On the Origin of Tepees: Why Some Ideas Spread While Others Go Extinct

An acclaimed BBC filmmaker uses his anthropological wiles to uncover the evolution of our ideas

Adopting the part of a cultural Darwin, Jonnie Hughes headed off on a road trip across exotic America to observe the natural history of human culture in all its weirdness. As he dissects what makes some ideas flourish and others die off, investigates the fashion for low-riding jeans, the wording of memorable joke punch-lines, and the invenor of the iconic cowboy hat.

"This book is a delight. Hughes's hilarious travels through the American West do for culture what Darwin did for biology." Susan Blackmore, author of The Meme Machine