"If animals are not mindless stimulus-response machines, what are they? Charles Darwin knew his theory of evolution depended on the answer. The radical idea proposed in Michael Tomasello's groundbreaking book is that animals are agents--their psychology evolved to allow control of their choices. One of the most accomplished psychologists of our time builds an overwhelming case that all psychology evolved to give freedom of choice to solve life's most unpredictable problems. As accessible as it is persuasive, this instant classic will drive scientific agendas and will be read by students of human nature for generations to come." --Brian Hare, New York Times bestselling author of The Genius of Dogs "In this impressive and engaging book, Michael Tomasello provides a compelling account of the nature of agency and the forms of its expression in living things, from humble 'filter feeders,' through reptiles, mammals, and great apes, to human beings. Tomasello thus charts the evolution of agency from simple forms of goal-directed activity to complex, culturally mediated intentional action that is enabled and constrained by socially established objective norms. This is psychology as it should be done--in unity with evolutionary theory, biology, anthropology, philosophy, and whatever other disciplinary perspectives are needed to bring the phenomena into view. The result is a book that, though short and accessible, abounds with transformative insights, not least of all that the first principle of psychology should be not mind or behavior, but agency itself.

Bravo." --David Bakhurst, George Whalley Distinguished University Professor, Queen's University, Canada.