Overview

Sports are as varied as the people who play them. We run, jump, and swim. We kick, hit, and shoot balls. We ride sleds in the snow and surf in the sea. From the Olympians of ancient Greece to today's professional athletes, from adult pickup soccer games to children's gymnastics classes, people at all levels of ability at all times and in all places have engaged in sport. What drives this phenomenon? In Sport, the neuroscientist Jay Schulkin argues that biology and culture do more than coexist when we play sports-they blend together seamlessly, propelling each other toward greater physical and intellectual achievement. To support this claim, Schulkin discusses history, literature, and art-and engages philosophical inquiry and recent behavioral research. He connects sport's basic neural requirements, including spatial and temporal awareness, inference, memory, agency, direction, competitive spirit, and endurance, to the demands of other human activities. He affirms sport's natural role as a creative evolutionary catalyst, turning the external play of sports inward and bringing insight to the diversion that defines our species. Sport, we learn, is a fundamental part of human life.

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Reviews

Sport: A Biological and Cultural Perspective gives readers a fresh and excellent view of sport. Schulkin illuminates this fascinating topic by bringing to bear a powerful combination of historical, biological and psychological perspectives. -- Kent Berridge, University of Michigan With his characteristic interdisciplinary breadth of knowledge, Schulkin gives us a comprehensive, yet concise, survey of the many dimensions of sport from the perspective of evolutionary theory, genetics, neuroscience, social psychology, cultural theory, health science, ethics, and aesthetics. He shows how sport encompasses the full range of human motivations and capacities, from our desire to dominate others, to our need for social cooperation and solidarity, to our appreciation of human dignity and beauty. -- Mark Johnson, Philip H. Knight Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Oregon Jay Schulkin is a keen observer, a 'neuroscientist-philosopher,' and an astute commentator on human nature who writes insightfully about role of physical activity in health, brain mechanisms for coordination and sensory processes, and the relationship of sport to the cultural/political domain-e.g. Jackie Robinson breaking the baseball color line; Nelson Mandela and the Springboks gaining support for national unity; Jesse Owens and Hitler. It is a fascinating read! -- Bruce McEwen, Rockefeller University

Author Information

Jay Schulkin is a research professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Georgetown University. He is the author of numerous books, including Reflections on the Musical Mind: An Evolutionary Perspective (2013).

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