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A review by h4wke
The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence by Carl Sagan
3.0
A fascinating book that hasn't aged as well as I would have hoped.
Carl Sagan was a legend, he managed to explain complicated subjects with such simplicity and passion that you can't help but be interested. The Demon-Haunted World (also by Sagan) is still my favourite non-fiction book of all time.
Dragons of Eden is a collection of recently learned facts by Sagan himself, and his speculations on said facts. The main problem I have is that a lot of the 'facts' are outdated. The triune brain is used as a foundation for a lot of his ideas, and to his credit they're intelligent, interesting and hopeful. But since the foundation is dilapidated at this point—an outdated, inaccurate notion to most neurologists of the modern day—a lot of it is unfortunately flawed.
Sagan does precede the book with warnings that he is not an expert on a lot of the subjects he talks about. It seems like he was very excited about a lot of this recently acquired information from the experts of the time, and couldn't help but write a book about it. I don't blame him.
Having said all that, there are chapters that have aged very well. When talking about ancient philosophy, or how humanity locks away animals that still have so much evolutionary potential, the book is brilliant. And overall it reads very, very well. The man knew how to write.
If anything, the shortcomings of Dragons of Eden make me think about the science books I've read from the last decade. How much foundational knowledge will be outdated? It also is a warning that I can't just read about one subject, then go through the rest of my life thinking the consensus won't change. This may be common sense to some, and of course I've thought about it before, but it's come to the forefront of my vision now, and cannot be ignored.
I still do think this book is worth reading, and of merit. Just take the speculations on the brain with a handful of salt.
Carl Sagan was a legend, he managed to explain complicated subjects with such simplicity and passion that you can't help but be interested. The Demon-Haunted World (also by Sagan) is still my favourite non-fiction book of all time.
Dragons of Eden is a collection of recently learned facts by Sagan himself, and his speculations on said facts. The main problem I have is that a lot of the 'facts' are outdated. The triune brain is used as a foundation for a lot of his ideas, and to his credit they're intelligent, interesting and hopeful. But since the foundation is dilapidated at this point—an outdated, inaccurate notion to most neurologists of the modern day—a lot of it is unfortunately flawed.
Sagan does precede the book with warnings that he is not an expert on a lot of the subjects he talks about. It seems like he was very excited about a lot of this recently acquired information from the experts of the time, and couldn't help but write a book about it. I don't blame him.
Having said all that, there are chapters that have aged very well. When talking about ancient philosophy, or how humanity locks away animals that still have so much evolutionary potential, the book is brilliant. And overall it reads very, very well. The man knew how to write.
If anything, the shortcomings of Dragons of Eden make me think about the science books I've read from the last decade. How much foundational knowledge will be outdated? It also is a warning that I can't just read about one subject, then go through the rest of my life thinking the consensus won't change. This may be common sense to some, and of course I've thought about it before, but it's come to the forefront of my vision now, and cannot be ignored.
I still do think this book is worth reading, and of merit. Just take the speculations on the brain with a handful of salt.