Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5
Average rating: 5.0 of 5
Editorial Review:
One of the world's leading neuroscientists explores how best to understand the human condition by examining the biological, psychological, and highly social nature of our species within the social context of our lives.
What happened along the evolutionary trail that made humans so unique? In his widely accessible style, Michael Gazzaniga looks to a broad range of studies to pinpoint the change that made us thinking, sentient humans, different from our predecessors.
Neuroscience has been fixated on the life of the psychological self for the past fifty years, focusing on the brain systems underlying language, memory, emotion, and perception. What it has not done is consider the stark reality that most of the time we humans are thinking about social processes, comparing ourselves to and estimating the intentions of others. In Human, Gazzaniga explores a number of related issues, including what makes human brains unique, the importance of language and art in defining the human condition, the nature of human consciousness, and even artificial intelligence.
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 69
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
Editorial Review:
Oliver Sacks on Your Inner Fish Since the 1970 publication of Migraine, neurologist Oliver Sacks's unusual and fascinating case histories of "differently brained" people and phenomena--a surgeon with Tourette's syndrome, a community of people born totally colorblind, musical hallucinations, to name a few--have been marked by extraordinary compassion and humanity, focusing on the patient as much as the condition. His books include The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Awakenings (which inspired the Oscar-nominated film), and 2007's Musicophilia. He lives in New York City, where he is Professor of Clinical Neurology at Columbia University.
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 125
Average rating: 4.0 of 5
Maybe 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
The book presents an interesting premise that humans will evolve from purely biological to biological/technological and ultimately to technological beings. Whether or not Kurzweil has gotten the time frame right is the question. If he is right, humans are only 20 to 30 years from this singularity. A most thought provoking read.
Sure, Ray, I'll take your word for it... 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
Futurists are seductive and so are their fantastical predictions, even when one has absolutely no idea exactly how to evaluate the soundness of their claims. Kurzweil tries with all his might to answer this criticism of the genre but fails nonetheless, offering mound upon mound of at best incomplete graphs that bury his theses behind the madness of immeasurable technological erudition, so (alas) the reader is probably left to do one of two things: ignorantly object or ignorantly serve. It's good fun, much like a fireside game of "what if" at summer camp, and Bill Gates's official endorsement makes it feel populist enough to recommend to your inquisitive friends.
Editorial Review:
For over three decades, Ray Kurzweil has been one of the most respected and provocative advocates of the role of technology in our future. In his classic The Age of Spiritual Machines, he argued that computers would soon rival the full range of human intelligence at its best. Now he examines the next step in this inexorable evolutionary process: the union of human and machine, in which the knowledge and skills embedded in our brains will be combined with the vastly greater capacity, speed, and knowledge-sharing ability of our creations.
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 95
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
Editorial Review:
Jared Diamond states the theme of his book up-front: "How the human species changed, within a short time, from just another species of big mammal to a world conqueror; and how we acquired the capacity to reverse all that progress overnight." The Third Chimpanzee is, in many ways, a prequel to Diamond's prize-winning Guns, Germs, and Steel. While Guns examines "the fates of human societies," this work surveys the longer sweep of human evolution, from our origin as just another chimpanzee a few million years ago. Diamond writes:
It's obvious that humans are unlike all animals. It's also obvious that we're a species of big mammal down to the minutest details of our anatomy and our molecules. That contradiction is the most fascinating feature of the human species.
The chapters in The Third Chimpanzee on the oddities of human reproductive biology were later expanded in Why Is Sex Fun? Here, they're linked to Diamond's views of human psychology and history.
