The WEIRDest People in the World

How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous

Joseph Heinrich

Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic

A novel (to me) and (slightly) interesting book, but 489 pages of main text and 167 pages of notes and bibliography is more than my multiply-focused interest can sustain. I am too WEIRD to find time to do more than skim this book, but I wouldn't mind being nattered at by kind cover-to-cover readers. I "dropped out" around page 130, other pressing demands on my time.

The core observation - north and west protestant Europeans (and their satellite cultures, like the US and Canada) Think Different is well supported by Harvard author Heinrich. When the cookbook version comes out ( "Do X but do not do Y in culture C" ) I will read it cover to cover.

The most important point is that academic "human psychology" gathers data from WEIRD college students (easy and cheap), not the world (complex, difficult, expensive).