After decades of studying animals in their habitats, evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson had a revolutionary idea: apply evolutionary science to the study of a city. What better place to begin than his hometown of Binghamton, New York? In THE NEIGHBORHOOD PROJECT: Using Evolution to Improve My City, One Block at a Time [Little, Brown and Company; August 24, 2011; $25.99; hardcover], Wilson shows how evolutionary theory can be used to not only understand the human condition, but to improve it. And the lessons learned in Wilson's small corner of upstate New York apply to every city, large and small.
Tackling the project in his usual multidisciplinary manner, Wilson leads the reader through a variety of natural phenomena, including water striders, wasps, and crows, and relates how the evolutionary lessons they exemplify also apply to the human species. He and his graduate-student helpers employ techniques such as lost-letter experiments, studies of holiday decorations and garage sales, genetic testing, and attitude questionnaires to create a map of the neighborhoods in Binghamton that reflects the civic engagement in each. Wilson looks to biology, anthropology, economics, urban planning, sociology, and even theology to inform his research, and his explanations of the relevant theories in each are delightfully entertaining.
THE NEIGHBORHOOD PROJECT is at once a memoir, a practical handbook for improving the quality of life in cities, and an exploration of the big questions long pondered by religious sages, philosophers, and storytellers. Approaching the same questions from an evolutionary perspective shows, as never before, how places define us.
David Sloan Wilson is SUNY Distinguished Professor of Biology and Anthropology at Binghamton University. He is widely known for his fundamental contributions to evolutionary science and for explaining evolution to the general public. His books include Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin's Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives, Darwin's Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society, and Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior (with Elliott Sober). In addition to his own research, Wilson manages programs that expand the scope of evolutionary science in higher education, public policy, community-based research, and the study of religion.
"An evolutionary biologist applies his science to making the city of Binghamton, New York, a better place to live, and in the telling, illuminates evolution and spells out his efforts to increase understanding of it....Pleasurable, informative, and worthwhile." —Kirkus Reviews
"Wilson, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Binghamton, explains how Charles Darwin's concept of the 'tangled bank,' which describes how species are influenced by their surroundings, can be used to understand human psychology in order to build healthier societies."—Publishers Weekly
"The city reflects the nature of the human species in the same way that the hive reflects the nature of bees. In his usual engaging style, David Sloan Wilson uses the prism of evolution to explain our role in and control over these larger organisms of our own making." —Frans de Waal, author of Our Inner Ape and The Age of Empathy
"Just as Charles Darwin has his finches and Jane Goodall her chimps, evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson has his city as a subject of study in what has to be one of the most unique projects ever undertaken in the history of science. Through the lens of evolutionary theory we see not just Wilson's city of Binghamton, New York in a new light, we view all of humanity and civilization from a perspective unique in the annals of research, and written in an engaging style that carries the reader from one chapter to the next. A compelling read. An important book." —Michael Shermer, author of Why Darwin Matters and The Mind of the Market
THE NEIGHBORHOOD PROJECT: Using Evolution to Improve My City, One Block at a Time
David Sloan Wilson
August 24, 2011
978-0-316-03767-9
$25.99/ hardcover/ 416 Pages
For more information or to request an interview with David Sloan Wilson, please contact Carolyn O'Keefe at (212) 364-1464 or carolyn.okeefe@hbgusa.com