Diamond is officially a physiologist at UCLA medical school, but he's also one of the best birdwatchers in the world. The current scientific consensus that "primitive" humans created ecological catastrophes in the Pacific islands, Australia, and the New World owes a great deal to his fieldwork and insight. In Diamond's view, the current global ecological crisis isn't due to modern technology per se, but to basic weaknesses in human nature. But, he says, "I'm cautiously optimistic. If we will learn from our past that I have traced, our own future may yet prove brighter than that of the other two chimpanzees." --Mary Ellen Curtin
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 32
Average rating: 4.0 of 5
Editorial Review:
A leading scientist examines the battle between evolution and Intelligent Design in America
At the dawn of the twenty- first century, the debate over Darwins theory of evolution is nearly as contentious as it was in the notorious Scopes trial a century ago. Today, however, people who believe that evolution is only a theory have put their hopes in a concept known as Intelligent Design.
In Only a Theory, Kenneth Miller dissects the claims of the ID movement in the same incisive style that marked his testimony as an expert witness in Pennsylvanias landmark 2005 Dover evolution trial.
Unlike other books on the subject, Only a Theorys critique of ID goes far beyond the scientific claims of the movement. To Miller, Americas soulits place as the worlds leading scientific nationis at risk because of this struggle. As he explains, the tactics of this new assault on science mimic earlier efforts of the academic left to remake science as a relativistic, culturally determined enterprise, rather than a rational search for truth about the natural world. Such marginalization, he argues, would effectively destroy American science.
Despite this analysis, Miller refuses to play the role of pessimist. He sees this as a teachable opportunity, a moment at which public understanding and support for science can be redeemed, and offers nothing less than a prescription for how America can save its scientific soul.
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 59
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
Editorial Review:
If you haven't seen the film version of Inherit the Wind, you might have read it in high school. And even people who have never heard of either the movie or the play probably know something about the events that inspired them: The 1925 Scopes "monkey trial," during which Darwin's theory of evolution was essentially put on trial before the nation. Inherit the Wind paints a romantic picture of John Scopes as a principled biology teacher driven to present scientific theory to his students, even in the teeth of a Tennessee state law prohibiting the teaching of anything other than creationism. The truth, it turns out, was something quite different. In his fascinating history of the Scopes trial, Summer for the Gods, Edward J. Larson makes it abundantly clear that Truth and the Purity of Science had very little to do with the Scopes case. Tennessee had passed a law prohibiting the teaching of evolution, and the American Civil Liberties Union responded by advertising statewide for a high-school teacher willing to defy the law. Communities all across Tennessee saw an opportunity to put themselves on the map by hosting such a controversial trial, but it was the town of Dayton that came up with a sacrificial victim: John Scopes, a man who knew little about evolution and wasn't even the class's regular teacher. Chosen by the city fathers, Scopes obligingly broke the law and was carted off to jail to await trial.
What happened next was a bizarre mix of theatrics and law, enacted by William Jennings Bryan for the prosecution and Clarence Darrow for the defense. Though Darrow lost the trial, he made his point--and his career--by calling Bryan, a noted Bible expert, as a witness for the defense. Summer for the Gods is a remarkable retelling of the trial and the events leading up to it, proof positive that truth is stranger than science.
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 78
Average rating: 4.0 of 5
Riveting 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.
This fascinating book would have been impossible to write prior to the time that the human genome was mapped. That single accomplishment has given rise to various sub-specialties of science, such as evolutionary biology and genetic anthropology, which in turn are helping scientists make connections among disciplines that, taken together, reveal startling truths about we humans, both ancient and modern.
Before the Dawn offers compelling accounts of how we came to be as a species, including the human types who came before us and, tantalizingly, the types who may come after us. At points, this nonfiction book actually becomes a page-turner, such as when Wade discusses the ingenious ways that scientists have learned to trace human DNA back in time to reveal in which parts of the world today's human populations evolved, as well as the likely migration paths that our ancient forebears took as they spread out from Africa to populate the world.
