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Evolving Brains Hardcover – 15 January 1999

by John Allman (Author)

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Hardcover, 15 January 1999

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Neurophysiologist John Allman draws on the wealth of new findings in molecular genetics and paleoanthropology to trace the history of brain evolution from the simplest of animals to human beings. In doing so, he explores the forces and mechanisms that have influenced evolutionary development, including climatic change, the energy requirements of large brains and the invention of the extended family in early humans.

Print length

256 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Scientific American Library
Publication date

15 January 1999
Dimensions

22.23 x 1.91 x 25.4 cm
ISBN-10

0716750767
ISBN-13

978-0716750765
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scientific American Library (15 January 1999)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0716750767
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0716750765
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 22.23 x 1.91 x 25.4 cm

Customer reviews:
9 ratings

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Lolyroly

I love this book

Reviewed in Canada on 26 February 2017

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I love this book...I ordered it because I needed it for a university course and I enjoyed it very much!

Klaus Stiefel

Great synthesis

Reviewed in the United States on 18 October 2005

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A well written and illustrated book full of interesting thoughts about the evolution of brains leading up to our own.

The level of writing is about that of a review paper. Although Allman covers a lot of subjects, from genetics, developmental biology, palaeontology to primate vision, all concepts are well explained and illustrated and the book makes good reading for a research biologist as well as for an interested layman.

Allman started his career as an anthropologist, which gives him a different perspective than the average neuroscientist's. He not only describes the workings of the nervous systems and behaviors of different animals, but puts them into perspective with their evolutionary roots and their ecological niche. All these insights are not hand-waving speculation, but well supported by comparative studies.

Another strong point of this book is how Allman guides the reader trough the evolutionary lineage leading from amphibians to reptiles, mammal like reptiles, mammals, primates to ourselves. At every branch point he points out the critical innovations, the evolutionary pressures that most likely lead to these innovations and the trade offs made. A key question he addresses is, "why isn't every animal equipped with a big brain?". It is our own experience, both phylogenetically as well as everyday life, that a big brain, and the resulting high level of intelligence, is an advantage. Allman points out the high cost of rearing big-brained young and of maintaining such an energetically expensive organ.

If you are interested in how animals use their brains to deal with ever-changing environments and why our brain evolved to be so much more powerful than any other species', then this book is for you.

4 people found this helpful

Meir Ben David

Very Straight to the Point, Understandable Book

Reviewed in the United States on 9 October 2006

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This book proceeds from molecules in bacteria with brain-like functions all the way to the very complex brains of primates. It explains the history of how the brains evolved in very understandable terms using pictures and graphs. It shows how various innovations in the nervous system created both new possibilities that could be explored by future animals as well as cutting other possibilities off. It talks about how having a complex brain is related to worm-bloodedness. In short, read and find out.

One person found this helpful

Carlos V

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on 29 August 2015

Verified Purchase

An interesting book for general public about the evolution of brain and the cenytal nervous system

One person found this helpful

Lily Johnson-Ulrich

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on 2 March 2015

Verified Purchase

Wonderful easy read that clearly outlines the evolution of the brain from early mammals to present-day humans.

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Evolving Brains Hardcover – 15 January 1999

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