How Many Friends Does One Person Need? by Robin I. M. Dunbar

How Many Friends Does One Person Need? Reviews

• 
  Sarah

  After 125 pages of attempting to get through this I finally just stopped. It's full of interesting ideas presented as known facts, and rarely (if ever) supported by studies and research. He makes the unforgivable mistake of contrasting the "left brain" and "right brain", uses correlation to prove causation, and seems to only half-bake many of his ideas (or at least only half-explain them). This book tries to peg itself as science, but it comes off as pseudo-science. Disappointing considering Dunbar is the Director of the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at Oxford.
  
  It got me through my plane ride back from Vegas, but if I'm not looking for time to burn I won't finish it.
• 
  Sarah

  This was... really disappointing. Only made it a hundred pages in before returning to the library.
  
  I was expecting some accessible social science, backed by some interesting studies, but this was superficial and facile. I felt like author was writing for a mainstream magazine, regurgitating pop psychology for an audience with a thirty second attention span. Very lacking in evidence, or even deeper analysis.
  
  The author's occasional mildly misogynistic jokes didn't help. Nothing deeply offensive, just the same tired jokes about women being inexplicable and alien, with the clear assumption the reader was male and would agree.
• 
  Susan's Reviews

  Another great read from the author of The Human Story. We humans are so predictable - at times!
• 
  Judyta Szacillo

  I was disappointed with this book. After reading 'Grooming, gossips and the evolution of the language' I expected another good, transparent and well-demonstrated argument, which is accessable and interesting for a non-professional reader. However, accessibility is all what is left. The author jumps from one subject to another, holding them with very weak links and quite often not contributing to the main thought (vague as it was). It would be a nice read if published as a series of short essays (as it initially was), but as a book it's a mess.
  The disdain shown towards the humanities would be less annoying had the author done his reading in history better. But his understanding of history is poor (Mr Dunbar - 'Slavic Lombards'? really?), so he should be more careful when forming his conclusions on the basis of things he has no grasp of.
  Overall, it's still an interesting and entertaining read, but lacks structure and is sometimes distressingly shallow.
  
• 
  Nata

  Am aflat că aproximativ 1/3 dintre femei văd lumea în 4 culori elementare, în timp ce bărbații nu le văd decât pe cele 3 standard (roșu, albastru și verde). Și asta explică cumva exasperarea soțiilor atunci când nu li asortează hainele, deși soților li se pare în regulă acea combinație de culori făcută de ele :))
  Am aflat că limita numărului de relații sociale pe care oamenii le pot avea e aproximativ 150 de indivizi și aici, acest număr a lui Dunbar, se referă la tipul de relații personale coerente, nu cazul când te vezi odată în an cu cineva și nu-i cunoști evenimentele personale de peste an.
  
  Am aflat de ce bârfa este benefică :))
  
  Am aflat multe chestii ce ține de evoluția comportamentului uman. Pe alocuri, cartea mi s-a părut de umplutură, în rest, destul de interesantă, mai puțin momentele pur stiințifice, care nu prea m-am străduit să le înțeleg în detalii, doar în context, și asta pentru că nu e domeniul meu de interes.
• 
  Rafal Jasinski

  Wznowienie wydanej po raz pierwszy w 2010 roku książki Robina Dunbara będzie świetną "drogą na skróty" poprzez teorie i konkluzje wypływające z badań tego wybitnego brytyjskiego antropologa i psychologa. To znakomita publikacja dla czytelników, pragnących poznać tajniki uwarunkowań biologicznych, genetycznych i ewolucyjnych, które składają się na nasze zachowania społeczne, nawiązywanie przyjaźni, wyborów partnerów oraz wszystkich relacji i więzi, jaki nawiązujemy w życiu zawodowym i osobistym.
  
  Z zastrzeżeniem, że nie znają oni wcześniej wydanych i obszerniejszych książek Dunbara, albowiem w "Ile przyjaciół potrzebuje człowiek..." - na którą składają się przeredagowane i publikowane wcześniej w periodykach popularnonaukowych niezbyt obszerne felietony rekapitulujące właśnie odkrycia i teorie zawarte w innych publikacjach naukowca - nie znajdą oni nic, czego nie wyczytaliby u niego wcześniej.
  
