On the surface, life seems incredibly complex. Billion s of people across many thousands of cultures go about a tremendous array of professions and pastimes. Customs across cultures are so different as to be almost unrecognizable. People of different ethnicities, nationalities, faiths, and even our neighbors can sometimes seem like aliens from a completely different planet. All too often, these perceived differences become the basis for conflict ranging from intolerance to outright warfare that could still mean the end of the human species. Distilling all human life down to its lowest common denominator reveals that the perceived differences are all illusions. Every person's life centers around the same six core functions: predator avoidance, group status, food, shelter, reproduction, and death. Looking at how the human animal and our evolutionary cousins and ancestors carry out these functions exposes human nature with all of its achievements and limitations. This book follows up on "The Enlightened Savage" by delving into the science behind the success techniques contained in that book. Future "Savage" titles will explore each of the six core functions in even more detail.