Kim Sterelny develops a novel account of the speed and extent of human evolutionary divergence from the great ape stock. The book does not explain human uniqueness by positing a critical adaptive breakthrough (episodic memory
advanced theory of mind
planning and causal reasoning
language). Rather, it identifies a series of positive feedback loops between initially minor advances in social tolerance, ecological flexibility, cooperative foraging, social learning, and links the results of these feedback loops to the archaeological and anthropological record.