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fake_xylophone's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
daed's review against another edition
3.0
Aunque en términos generales es un buen libro, a medida que avanza se va alejando de su objetivo: la evolución del cerebro y la inteligencia para tratar temas apenas relacionados (como el aborto, programas y juegos de computadores, vida extraterrestre, entre otros) .
janinevduijn's review against another edition
3.0
Some interesting theories, but unfortunately some of the science has become dated. I also felt the book was arranged somewhat haphazardly.
_ash0_'s review against another edition
5.0
"Chimpanzees can abstract. Like other mammals, they are capable of strong emotions.
Why, exactly, all over the civilized world, in virtually every major city, are apes in prison?"
"Humans have systematically exterminated those other primates who displayed signs of intelligence."
Carl Sagan is the best science teacher one can ever get. Even though I am not a biology major, I was able to enjoy this book. A great book where he talks about EVERYTHING that you ever wanted to know about your brain. Probably one of the best non-fictions I have ever read.
Some info that made me love this book:
-> how much info do our genes carry
-> evolution of human brain
-> various components of human brain
-> right and left hemisphere of brains
-> what exactly is intuitiveness
-> why do humans and other mammals sleep
-> difference between dream sleep and dreamless sleep
-> REM sleep
-> what do our dreams mean
-> why do some people sleep for longer time while some sleep for lesser time
-> extraterrestrial intelligence
-> what causes some of the mental illnesses
-> why animals cannot talk
-> Reptiles vs Mammals
Pulitzer Prize Winner
Why, exactly, all over the civilized world, in virtually every major city, are apes in prison?"
"Humans have systematically exterminated those other primates who displayed signs of intelligence."
Carl Sagan is the best science teacher one can ever get. Even though I am not a biology major, I was able to enjoy this book. A great book where he talks about EVERYTHING that you ever wanted to know about your brain. Probably one of the best non-fictions I have ever read.
Some info that made me love this book:
-> how much info do our genes carry
-> evolution of human brain
-> various components of human brain
-> right and left hemisphere of brains
-> what exactly is intuitiveness
-> why do humans and other mammals sleep
-> difference between dream sleep and dreamless sleep
-> REM sleep
-> what do our dreams mean
-> why do some people sleep for longer time while some sleep for lesser time
-> extraterrestrial intelligence
-> what causes some of the mental illnesses
-> why animals cannot talk
-> Reptiles vs Mammals
Pulitzer Prize Winner
kevin_shepherd's review against another edition
3.0
1977 - As much as I miss the genius that was Carl Sagan, I am not above a little good natured razzing of the era in which this book was written.
“There is a popular game, sometimes called Pong, which simulates on a television screen a perfectly elastic ball bouncing between two surfaces. Each player is given a dial that permits him to intercept the ball with a movable “racket.” Points are scored if the motion of the ball is not intercepted by the racket. The game is very interesting.” (pg 214)
Those of you old enough to remember Pong should take a few moments to reminisce about the technology of 1977 before moving along to the science of 1977.
“A great deal of what we consider important about the last few tens of millions of years of Earth’s history seems to hinge on the extinction of the dinosaurs. There are literally dozens of scientific hypotheses that attempt to explain this event, which appears to have been remarkably rapid and thorough for both land and water forms. All the explanations proposed seem to be only partly satisfactory. They range from massive climatic change to mammalian predation to the extinction of a plant with apparent laxative properties, in which case the dinosaurs died of constipation.” (pg 136)
It wasn’t until round about 1980 that the Alvarez hypothesis (an asteroid collision killed the dinosaurs) was proposed. To be fair, I’m certain that Sagan’s comments on constipation extinction were anecdotal and tongue-in-cheek.
“The most recent dinosaur fossil is dated at about sixty million years ago. The family of man (but not the genus Homo) is some tens of millions of years old. Could there have been man-like creatures who actually encountered Tyrannosaurus rex?” (pg 142)
The answer to that question, based on the preponderance of the evidence, is a big, huge, fucking NO. What Sagan is doing here, and I am admittedly quoting him somewhat out of context, is pondering the possible origins of the cross cultural archetype of the dragon. To break this down, the oldest known Australopiths (man-like but not the genus Homo) date to roughly 3.85 million years ago. The credible evidence for dinosaurs peters out at about 65 million years ago. That’s a gap of approximately 61 million years. That’s 61 followed by six zeros. The only evidence of a primate-like mammal that MIGHT have been contemporaneous with T-Rex is “Teilhardina,” and it was much more mouse-like than man-like.
Like all great thinkers, Sagan’s science and philosophy evolved over time and, in spite of the evidence I’ve presented here, there is more right with The Dragons of Eden than there is wrong. Time may have diminished its fire, but it hasn’t extinguished its spirit.
“Curiosity and the urge to solve problems are the emotional hallmarks of our species; and the most characteristically human activities are mathematics, science, technology, music and the arts - a somewhat broader range of subjects than is usually included under the “humanities.” Indeed, in its common usage this very word seems to reflect a peculiar narrowness of vision about what is human. Mathematics is as much a “humanity” as poetry.” (pg 77)
“There is a popular game, sometimes called Pong, which simulates on a television screen a perfectly elastic ball bouncing between two surfaces. Each player is given a dial that permits him to intercept the ball with a movable “racket.” Points are scored if the motion of the ball is not intercepted by the racket. The game is very interesting.” (pg 214)
Those of you old enough to remember Pong should take a few moments to reminisce about the technology of 1977 before moving along to the science of 1977.
“A great deal of what we consider important about the last few tens of millions of years of Earth’s history seems to hinge on the extinction of the dinosaurs. There are literally dozens of scientific hypotheses that attempt to explain this event, which appears to have been remarkably rapid and thorough for both land and water forms. All the explanations proposed seem to be only partly satisfactory. They range from massive climatic change to mammalian predation to the extinction of a plant with apparent laxative properties, in which case the dinosaurs died of constipation.” (pg 136)
It wasn’t until round about 1980 that the Alvarez hypothesis (an asteroid collision killed the dinosaurs) was proposed. To be fair, I’m certain that Sagan’s comments on constipation extinction were anecdotal and tongue-in-cheek.
“The most recent dinosaur fossil is dated at about sixty million years ago. The family of man (but not the genus Homo) is some tens of millions of years old. Could there have been man-like creatures who actually encountered Tyrannosaurus rex?” (pg 142)
The answer to that question, based on the preponderance of the evidence, is a big, huge, fucking NO. What Sagan is doing here, and I am admittedly quoting him somewhat out of context, is pondering the possible origins of the cross cultural archetype of the dragon. To break this down, the oldest known Australopiths (man-like but not the genus Homo) date to roughly 3.85 million years ago. The credible evidence for dinosaurs peters out at about 65 million years ago. That’s a gap of approximately 61 million years. That’s 61 followed by six zeros. The only evidence of a primate-like mammal that MIGHT have been contemporaneous with T-Rex is “Teilhardina,” and it was much more mouse-like than man-like.
Like all great thinkers, Sagan’s science and philosophy evolved over time and, in spite of the evidence I’ve presented here, there is more right with The Dragons of Eden than there is wrong. Time may have diminished its fire, but it hasn’t extinguished its spirit.
“Curiosity and the urge to solve problems are the emotional hallmarks of our species; and the most characteristically human activities are mathematics, science, technology, music and the arts - a somewhat broader range of subjects than is usually included under the “humanities.” Indeed, in its common usage this very word seems to reflect a peculiar narrowness of vision about what is human. Mathematics is as much a “humanity” as poetry.” (pg 77)