This list of books are ONLY the books that have been ranked on the lists that are aggregated on this site. This is not a comprehensive list of all books by this author.

1. 1. Ritual

   How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living

   

   Drawing on fieldwork and laboratory experiments, this book argues that rituals—repetitive, often costly or painful practices—are adaptive cultural technologies that regulate emotion, create social cohesion through synchrony and shared meaning, and signal commitment to build trust and cooperation; blending anthropology, psychology, and neuroscience with vivid case studies from diverse cultures, it explains how ritual helps people cope with uncertainty and trauma, maintain group identity, and even produce measurable physiological and social benefits, while exploring modern secular and therapeutic forms.

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