The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity's Search for Meaning [Hardcover]

This fascinating, page-turning exploration of the human journey from the stone age to the space shuttle gives us powerful new ways to see ourselves. Deeply researched, and written with great clarity and style, this book is also full of hope about humanitys possibilities in the twenty-first century.?Rick Hanson, PhD, author of Buddhas Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and WisdomA tour de force on the biological and psychological background of the human predicament.?If you are concerned about our future, you should know about our past.?This amazing, well-documented book should be read by every college student and every congressman.Paul R. Ehrlich, author of?Human NaturesA brilliant deep dive into the history of human cultures that brings us to todays cultural dysfunctions that threaten the planet. Insight, illumination, and potential ways out of the seeming dead end that weve walked ourselves into. I would recommend it!Thom Hartmann, author of?The Last Hours of Agent SunlightIn prose that is a joy to read, Lent takes us on a tour of human history, guided by systems theory and cognitive science, to argue for the prominence of culture and the habits of the mind in shaping our collective destiny.? If youve been too busy for the last twenty years to pay attention to the big ideas about the nature of the human animal, the engines of history, our place in the biosphere, and the shape of things to come, Lent can bring you up to date painlessly.?J. R. McNeill, University Professor, Georgetown University, and author of?Something New Under the Sun?The Patterning Instinct is a must-read for anyone concerned about the future of humanity. The book delves beneath the surface of problems facing our world today to examine the dominant cultural assumptions that lie at their root. The book thoughtfully traces how views about human nature and the natural world in both Eastern and Western culture have shaped history and how the emerging global culturelÖ