The Genetic Code and the Origin of Life (Molecular Biology Intelligence Unit (Unnumbered).)

Book Description

The Genetic Code and the Origin of Life celebrates the 50 ^th anniversary of the discovery of the double helix. This book combines two complementary approaches to address the question of the development of the Genetic Code. The first chapters provide general perspectives into the most important features of the evolution of life and the code. The rest of the chapters provide detailed analyses on the features and evolution of independent components of the code. Thus the book combines a general overview with detailed descriptions. This volume provides a general reference for the academic audience interested in evolution and, simultaneously, consolidates our most detailed knowledge on the biological characteristics of the components of the genetic code.

The Origin and Evolution of Intelligence

Average customer rating:

The Origin and Evolution of Intelligence

Manufacturer: Jones & Bartlett Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Cognitive | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Mental Health | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Evolution | Science | Subjects | Books

Organic | Evolution | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Anatomy | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Behavioral Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Physiology | Basic Science | Medicine | Subjects | Books

General | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Health Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Science Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 0763703656

Book Description

What is intelligence? From where did it come? Will the human brain grow and adapt to the ever-changing world? These and many other questions are addressed in The Origin and Evolution of Intelligence. This volume is composed of a series of articles presented on the origin and evolution of intelligence in March 1995 at the Eighth Annual Symposium of the UCLA Center for the Study of the Origin and Evolution of Life (CSEOL). The six authors of the contributions to this volume discuss in detail an enormous span of invertebrate and vertebrate life forms and wrestle with a vast array of problems ranging from direction finding in ants and birds to sociopolitical communication in monkeys, symbol manipulation in apes, and language use in humans. All these phenomena may be grouped under the general term intelligence, the unifying theme of the volume.

Origin of Mind: Evolution of Brain, Cognition, and General Intelligence

Average customer rating:

Thoughtful, complex text with significant philosophical implications
Jacket Cover Blubs
The Definitive Work on the Brain As WeKnow It

Origin of Mind: Evolution of Brain, Cognition, and General Intelligence
David C. Geary
Manufacturer: American Psychological Association (APA)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Neuropsychology | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Physiological Aspects | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Cognitive | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Mental Health | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Cognitive Psychology | Behavioral Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Behavioral Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Health Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Medicine | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Professional | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Science | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1591471818

Customer Reviews:

Thoughtful, complex text with significant philosophical implications.......2006-03-28

This is an thoughtful, erudite and complex book weaving together various strands of research in evolution, neural organisation, cognition and mind together. Every page is littered with references, not carelessly I hasten to add. The author's main thesis, as i understand it, is that the mind essentially 'runs' simulations, and this is an evolution endowmnet arising from ontogenetic requirements to exercise control of behaviour and the environment. Anyone locked into folk psychology, especially Stich's simualtion theory, will find much to ponder here. Geary holds that folk psychology has many 'anchors' that orient the human organism towards fundamental activities to sustain itself, e.g. social cues. These anchors are shaped in development under evolutionary imperatives. Much of the book is devoted to teasing out in detail the framework that allows this to occur. The notion of a fluid intelligence is introduced to debnk the g factor (as too limitinf a construct) and explain adaptive behaviours. Each chapter deserves a review by itself. Overall, the book is tremendously impressive and detailed however, it still faces to problem of splicing folk psychological concepts with neuroscientific data, and it is here that most critics will focus there attention. Geary has assemled a welther of piece sof evidence and argumentation to make this work, but eliminativtists will not be satisfied. Having read this book quickly, I can state baldly that it is the first book in years that I will reread. Lots of food for thought.

Jacket Cover Blubs.......2004-12-10

People often complain that modern psychology is a ragbag of phenomena without a theory to make sense of it all. The Origin of Mind makes that complaint obsolete, because in it David Geary has given us a coherent and satisfying framework for the sciences of mind. It combines an impressive coverage of the latest literature with hard thinking about how to synthesize topics like evolutionary psychology, neural plasticity, human development, and intelligence testing. The Origin of Mind is invaluable both as a reference work and as a road map for the sprawling territory covered by modern psychology and neighboring sciences.

-Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University; author of How the Mind Works and The Blank Slate

Human nature is one of natural selection's most stunning feats. David Geary takes seriously the implications of this for psychology-that it must be an evolutionary discipline. He sets out the theories with admirable clarity and deals systematically with the wealth of multidisciplinary evidence. This book pioneers a Darwinian synthesis, pulling together the disparate strands that currently criss-cross the study of the human mind. Here lies the future of psychology. So now read on.

-Helena Cronin, Professor, The London School of Economic; author of The Ant and the Peacock: Altruism and Sexual Selection from Darwin to Today.

In his book, The Origin of Mind: Evolution of Brain, Cognition, and General Intelligence, David Geary shows that he is indeed a scholar for the 21st century, providing a truly interdisciplinary synthesis on a topic of both great theoretical and practical importance: human intelligence. He presents clearly research from neuroscience, behavior genetics, and cognitive science (among others) and integrates them in an evolutionary framework to yield a comprehensive theory of the human mind. This book will be must-reading for anyone interested in intelligence, cognition, or human evolution.