  Wszystkich innych informacje z dziedziny psychologii ewolucyjnej, genetyki i antropologii ocucić mogą poniekąd z nazbyt romantycznych wyobrażeń na temat przyjaźni i miłości, ale z drugiej strony świadomość tego, że za błędne, nierozważne bądź zwyczajnie głupie zachowania odpowiadamy nie do końca my sami, ale w znacznej części to "zasługa" egoistycznych genów i tkwiących w nas od wieków uwarunkowań ewolucyjnych, może okazać się krzepiącą.
  
  Bardzo dobra książka dla wszystkich, którzy chcą w łatwy, lekki i przystępny sposób zapoznać się z najświeższymi odkryciami, badaniami i teoriami z dziedzin ewolucji i psychologii a dotąd z Dunbarem, lub publikacjami "pokrewnych" mu naukowców nie mieli do czynienia. Polecam!
• 
  Giselle Odessa

  الكتاب عبارة عن مجموعة مقالات علمية كتبها عالم الانثروبولوجي وعلم النفس التطوري دنبار.
  قد لا تبدو المقالات مترابطة لكن يجمعها أنها جميعاً تناقش التطور، كل مقالة تركز على ناحية معينة. يبدو واضحاً أن الكاتب يمتلك معرفة واسعة بمختلف المجالات العلمية ويتناول بطريقة ممتعة مواضيع مختلفة مثل عدد دنبار، سبب اختلافنا عن باقي الكائنات، الاخلاق وعلاقتها بعلم الأعصاب و كيف كان الربّ مهماً لتطور البشر وغيرها من المواضيع.
  الكتاب جيد لكن مأخذي الوحيد عليه كان أن الترجمة لم تكن جيدة لدرجة أن بعض فقرات الكتاب تبدو غير منطقية لغوياً.
• 
  Salma abdulrhman

  ( كم صديقًا يحتاج إليه الشخص؟ عدد دنبار ومراوغات تطورية أخرى )
  
  لعالم الأنثروبولوجيا وعلم النفس التطوري روبن دنبار ، وترجمة أحمد ضاحى
  
  ما كُتب على غلاف الكتاب:
  
  " يعكس هذا الكتاب الثقافة الموسوعية لمؤلفه روبن دنبار والذي ابحر في الكثير من العلوم في الكتاب منها ( علم النفس، الاجتماع، الأنثروبولوجيا، الطب، الأديان، التاريخ، الجغرافيا، الجيولوجيا، علم الأخلاق، البيولوجيا )
  
  عرض المؤلف بعض المفاهيم الحديثة في العلوم المختلفة كما عرض طريقة تعامل الأديان مع قضية التطور بشكل موضوعي وطريقة تحليلية
  
  لكنه تعامل مع قضية التطور بالتسليم والإعتقاد الكامل فيها ومحاولة إثباتها بالأدلة والبراهين التي يرى انها تدعم التطور وهذا هو المأخذ الوحيد عليه في هذا الكتاب"
  
  برأيي الكتاب ثري جدًا ومتنوع في موضوعاته حتى لو لم يكن شخص على علم بنظرية داروين يكفيه قراءة اختصار لها والبدء في قراءة هذا الكتاب الذي سيتكفل في إكمال شرح النظرية.
  
  انصح به للمهتمين وحتى غير المهتمين. لكن تحملوه قليلًا ف تشعباته كثيرة ومعقدة احيانًا. أو ربما هذا فقط بالنسبة لي!
• 
  Kater Cheek

  This book was recommended to me off of Amazon, and it seemed a sure bet: pop science, original research, and heavy on the sociology. The title refers to Dunbar's number, the supposed maximum number of people that a person can reasonably be expected to know socially. I've heard of this number, and knew something of its background (results from maximum hunter-gatherer tribal sizes and proves that people who have a gazillion friends on FB are just silly). I'd hoped this book would explore similar topics.
  
  The good news, it does. As the cover text promises, it covers many aspects of sociology, from lonely hearts advertisements to job seekers to why most voters pick taller presidential candidates. The subjects are varied and sundry, and presented in such a way that people who have never heard these ideas can understand them.
  
  I did have a few problems with this book. Firstly, I get a little irritated with the Fred Flintstone myth. I made that term up, but you know what I mean. When they say "back when our ancestors were on the savanna" or "back when our ancestors had to hunt mastodon for dinner." I dislike this because it's a readily accepted, easily recognized myth, but I'm not sure of its veracity or significance. There's this idea that evolution only happened in a specific period of time, and then it stopped.
  
