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A Brain for All Seasons: Human Evolution and Abrupt Climate Change
Winner of the 2002 Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science
Mankind has recently come to the shocking realization that our ancestors survived hundreds of abrupt and severe changes to Earth's climate. In this unique travelogue, William H. Calvin takes us around the globe and back in time, showing us how such cycles of cool, crash, and burn provided the impetus for enormous increases in the intelligence and complexity of human beings—and warning us of human activities that could trigger similarly massive shifts in the planet's climate.
Mankind has recently come to the shocking realization that our ancestors survived hundreds of abrupt and severe changes to Earth's climate. In this unique travelogue, William H. Calvin takes us around the globe and back in time, showing us how such cycles of cool, crash, and burn provided the impetus for enormous increases in the intelligence and complexity of human beings—and warning us of human activities that could trigger similarly massive shifts in the planet's climate.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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113 people want to read
About the author
William H. Calvin
38 books36 followersWilliam H. Calvin, Ph.D., is a theoretical neurobiologist, Affiliate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle. He is the author of a dozen books, mostly for general readers, about brains and evolution.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 25, 2013
It took me an unreasonably long time to get into this book, mostly because of the format. Each chapter was topped with a header like that of an email, sent to "Human Evolution E-Seminar" and listing the latitude and longitude of the author's location on some worldwide tour of important sites in human evolution. There was nothing on the flaps or in the introduction about this being an e-seminar? Was it? Was the author really teaching a class? Really on a worldwide tour of paleontology and archaeology? Or was it all some conceit to structure the book? If so, why? Because it was dead annoying. It was already enough that the author assumed a familiarity with both the history of human evolution, its prevalent theories, and climate jargon. Adding the layer of this e-seminar just made me me vaguely anxious, like somehow I'd signed up for a class without having taken the prerequisites and that there was going to be trouble come midterm time.
Which is a shame because there was a lot of fascinating content once the rest was sifted through. I came away with three main ideas. One was that a main reason that human evolution occurred so quickly was thanks to many repeated boom-bust cycles caused by abrupt (and extreme!) climate change flip-flops, the second was an extended argument abou the nature of a widespread and long-used artifact from human tool-production history, and then the final third or so is devoted to discussing possible mechanisms for abrupt climate flip-flops and the evidence for those.
That last idea is why I bought the book, and it didn't disappoint. Though now I'm very curious about how this idea has aged (this book was published 2002) and what the current thinking on the topic is. I need to read more about climate.
Which is a shame because there was a lot of fascinating content once the rest was sifted through. I came away with three main ideas. One was that a main reason that human evolution occurred so quickly was thanks to many repeated boom-bust cycles caused by abrupt (and extreme!) climate change flip-flops, the second was an extended argument abou the nature of a widespread and long-used artifact from human tool-production history, and then the final third or so is devoted to discussing possible mechanisms for abrupt climate flip-flops and the evidence for those.
That last idea is why I bought the book, and it didn't disappoint. Though now I'm very curious about how this idea has aged (this book was published 2002) and what the current thinking on the topic is. I need to read more about climate.
December 30, 2019
\\ddc\user files\carol\books\reviews\calvin, william h - a brain for all seasons.doc
William H. Calvin
June 29th 2003
A Brain for all Seasons
A challenging attempt at an overview of how the human brain and climate change interacted to make us what we are. This book has any fascinating facts and interesting interpretations. Sometimes one wishes the book were longer and in more detail, but there is a bibliography which I will work through.
Many of the theories are contentious, and Calvin generally makes sure the reader is aware of the difference between fact and fiction, unlike many of the TV shows one sees nowadays.
The earlier parts of the book, covering prehistory, are fascinating. The last couple of chapters covering the present are scary, probably very appropriate, and incredibly interventionist in attitude to climate change.
Calvin basically starts from the premise that we have irreversible changed the climate and environment. He agrees that we should try to limit the damage, but argues that there is never was a stable climate or environment in the past, and that there never will be one on the future.
His proposals for intervention (dams in the arctic, blowing up ice barriers and so on) may sound extreme, but if his is right and humankind has developed in one of the most stable periods of the Earth’s climatic history, violent climate change is inevitable, whether provoked by human intervention, or caused by the same forces what caused climate change on a vast scale before man was around.
And violent climate change is something we should be modest about, realise we will have very little control over it, and do the best to survive. The scary bit is how ugly survival will be. The “War for Oil” theorists would say we have an example of it already. I don’t have the information to judge, but certainly “might is right” has not vanished as a ruling principle.
A Brain for all Seasons
October 2004
This book, which I probably read last year (the beginning of this year was consumed by the Reformation), has me making notes all over the place.
Calvin’s thesis is that climate change, both local and global is a trigger for evolution is fascinating and credible. His writing style is perhaps not the greatest, and the travelogue is not my favourite vehicle for presenting scientific theory, but for all that I enjoyed the book greatly.
\\ddc\user files\carol\books\reviews\calvin, william h - a brain for all seasons.doc
I still want to do a project with a visual map of the world evolving over time, with continents, climate information and micro events that are documented all available at the click of a mouse.
I did even go as far as to start collecting data. If time permits I will do more.
