The Social Instinct is a profound and engaging look at the hidden relationships underpinning human evolution, and why cooperation is key to our future survival written in the style of The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins. Cooperation is the means by which life arose in the first place. It’s how we progressed through scale and complexity, from free-floating strands of genetic material, to nation states. But given what we know about the mechanisms of evolution, cooperation is also something of a puzzle. How does cooperation begin, when on a Darwinian level, all that the genes in your body care about is being passed on to the next generation? Why do meerkat colonies care for one another’s children? Why do babbler birds in the Kalahari form colonies in which only a single pair breeds? And how come some coral wrasse fish actually punish each other for harming fish from another species?

A biologist by training, Raihani looks at where and how collaborative behavior emerges throughout the animal kingdom, and what problems it solves. She reveals that the species that exhibit cooperative behavior–teaching, helping, grooming, and self-sacrifice–most similar to our own tend not to be other apes; they are birds, insects, and fish, occupying far more distant branches of the evolutionary tree. By understanding the problems they face, and how they cooperate to solve them, we can glimpse how human cooperation first evolved. And we can also understand what it is about the way we cooperate that has made humans so distinctive–and so successful. This is a fascinating, accessible and thoughtful read but best of all it's as entertaining as it is informative. Using colourful and intriguing examples, Raihani shows that cooperation is at the centre of our bodies, societies and ecosystems. Highly recommended.

Did you know that the most children a single mother has produced is 69? Or that Human social attitudes have more in common with non-apes than apes?

This is a well written, fluid account which is absolutely packed full of interesting details and biological comparisons. Ranging from bugs to birds and Indigenous lifestyles, it shows that humans share similarities with many animals. But surprisingly, we are remarkably dissimilar to apes and chimps.

We hear that human cooperation is far closer to that shown by Ants and Meerkats, especially the way Meerkats train their young how to hunt. We hear of birds which help other breeding couples, as humans will also help each other. We also learn that human children are surprisingly unique in the way that they will help in the rearing of siblings; something which is completely absent from apes and monkeys.

Why do babies wake up at night? There is no obvious benefit to the baby. But doing so disrupts the mother’s fertility, meaning that there is less competition for the baby. Could that be why babies wake-up?

We also hear that menopause is relatively unique to humanity. Why is that? Historical records show that when a grandmother has children alongside her daughter, her daughter’s children were less than half as likely to survive to the age of 15, due to the greater competition for resources. Could factors like this be why menopause occurs? If so, does it suggest that elements of human ageing are a design feature, not a flaw?

When the author considers the behaviours and mindsets which enable socialisation, we hear of the importance of reciprocation. But we also hear of the delicate balancing act that is shaming and punishment. Comparisons with Cleaner fish show similar practices in non-human contexts, although once again there is nothing similar amongst apes.

There is so much information packed into the book that it is hard to do it all justice. I wonder if the author also experienced occasional difficulties in this regard, as there are sometimes puzzlingly isolated claims. For example, we hear that religion is like paranoia (Kindle Location 69%), but then the book moves on without further explanation, and without exploring related issues of whether ethical beliefs are also like a paranoia. These are enormous issues and they deserve to be explored in far more detail. Or, alternatively, perhaps the issues would be better kept for a follow-up book where there would be more space to explore them.

All in all I enjoyed the book and learned a lot from the wide ranging discussions and examples.
These comments are an honest review of an Advanced Review Copy.