  For example, I have a hard time picturing people as being wanderers on the savanna, because no one lives on savannas today, they live on coasts. Look at a map of the world. Where do people live? Coasts and rivers. Where do people not live? Grasslands. (read THE DESCENT OF WOMAN for some interesting insights into this) and I kind of roll my eyes at the notion of all men's spear-chucking prowress (and language, and god knows what else) being attributed to needing to take down mastadons. I cry shenanigans. 1. there are much easier ways to hunt if you aren't concerned about sport, for example, deadfall traps, brush fires, chasing animals off cliffs, etc. and 2. the animals people are most likely to kill are other people. (read CONSTANT BATTLES for insight into this) Cavemen and cave women and cave children rodents and monkeys into a pit of spikes isn't as sexy as brave spearmen carrying home a mastodon. Fred bashing Barney over the head with a rock doesn't fit the Fred Flintstone myth. The Fred Flintstone myth is familiar and easy, which makes it a good tool for explaining things to junior high school kids who don't know about evolution, but I want a few more facts to back things up.
  
  Which brings me into my other complaint about the book. I guess it's nice that it's easy to read and touches on a lot of different topics, but, again, I want something a little meatier. I wanted something that elucidated something I didn't already know about the subject, and I wanted suppositions supported by facts. These read more like articles that were published in a for-public-consumption magazine, where most readers have only a cursory interest in science.
  
  I recommend this for people who are mildly interested in evolutionary sociology, but who want it sexy and watered-down.
• 
  Jon Wlasiuk

  Capitalizing on the success of his theory of the limits of social connection, Robin Dunbar offers a brief tour of evolutionary physiology trivia. Readers will be disappointed that Dunbar fails to engage recent research on human polyamory or provide details on Dunbar’s number.
• 
  Петър Стойков

  Съжалявам бай Дънбар, ама макар идеите ти да са интересни, ти самият ме дразниш.
  
  Дразни ме безсрамното ти неуморно настояване да наричаме 150 "числото на Дънбар" когато говорим за групи хора, макар идеята ти да има еволюционна логика и макар усилията ти да имат успех и наистина на много места "числото на Дънбар" да се използва като израз, просто ме дразниш. Не, честно - що за самовлюбен кретен трябва да си, за да кръстиш сам числото на свое име?
  
  Дразнят ме безкрайните ти опити да се правиш на забавен и да опростяваш езика си до степен да бъдеш на косъм от опростачването му само и само да бъдеш по-популярен и лесен за четене, въпреки че наистина книгите ти са станали доста популярни точно заради това, просто ме дразниш.
  
  Дразни ме начина, по който изразяваш теориите си без да смяташ за нужно да приведеш някакви по-сериозни доказателства за верността им, освен повърхностни примери, макар някои от тия теории да са наистина любопитни и заслужаващи развитие, просто ме дразниш.
  
  Дразни ме стилът ти на писане, макар ти да не си виновен, че си британец и тамошната научно-популярна литература е всичката в този стил.
  
  Просто ме дразниш.
• 
  Richard Subber

  Robin Dunbar knows so much, and is so good at telling what he knows.
  In How Many Friends Does One Person Need? and in Evolution: What Everyone Needs to Know, Dunbar offers well-documented, nuts-and-bolts explanations about the many aspects of evolution, especially human evolution. It turns out that Darwin only scratched the surface.
  There is inclusive context for the meaning of “Dunbar’s number,” namely, 150 people, the repeatedly confirmed (approximate) top limit for the number of people an individual can know individually, trust, and engage in a socially meaningful way.
  Dunbar gives all the scoop about the many ways in which human beings are unique in the ancient and modern worlds, and the many connections we have with the great apes. Biologically, we are much more similar to chimpanzees than most people could bring themselves to guess.
  Part of Dunbar’s generous writing in both books is a minutely careful examination of the intersection of religion and evolution. That’s worth a read.
  Read more of my book reviews and poems here:
  
