Evolving Brains - Softcover

Allman, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 071676038X ISBN 13: 9780716760382

Publisher: W. H. Freeman, 2000

Synopsis

How did the human brain with all its manifold capacities evolve from basic functions in simple organisms that lived nearly a billion years ago? John Allman addresses this question in Evolving Brains, a provocative study of brain evolution that introduces readers to some of the most exciting developments in science in recent years.

About this title

Review:

What's the big deal about big brains? They're a costly enhancement, says neurobiologist John Allman in Evolving Brains. "Animals with big brains are rare," he stresses. "If brains enable animals to adapt to changing environments, why is it that so few animals have large brains? The reason is that big brains are very expensive." He examines the whys and wherefores of large-brain evolution, and draws out the connections between large brains and long lives; shows why major evolutionary advances are often made by small predators; makes you appreciate why mammals, burdened by the cost of warm-bloodedness, were unable to unseat the dinosaurs; and more. So, while large brains such as the ones we humans enjoy may give survival advantages to individuals, some species have done (and did) just fine for millions of years with pea brains.

Rather than talking only about cells, circuits, neurotransmitters, and genes, or gliding up to the ethereal regions of psychology and philosophy, Allman looks at the whole organism--the "middle-sized, middle-distanced objects," as Willard Van Orman Quine said. Evolving Brains is full of interesting scientific tidbits, only rarely becoming tangled in the thicket of jargon. --Mary Ellen Curtin

About the Author:

John Morgan Allman is Hixon Professor of Biology at the California Institute of Technology. He received his doctoral degree in anthropology and played a key role in the discovery that the visual cortex in primates comprises many areas that serve a multitude of functions. Dr. Allman received the Golden Brain Award from the Minerva Foundation for his research on how the brain represents visual information.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. H. Freeman
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 071676038X
• ISBN 13: 9780716760382
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240