M. Calvin earns his living as an academic, and presents a strong case for his theories, some of which are very perceptive and simple. In the end however I think he is somewhat arrogant, and possibly dangerous with his ideas for reducing the damage caused by global warming. His simplistic interventionist solutions could only to well appeal to someone like George W. Bush and lead to an ecological disaster as a half thought through version is poorly implemented and executed.
I won’t spoil the fun by telling you what they are, read the book, learn on the way, and to retain your sense of modesty, go and visit a cave with old stalactites with a geologist, and have them run through the history of the world and climate as told by the minerals deposited by the drops of water.
William H. Calvin
June 29th 2003
A Brain for all Seasons
A challenging attempt at an overview of how the human brain and climate change interacted to make us what we are. This book has any fascinating facts and interesting interpretations. Sometimes one wishes the book were longer and in more detail, but there is a bibliography which I will work through.
Many of the theories are contentious, and Calvin generally makes sure the reader is aware of the difference between fact and fiction, unlike many of the TV shows one sees nowadays.
The earlier parts of the book, covering prehistory, are fascinating. The last couple of chapters covering the present are scary, probably very appropriate, and incredibly interventionist in attitude to climate change.
Calvin basically starts from the premise that we have irreversible changed the climate and environment. He agrees that we should try to limit the damage, but argues that there is never was a stable climate or environment in the past, and that there never will be one on the future.
His proposals for intervention (dams in the arctic, blowing up ice barriers and so on) may sound extreme, but if his is right and humankind has developed in one of the most stable periods of the Earth’s climatic history, violent climate change is inevitable, whether provoked by human intervention, or caused by the same forces what caused climate change on a vast scale before man was around.
And violent climate change is something we should be modest about, realise we will have very little control over it, and do the best to survive. The scary bit is how ugly survival will be. The “War for Oil” theorists would say we have an example of it already. I don’t have the information to judge, but certainly “might is right” has not vanished as a ruling principle.
A Brain for all Seasons
October 2004
This book, which I probably read last year (the beginning of this year was consumed by the Reformation), has me making notes all over the place.
Calvin’s thesis is that climate change, both local and global is a trigger for evolution is fascinating and credible. His writing style is perhaps not the greatest, and the travelogue is not my favourite vehicle for presenting scientific theory, but for all that I enjoyed the book greatly.
\\ddc\user files\carol\books\reviews\calvin, william h - a brain for all seasons.doc
I still want to do a project with a visual map of the world evolving over time, with continents, climate information and micro events that are documented all available at the click of a mouse.
I did even go as far as to start collecting data. If time permits I will do more.
M. Calvin earns his living as an academic, and presents a strong case for his theories, some of which are very perceptive and simple. In the end however I think he is somewhat arrogant, and possibly dangerous with his ideas for reducing the damage caused by global warming. His simplistic interventionist solutions could only to well appeal to someone like George W. Bush and lead to an ecological disaster as a half thought through version is poorly implemented and executed.
I won’t spoil the fun by telling you what they are, read the book, learn on the way, and to retain your sense of modesty, go and visit a cave with old stalactites with a geologist, and have them run through the history of the world and climate as told by the minerals deposited by the drops of water.
March 13, 2019
I really like Calvin as a writer. He comes across as humble and personable which makes it much easier to read complex material.
He does a great job conveying important information in this book about human evolution and how that was shaped - is shaped - and May continue to be shaped, by climate change.
As he tends to do, he inserts important ethical messages and a call to action that cannot be ignored.
He does a great job conveying important information in this book about human evolution and how that was shaped - is shaped - and May continue to be shaped, by climate change.
As he tends to do, he inserts important ethical messages and a call to action that cannot be ignored.
November 13, 2018
I really had a lot of high hopes for this book but frankly I found it rather agonizing to read which I think has a lot to do with the authors writing style. Don't get me wrong, some parts are incredibly interesting when you hack through the confusion. When he starts talking about heating and cooling events it just turns into a gobbledygook of date references that, in my opinion, lack coherence.
January 21, 2024
Calvin provides an insightful look at how climate changes impacted the evolution of humankind and how current climate changes may be preventable.
November 16, 2009
A really great look at how, historically, climate change has affected human evolution. Gives a good background for both evolution and climate change. Makes predictions for the future without being overly alarmist. He is also a proponent of the "aquatic-ape" theory of evoultion, it makes me happy to see this idea taking root in scientific explantions of human evolution.
July 22, 2011
A unique perspective on evolution and brain development, with the rapid changes in weather being a driver. This was a good primer on historical weather patterns/change and indicates we could be in for some very tough times, irrespective of our CO2 emissions. Sort of a funky writing style (collection of emails as he traveled the globe) or I would have rated it higher.
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August 28, 2008humans , chimpanzees and bonobos are descended from a common ancestor that lived in africa six million years ago . in that time , a number of fast and violent climactic changes provided the context and impetus for human evolution
October 8, 2015
the book started off about evolution and its relation to climate change and that I found interesting. towards the end the author explains the ocean currents and what brings about the ice age, which is also interesting but it just dragged. I was bored reading the last chapters.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews