The brain
Subtitle: big bangs, behaviors, and beliefs
By: Rob DeSalle and Ian Tattersall ; illustrated by Patricia J. Wynne
Contributors: Tattersall, Ian
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 2012
Place of publication: New Haven
Language: eng
Number of pages: 354
ISBN-13: 9780300175226
Subjects: Cognition; Evolution; Neurophysiology; Brain
Description: After several million years of jostling for ecological space, only one survivor from a host of hominid species remains standing: us. Human beings are extraordinary creatures, and it is the unprecedented human brain that makes them so. In this book the authors present a step-by-step account of the evolution of the brain and nervous system. Tapping the very latest findings in evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and molecular biology, the authors explain how the cognitive gulf that separates us from all other living creatures could have occurred. They discuss the development and uniqueness of human consciousness, how human and nonhuman brains work, the roles of different nerve cells, the importance of memory and language in brain functions, and much more. Our brains, they conclude, are the product of a lengthy and supremely untidy history, an evolutionary process of many zigs and zags, that has accidentally resulted in a splendidly eccentric and creative product.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.