The usual story of evolution is summed up as “survival of the fittest,” where we war against nature and one another to not only survive but to come out on top. A new idea is making the rounds, which makes more sense to me. It might be summed up as “survival of the cooperative.” A review (titled “Greed Is Dead”) of Nicholas Christakis’s Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society, summarizes it like this:

The book concludes that “humans everywhere are pre-wired to make a particular kind of society – one full of love, friendship, cooperation, and learning”. Christakis demonstrates how we have evolved to enjoy sociality and to be prosocial. Humans crave to belong to a group, and to value the good opinion of others in the group.

This is hard to imagine given the current state of our national conversation, but I do think there is something to this idea.

A Fine, but Important, Point of Punctuation

This link is dedicated to my wife who, while not an editor, is mighty unhappy about the state of the apostrophe today. She has had company, but unfortunately, the apostrophe watchdog is waving the white flag:

Retired journalist John Richards, 96, started the Apostrophe Protection Society in 2001 to make sure the “much-abused” punctuation mark was being used.

One reason: “We, and our many supporters worldwide, have done our best but the ignorance and laziness present in modern times have won.”

The article pictures a Birmingham city park with the sign “St. Pauls Square.” Enough said.

The Personal Diet as Religion

Religion, at least Christian religion, has been all about food. The original sin was about violating a food restriction, and the high point of Christian worship is the partaking of bread and wine. So it’s not surprising that in an age that is abandoning traditional religion, diet can take on a sacred role, and also a political one, as this review (titled “You Are What You (Don’t) Eat”) in the Hedgehog Review notes.

… the secularization of modern culture “has left many searching for the structure and identity that religion once provided.” Given this spiritual void, [author Kima Cargill] explains, “food cults arguably replace what religion once did by prescribing organized food rules and rituals.” These are rules and rituals that—whether the diet is vegan or vegetarian, paleo or primal, Mediterranean or South Beach—nurture identities that keep us loyal, insularly focused, and passionate about what we will and, even more significantly, will not eat.

If Only I Had Something to Read

Looking for books to read in the new year, or to give as presents this Christmas (including books for children and youth)? Check out CT’s 2020 Book Awards.

The Season of Heart-Warming Videos

I’m getting more sentimental as the years go by, but I suppose there are worse sins. Christmas is the season for this sort of thing. This video (HT to Katie) comes from the Philippines, and it’s a lot of fun.

Grace and peace,