Evolving Brains

Scientific American Library Series #68

by John Morgan Allman

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.

Genres: Neuroscience, Science, Nonfiction, Brain, Biology

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Daniel Toker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, it contains a wealth of invaluable information about the evolution of brains, from the earliest brains of the Cambrian period 500 million years ago to the evolution of Homo sapiens roughly half a million years ago. It is also the only comprehensive introduction to brain evolution I could find. For that, it's worth reading if you are a neuroscientist or psychologist.

That said, there are three significant issues with the book. The first, and biggest issue in my mind, is that the book is poorly organized at both the micro- and macro-level. It tends to meander, and it's often hard to figure out "the main point" of either a paragraph, a section, or even a chapter. The second is that there are major chunks to the story that are missing in the narrative, most notably the origin of neurons. The third - and this isn't Allman's fault - is that the book is almost two decades old and therefore some of what it says is now known to be wrong. Examples of things the book gets wrong are the reason that mammals and birds evolved warm-bloodedness, the reason that the meteor that struck the Yucatán Peninsula 66 million years ago destroyed most life on earth, and the fact that there were several human-like species other than Neanderthals and Homo sapiens that are long extinct. So, I had to do a good deal of fact-checking while reading this.

But, again, I couldn't find another introductory resource as comprehensive as this. And brain evolution is a very important subject. So it was worth the read.

[Mark Moon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little dated, and not as broad in scope as Roth's "The Long Evolution of Brains and Minds", but still pretty satisfying. Mostly focuses on primates, emphasizing predation, parenting, and increases in environmental variability as causes for evolutionary changes that improve or augment brains.

[Ariadna73 · Rating 5 out of 5]

The crux of this book is finding out how did the human brain evolve from basic functions in simple organisms that lived nearly a billion years ago into what we know today. It is a study of brain evolution that introduces readers to some of the developments in science in recent years.

I fell in love with the cover picture: Jan Brueghel the Elder's The entry of the animals into Noahs Ark (1613) A beautiful piece of art.

This is the cover and jacket information of the book I read:

This is the editorial information of the book:

The table of contents:

Here is a fragment of the brilliant preface of this book. It is an engaging work since the very beginning:

Take a look at this picture of dendrites and neurons. Ain't that formidable? So many millions of connections within only a few cells:

A fascinating quote from Darwin: "All living things have much in common, in their chemical composition, their germinal vesicles, their cellular structure, and their laws of growth and reproduction. Therefore I should infer that probably all the organic beings which have ever lived on the earth have descended from some one primordial form" (The origin of species, 1859)

This is a mind-blowing conceptual diagram of the DNA... turns out we are full of fosils!

This is a brilliant explanation of the functionality of the dendrites and the neurons:

The octopus brain:

Warm-blooded brains through time:

Another day at the office of the Dicynodont Lystrosaurus:

How the brain creates a visual scene, using Paolina Bonaparte's example:

A brain trick: If you stare at a waterfall for a minute, and then at the rocks beneath, you will see the rocks moving upwards to the top of the waterfall (at least that is what he says)

The use of color to detect ripe food:

Study of the visual cortex:

The brain's clock:

This is a marvelous book, very informative, fun to read, and full of interesting and puzzling ideas. I think everyone should at least take a look at it once in a while.

I also have a blog! Here is the link: http://lunairereadings.blogspot.com

[Joey · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was more of a 4-star for me, but only because the content was too scientific and esoteric. I loved much of it and found some confusing but still very interesting.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

The topic is in the title: the book illustrates and presents how brains and in particular human brains evolved.

It is a difficult subject but actually the book is surprisingly easy to read. You don't need a university degree in life sciences to understand it - though you need to be interested in brain anatomy of course.

The book has many beautiful pictures and illustrations, at least one on every pages, which makes the read easier and lighter. It feels like reading a good magazine.

The end spoils a bit the rest of the book - the author, who is the rest of the book sticks to facts, gives a pessimistic interpretation of today's changes... I found it inappropriate and inaccurate actually.

I usually like to give away my science books because they get outdated so quickly anyway, but I kept this one in my collection of beautifully illustrated science books.