Human Instinct - 4x

What drives a happily married man to fantasize about pretty, slim young women seen on a tube train? Why does a seriously injured, semi-conscious and dehydrated mountaineer battle against impossible weather conditions, refusing the comforts of sleep, to spend three days crawling down to the safety of base camp? How is it that so many thousands of people spend their week entirely focussed on whether their team will win their next crucial match? What stimulates that urge to press the pedal as hard as possible at traffic lights to make the fastest getaway? And how is it that so many people still hold religious views when the notion of an all-powerful being is irrational? All of these impulses are driven by our human instincts - sexual drive, survival, competition, aggression and our search for knowledge.

Few people have a problem with the idea that humans are descended from apes. But while people believe that our general shape and structure are derived from other creatures, few consider, let alone accept, the psychological implications. Man not only looks, moves and breathes like an ape, he also thinks like one. It is back in our primeval past that we find the first clues to the understanding of our human instincts.

But how well do instincts equip us for the twenty-first century? Do instincts help or hinder us as we deal with large anonymous cities, low-level stress, the battle of the sexes and the fracturing of communal life? In this erudite and fascinating book, which accompanies a major BBC 1 television series, Robert Winston takes us on a journey deep into the human mind in search of the answers to these questions and many more. Along the way he takes a very personal look at the relationship between science and religion, and explores those instincts that make us peculiarly human.

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