One of the most interesting sections of the book is the discussion of the ways in which natural selection and a companion evolutionary process called genetic drift have worked together over the millennia to differentiate a quite small "ancestral population" of humans (about 200) into what Wade calls the "five continental races" of the world. He argues convincingly that there really are biological differences among groups of humans, that these differences are adaptations to the environment and that they are directly related to the area of the world to which one's ancestors migrated when humans originally came out of Africa.
Wade acknowledges that in taking about racial differences among humans he is moving dangerously close to discredited theories of eugenics and he takes pains to explain the science behind the new knowledge he presents. He offers several intriguing examples of these differences, such as the ability of some adults to digest lactose, that are directly linked to the type of environment in which a population evolved.
Bottom line: Before the Dawn is a great read for anyone who is interested in human origins and who wants to know something about the mapping of the human genome, which may be the greatest scientific achievement of our time.
Editorial Review:
Nicholas Wades articles are a major reason why the science section has become the most popular, nationwide, in the New York Times. In his groundbreaking Before the Dawn, Wade reveals humanitys origins as never beforea journey made possible only recently by genetic science, whose incredible findings have answered such questions as: What was the first human language like? How large were the first societies, and how warlike were they? When did our ancestors first leave Africa, and by what route did they leave? By eloquently solving these and numerous other mysteries, Wade offers nothing less than a uniquely complete retelling of a story that began 500 centuries ago.
The author of the life-changing bestseller Deep Survival once again brings us revelations about ourselves from the cutting edge of science.
Laurence Gonzales shows how modern society has made us lazy and susceptible to previously unknown threats. "Curiosity, awareness, attention," he writes. "Those are the tools of our everyday survival...we all must be scientists at heart or be victims of forces that we don't understand."
Gonzales turns his talent for gripping narrative, knowledge of the way our minds and bodies work, and bottomless curiosity about the world to the topic of how we can best use the lessons of our evolutionary history to overcome the hazards of everyday life. He finds that natural laws profoundly affect our actions, and he reveals the hidden causes and costs of our behavior, whether as individuals or as a species whose decisions may be leading to darker times. Whether you are climbing a mountain or the corporate ladder, Everyday Survival will change the way you view your choices in our complex, dangerous, and quickly changing world.
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 124
Average rating: 4.0 of 5
The science was good, the theology only ok 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
Ken Miller is famous for a couple of things, one being the nearly iconic video against intelligent design on youtube [...]. He has also written a biology textbook that is used in many high school biology classes in the US. He is an excellent speaker and as it turns out, is an excellent writer too.
Something else that Miller is unusual for is being a practicing Christian AND a biologists who supports evolution. I'm sure there are lots of other Christian evolutionists out there, but not many are as eloquent or as willing to speak out as Miller is.
To the contents of the book:
The first half of the book are direct discussions of creationist and intelligent design arguments and step by step addressing of each of them. He explains things like how the age of the earth is calculated, how we know what we know about the evolution of species and gives real world examples of evolution in action. They are all very well described in a clear language and in a step by step way that any interested person can understand.
The second half of the book is about Miller's theology, that is, where does God fit into all of this? How does he reconcile his knowledge of the world with his belief in God? I found that in this part of the book, you can tell that he departs from his real expertise to something that is less firm in his mind. He dabbles in free will and quantum physics (calling us quantum amplifiers, which we are), but seems to misunderstand parts of it. He also seems to be going out of his way to address all the objections that may arise, but seems to do it in an apologetic, and quite weak manner.
The best point in the theology section was that God often hid in the shadows, i.e. people justified the belief in God by looking at gaps in our knowledge and putting God there. Miller claimed, and this is why I feel good about people like Ken Miller, that God exists in the knowledge that we discover with our science and our research, that God doesn't hide in the shadows and gaps at all.
This is a healthy way forward. I would say that any religion embracing knowledge and truth is a healthy one. I would say that any religion adopting Miller's idea that God is in the knowledge and the search, would probably be a step ahead of most religions today.
Editorial Review:
From a leading authority on the evolution debates comes this critically acclaimed investigation into one of the most controversial topics of our times
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 25
Average rating: 4.0 of 5
Wells coats his science in political correctness 3 out of 5 stars.
8 of 9 people found this review helpful.
While his books are interesting, one thing that becomes abundantly clear to anyone with a working knowledge of ancestral genetics is that Wells goes out of his way to preach "we are all the same" and "race is meaningless". While both statements have an element of truth to them, they don't tell the whole story. Good scientific writers don't try to push a message. Rather, they lay the facts out and allow the reader to do with it what they will. There are very real, empirical genetic differences between ethnic groups--an indisputable fact embraced by serious medical geneticists. This may make some people uncomfortable and provide ammunition for racial bigotry, but playing a shell game with facts does a disservice to science and humanity.
Editorial Review:
Travel backward through time from today's scattered billions to the handful of early humans who lived in Africa 60,000 years ago and are ancestors to us all.
In Deep Ancestry, scientist and National Geographic explorer Spencer Wells shows how tiny genetic changes add up over time into a fascinating story. Using scores of real-life examples, helpful analogies, and detailed diagrams and illustrations, he explains exactly how each and every individual's DNA contributes another piece to the jigsaw puzzle of human history. The book takes readers inside the Genographic Project—the landmark study now assembling the world's largest collection of DNA samples and employing the latest in testing technology and computer analysis to examine hundreds of thousand of genetic profiles from all over the globe—and invites us all to take part.
Your Inner Fish is my favorite sort of book--an intelligent, exhilarating, and compelling scientific adventure story, one which will change forever how you understand what it means to be human. The field of evolutionary biology is just beginning an exciting new age of discovery, and Neil Shubin's research expeditions around the world have redefined the way we now look at the origins of mammals, frogs, crocodiles, tetrapods, and sarcopterygian fish--and thus the way we look at the descent of humankind. One of Shubin's groundbreaking discoveries, only a year and a half ago, was the unearthing of a fish with elbows and a neck, a long-sought evolutionary "missing link" between creatures of the sea and land-dwellers. My own mother was a surgeon and a comparative anatomist, and she drummed it into me, and into all of her students, that our own anatomy is unintelligible without a knowledge of its evolutionary origins and precursors. The human body becomes infinitely fascinating with such knowledge, which Shubin provides here with grace and clarity. Your Inner Fish shows us how, like the fish with elbows, we carry the whole history of evolution within our own bodies, and how the human genome links us with the rest of life on earth. Shubin is not only a distinguished scientist, but a wonderfully lucid and elegant writer; he is an irrepressibly enthusiastic teacher whose humor and intelligence and spellbinding narrative make this book an absolute delight. Your Inner Fish is not only a great read; it marks the debut of a science writer of the first rank. (Photo © Elena Seibert) A Note from Author Neil Shubin This book grew out of an extraordinary circumstance in my life. On account of faculty departures, I ended up directing the human anatomy course at the University of Chicago medical school. Anatomy is the course during which nervous first-year medical students dissect human cadavers while learning the names and organization of most of the organs, holes, nerves, and vessels in the body. This is their grand entrance to the world of medicine, a formative experience on their path to becoming physicians. At first glance, you couldn't have imagined a worse candidate for the job of training the next generation of doctors: I'm a fish paleontologist. It turns out that being a paleontologist is a huge advantage in teaching human anatomy. Why? The best roadmaps to human bodies lie in the bodies of other animals. The simplest way to teach students the nerves in the human head is to show them the state of affairs in sharks. The easiest roadmap to their limbs lies in fish. Reptiles are a real help with the structure of the brain. The reason is that the bodies of these creatures are simpler versions of ours. During the summer of my second year leading the course, working in the Arctic, my colleagues and I discovered fossil fish that gave us powerful new insights into the invasion of land by fish over 375 million years ago. That discovery and my foray into teaching human anatomy led me to a profound connection. That connection became this book. 
