
-
Story3 out of 5 stars
- NotExMilitary
- 22-01-21
Should be renamed intro to anthropology
Very basic information. Nothing anyone who ever took an intro to Anthropology class covering early humans wouldn’t have learned.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sanet Gouws
- 27-01-23
Excellent
I'm not an archeologist, anthropologist or even a scientist, just an ordinary citizen, but I enjoyed this book immensely. It's well written and the narator is very good as well.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 04-11-22
teaches alot
this book is very informative helps teach people where they came from and where we are going as a society.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Event Horizon
- 16-10-22
truly a remarkable baseline of universal knowledge
crisp concise yet surprisingly entertaining conveyance of what humanity has become well worth listening