  www.richardsubber.com
• 
  سالم عبدالله

  كتاب ..
  كم صديقا يحتاج إليه الشخص.
  لعالم الانتربولوحيا و علم النفس التطوري.
  روبن دنبار ..
  لقد شدني عنوان الكتاب ..
  وانا التي كانت قناعتي انه من الصعب ان بجد المرء اصدقاء مقربين جدا الا في حدود اصابع اليد الواحدة ..
  و الكتاب في الواقع
  العنوان لا يعبر تماما على المحتوى وان اشتمل على فصلين تقريبا تخص العنوان .
  في الواقع الكتاب عبارة عن مجموعة مقالات للكاتب نفسه لاعمدة بعض الصحف على مدار 14 عاما .
  و المقالات رائعة ومشوقة دون شك .
  و رغم ان بعض المعلومات تحمل غرابة جميلة غير ان الكتاب اجزائه غير مترابطة وهذا شي طبيعي باعتبار انه في الاصل مجموعة مقالات .
  الكاتب لا انكر انه ملم بالعلوم الاجتماعية و الاحياء و غيرها .. تميز باسلوب شيق
  كما ان الترجمة جيدة جدا .
  اما ما يخص عدد دنبار .. وهو عدد الاصدقاء التي بامكان المرء معرفتهم معرفة كاملة وهو 150 وهذا يعني ان الانسان يصعب عليه التعرف على اكثر من هذا الرقم .. ولهذا كانت السرايا و المفارز العسكرية لا تتجاوز 100 او 130
  اما من يدعي عكس ذلك كاصحاب المواقع الاجتماعية فيقول الكاتب ان ذلك لا يتحقق الا في حدود 200 شخص فأقل .
  و ان وجد فلا يمكن للمرء معرفتهم او على الاقل لا يشعر بالحرج لو لم يكامهم او يحييهم اذا ما وقع نظره عليهم .
  اما فيما يتعلق بالافراد الاصدقاء closed friends فهو لا يتجاوز 5 اي بين 3 و 5
  وهذا ما كنت اعتقده بالفعل ..
  هولاء هم ��لاشخاص المقربين منا والذين يمثلون قيمة لنا ..
  اما الاخرين فهم يمثلون قيمة مضافة لنا ونخن ايضا قيمة مضافة لهم
  اما ان يكون السخص قيمة لك فهو الذي يعلم بما بنفسك واحتياجك وظروفك ..
  اي بمعنى انت وهو واحد ..
  ويتناول الكاتب الحياة التطورية للبشر .. و ما يميز البشر عن غيره من الكائنات .. كبر حجم الدماغ ..
  والثقافة ..واللغة ...الخ .
  و يتناول العديد من الموصوعات الشيقة ..
  الزواج الاحادي ..اي من يحتفظ بزوجة واحدة من الكائنات .
  و اثر طول القامة في النجاح
  و جين الحب والذي من خلاله يمكن توقع نجاح الحياة الزوجية من عدمها ..
  والخيانات التي يتعرض لها طيور الزواج الاحادي .. فخمس انتاجها لا يمت لاباءها بصلة وما الدوافع للخيانة اصلا
  للبشر .. كبح جماخ الرجل الى التطلع للنساء و هناك غاية تطورية وهي تحسين النسل .
  وهناك موضوعات اخرى شيقة مثل الاخلاق والدبن
  والاثار المترتبة على الذكاء
  كطول العمر مثلا ..
  الكتاب ظريف وجميل ..
  ويستحق الاطلاع .
• 
  Aravind P

  Annoyed at the trash-popular topics discussed and trivial reasoning.
• 
  A. Kaya

  book was a compilation of essays or articles I don't know. as a pop-sci book it was enough to make people curious about evolutionary psychology but argumentatively, the book was so weak(except some points). even questions in the cover of book have not answered at all. in a nutshell, there are 4 different subjects and their arrangements in this book.
  
