Stein Bråten recounts a startling idea that has become an inspiring theory of how we know one another and speak. When studying simulations of language, it came to him that several people discussing a problem could only communicate if each could somehow 'be' the other, participating in their experience as a 'virtual other'. A lifetime later, with original photographs and drawings showing his children and grandchildren 'being other people', and after hours comparing very young chimpanzees' 'mother-centered learning' in a Norwegian zoo, he develops his theory, now given powerful support from the neuroscience of how intentions pass immediately between brains. He gives us a masterly review of a revolution in the philosophy of personhood, of discoveries in infant imitation, of research on language as culture, on the nature of sympathy, altruism and alienation, and of the detachment of self and other in autism. This book has important implications for education, therapy and other fields of practice and research.

- Colwyn Trevarthen, University of Edinburgh,

In one of the most detailed and erudite treatises today, Stein Bråten explains how we relate to each other driven by evolutionarily ancient impulses. Instead of the traditional focus on human intelligence, Stein Bråten stresses the body and how it is moved by other bodies. A very compelling account of how we came to be such incredibly social primates.

- Frans de Waal, Emory University, Author of 'The Age of Empathy' (Harmony, 2009).,

Stein Bråten's last book provides an incredibly rich and original perspective on the evolution and development of infants' (pre)verbal intersubjectivity. Bråten beautifully masters the most relevant literature in Philosophy, Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience and Computer Science guiding the reader in a fascinating journey. A must read for everyone interested to learn how the human mind develops.

- Vittorio Gallese, University of Parma,