Summary of Brenna Hassett's Growing Up Human

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

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#1 Humans are weird. We are the only species that has chosen to live forever and to be forever young. We are the result of millions of tiny decisions made by our parents’ parents’ parents. Our choices today determine what kind of humans we will be tomorrow. Let’s take a closer look at each of these statements. It is a meaningless statement if true, but it is far from true. The truth is that humans are very weird indeed and it is not just the stuff we do, but the kind of stuff we do. The world that humans have built has largely been built to keep us alive and to keep us young. The foods that humans eat, the medicines that humans use, the clothes that humans wear, all of these have been selected over millennia precisely because they keep us alive and young. Humans have been selected to do strange things just because they seem strange to other animals. Take sleep deprivation as an example. Sleep deprivation is death, so it makes sense that other animals sleep all the time. They have evolved to need the kinds of functions that require sleep: eating, sex and the complex interconnections of the brain all require sleep. They are weirdly adapted for sleep and they need it.

#2 Humans are weird. We are the only species that has chosen to live forever and to be forever young. We have been selected to do strange things just because they seem strange to other animals.

#3 Humans are weird. We are the only species that has chosen to live forever and to be forever young. We have been selected to do strange things just because they seem strange to other animals.

#4 Humans are weird. We are the only species that has chosen to live forever and to be forever young. We have been selected to do strange things just because they seem strange to other animals.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Oct 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9798350033304

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

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Insights on Brenna Hassett's Growing Up Human

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 12

Insights from Chapter 13

Insights from Chapter 14

Insights from Chapter 15

Insights from Chapter 16

Insights from Chapter 17

Insights from Chapter 18

Insights from Chapter 19

Insights from Chapter 20

Insights from Chapter 21

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

We are weird, and our child will be weird, because we are animals and animals are weird. We take a long time to grow up, and our childhood is drawn out compared with other animals. Our evolutionary history explains why we are weird.

#2

The question this book is asking is what that unique human childhood is for. What purpose does it serve in the functioning of our societies and lives. We will look at childhood as money spent, and how parents invest in their children.

#3

The investment a parent makes in their child is physical, and it is manifested in the child’s body. The child’s capacity to survive and reproduce is not equally distributed, and better-provisioned, better-built animals will be more able to compete for resources and mates.

#4

Humans have also developed ways to invest in the next generation, such as social capital. This is investment in social relationships, and it is extremely important for survival. Crows, for instance, are very big on society.

#5

The final form of wealth is investment in offspring, which can be converted into evolutionary advantage easily through enhanced survival or reproductive success. Humans are the only animal that has taken this last and final step in the means of generating an extra edge against their fellow humans.

#6

The monotony of science can be broken by watching Rossellini’s Green Porno. It is safe for the working environment, though not for those easily disconcerted by the grim realities of snail sex.

Insights from Chapter 2

#1

Life history is a simple concept: you break down each part of the life cycle and determine how long it takes a species to get from stage to stage. In practice, it’s a complicated formula of species trade-offs in terms of how many offspring per birth, how big or developed these offspring are at birth, and how many of them will survive.

#2

The life history of an animal is the sequence of stages that it goes through as it grows up. These stages determine how long it takes an animal to get big, how long it takes to reproduce, and how long it takes them to die.

#3

The biologist Eric Charnov