  1-Morality 2-Human Behaviour 3-Biology 4-Evolution.
  
  biologic explanations were enough but the other parts were not well. for instance there was a part which it was about tending to save people differences between upper and lower social class. auther wrote "the upper social class people didn't tend to save people because they were upper class and selectively they didn't need that, they have power and reputation but lower social class people tended to save people because they need power and reputation." this was the weakest argument which I heard in my entire life. upper social class people didn't tend to save people maybe the reason of this was that: they didnt work on hard jobs!! physicially they didn't trust theirself.
  
  if you want to begin evolutionary psychology and you want a perspective, I recommend you to read this. but besides of that, it is not worth to read at all.
• 
  Louise

  Some interesting facts and thoughts. However, I'm left questioning how much of it is objectively true due to lack of citation and some glaring errors (for example stating all babies are born with blue eyes - they are not!). Whilst the tone is an enjoyable read in places the book seems to jump from subject to subject tenuously. Meanwhile whilst the tone may come across as friendly the implications (& sometimes outright statements) of what is said can be disturbing. The author obviously has their own biases and comes across as ableist, misogynistic and ignores LGBT+ people at points. The author does recognise but not address his slight obsession with sex which I frankly found disturbing in many places. Can I just iterate that there can be loving relationships without sex...
• 
  William

  Hodge podge of evolutionary facts. Not a fan of the additional commentary, mostly tasteless and thoughtless. Don't understand why there's a chapter lamenting the unsubstantiated claim that artists don't embrace the sciences enough though the sciences embrace the arts... Overall this was wasted time. I wanted a book about friendship but that was just a chapter amidst a bunch of random short sighted evolutionary commentary.
• 
  Piotr Borowski

  Ta książka pozostawiła na mnie złe wrażenie. Autor chwali się swoim odkryciem czyli tytułową liczbą Dunbara. Najśmiesze były próby połączenia tej liczby z ewolucją. Zamiast pozostać przy tym na czym się znał, czyli badaniach nad tytułowym pytaniem "ile przyjaciół może mieć człowiek" autor zapuszcza się w rejony, w których wysuwa odważne ale jednocześnie niczym nie poparte teorie nie trzymające się kupy.
• 
  Serra

  Evrim sürecinin davranışlarımızı nasıl etkilediğine dair bilimsel çalışmalardan bahsediyor. Kaynakça kitabın sonunda bulunmadığı için yazılanların doğruluğu tartışılır. Ancak birçok farklı bilgi öğrendiğimi söyleyebilirim. Kitabı tek seferde okumak bunaltıcı olduğu ve hızlı hızlı geçtiğimi fark ettiğim için her gün bir bölüm okumaya çalıştım. Çevirisi de oldukça akıcı ve anlaşılırdı. Davranışlarımızın kökenini merak ediyorsanız okuyabilirsiniz.
• 
  Mario Sailer

  There are lot of interesting evolutionary developments depicted. Some explain why people in some areas of the world are (or at least have been) different from people living in other areas. Others explain other traits humans have. One of them is the Dunbar Number stating that we can only have a close relationship only to a limited number of others.
• 
  Haidar Canaan

  ان كنت تبحث عن كتاب تنمية ذاتية او كتاب يعلمك كيف تكسب الاصدقاء او ما هي الصداقة فليس هذا الكتاب الذي تبحث عنه
  الكتاب جيد نوعا ما بالرغم من العنوان المضلل الذي ليس له علاقة بفصول الكتاب تقريبا فالكاتب لم يتطرق الى عدد الاصدقاء الا عبر فصل واحد او فصلين من الكتاب لضخم
  و كان تركيز الكاتب عن نظرية التطور و النظريات العلمية المرتبطة بها
  
  
• 
  Alis

  FYI, I still don't know how many friends do I need, after 3 years of owning this book.
  This book does not practise what it preaches. I personally thought it was all going to be about psychology and interpersonal relationships and how to build them. It is really sad when I'm waisting my time reading a book that I can't memorise anything from at the end. :(
• 
  Abdallah Moh

  موضوع الكتاب ابعد ماكون عن عنوانه
  مقالات مشتتة للتطبيل للتطور وداروين والتغزل بالقردة العليا والسفلى والوسطى واي نوع من القردة يمشي حاله
  
  تحاول ان تبحث عن رابطة عن فائدة .. لاتجد
  
  الكاتب نفسه لايعرف مايريد ان يقول
  
  سيء
• 
  Michael Slattery

  After re-reading several chapters, I upped my rating from 2 to 3 stars. I came to the party expecting a full on discussion of Dunbar's number: how the human animal evolved to live socially within groups of around 150 with smaller and greater concentric social circles that intensify and relax in intimacy respectively. You really only find that discussed directly in one chapter, but wow, what a chapter. The idea illuminates our social nature on a deep level and deserves greater study of its ramifications especially as our social world increasingly overwhelms ands lack satisfaction.