-David F. Bjorklund, Professor, Department of Psychology, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, F; coauthor of The Origins of Human Nature: Evolutionary Developmental Psychology

The Definitive Work on the Brain As WeKnow It.......2004-11-16

The brain has long been the most mysterious of the organs. Part of the problem has been that the brain can be viewed in so many different ways. The same organ can think of Einstein's Theory of Relativity in one instant and be smiling and talking baby talk to an infant the next.

In this book Dr. Geary brings together research from neuroscience, behavior genetics, and cognitive science along with the behavioral sciences such as primatology, anthropology, and sociology to present an integrated view of the brain as we know it today.

The chapter "General Intelligence in Modern Society" is brilliant in it's explanation of IQ testing and its relationship with society. It both confirms, explains, and rejects the findings in the best seller "The Bell Curve" from 1994. "The IQ test," Dr. Geary says, "was designed to predict educational outcomes." And in this it works very well - in one study 20% of the people in the 99th percentile had Ph.D. degrees. He then discusses other aspects such as motivation, family, social presures and more as reasons for achievement in education, work and income. There's far too much to cover in a short review like this one.

This is not a book that has been dumbed down for the general reader. It is a definitive tome on the state of the understanding of the brain as it exists today. It is fascinating reading, but not something that you're going to race through in an afternoon.

Origins of the Modern Mind: Three Stages in the Evolution of Culture and Cognition

Average customer rating:

A brand new idea about human origins
this book is out of date
new horizons for any cognitive science reader
A really swell read....
Earnest, Learned and Valiant Effort

Origins of the Modern Mind: Three Stages in the Evolution of Culture and Cognition
Merlin Donald
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Cognitive | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Evolution | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Behavioral Psychology | Behavioral Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Cognitive Psychology | Behavioral Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Behavioral Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Computer Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Computers & Internet | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Medicine | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Professional | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Science | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0674644840

Customer Reviews:

A brand new idea about human origins.......2006-06-18

This is a book that will forever change your view of what it means to be a human being. It is a work of enormous scope, from the minutiae of neurophysiology to archaeology and anthropology to the curriculum of mediaeval schools and modern systems theory, and everywhere closely researched with evidence weighed with care and insight.
The argument is broadly this: our evolutionary cousins, the apes, have brains which enable them to represent to themselves and remember "episodes" or events, something which their evolutionary predecessors either do not have or have only in a limited form.
Homo erectus, the evolutionary link between us and the apes, extended this ability to perceive events, into "mimesis", a capacity to reproduce events they have perceived by use of their own body. Donald shows how this ability, which involves no modifications of the body and relatively modest changes in the brain, allows for the voluntary representation and communication of events of the past and emotions not actually felt concerning things not actually present, a foundation for the later development of symbolic action. Homo erectus dominated the hominid world for a million years, adapting themselves to this "mimetic" culture. According to Donald, mimetic representation remains with us as a vestige of our homo erectus ancestry, as a fully functioning, underlying mode of representation and intelligence.
Homo sapiens in turn developed this ability into speech, with a radical adaption which occurred about 500,000 years ago. According to Donald, homo sapiens had a "mythic" culture hinged around the ability to tell stories, and this ability provided a means to make sense of the world and create a shared understanding of the world. This mythic culture survives to this day, constituting a crucial mode of understanding the world.
Modern human beings, homo sapiens sapiens, emerged only about 50,000 years ago with a rapid accumulation of a myriad of forms of cultural artefacts, culminating in the beginning of writing about 8,000 years ago. This led to a "theoretic" culture for which symbols held in material forms outside the body, play an essential role. According to Donald, human beings have evolved by biological adaptation to the culture it created and lived in and was crucial to its survival strategy.
There is a lot of maybe, perhaps, possibly and if in this work, but the best books open research programs rather than completing them, and Donald has certainly done this. The basic framework is very sound and argued convincingly but his suggestion opens up a plethora of questions begging for investigation.
In particular, the idea of several (episodic, mimetic and linguistics) modes of representation coexisting in consciousness has vast ramifications.

this book is out of date.......2005-11-07

The book is 17 years out of date.

Donald writes, ""Broca's region" and "Wernicke's region" are convenient fictions, the truth being that aphasia can be caused by wide variety of legions that spare these areas, while occasionally the complete loss of these areas will spare language function altogether, provided the adjacent white matter and basal ganglia are not damaged. The implication is that higher-level integration appears to be fluid and plastic in its underlying anatomy, and the anatomy looks modular through out."

The current consensus refutes this position.

new horizons for any cognitive science reader.......2003-02-18

I am an oby-gyn specialist and readings of cognitive studies is one of my interests. Of course I prefer superficial writings and any book becomes out of touch and rejected as soon as it involves deeper issues. Paradoxically some rare books are easy to digest, yet exceedingly succesfull at promising new ways for capturing a glimpse. This work is such an attractive one. If consciousness will reveal its secrets someday, I feel that the key is evolutionary approaches and this master-piece of Donald is one of the bests in its era.

A really swell read...........2001-01-24

This is a fun book to read-- which is something for a book that credibly spreads across a number of disciplines and through some pretty dense stuff....

Donald is a credible writer and has a style that is simultaneously engaging without losing academic credibility. After opening up with a couple of chapters dealing with a review of literature stemming from before Darwin, he moves into an examination of archaeology, anthropology, and neurology trying to trace how the human mind came to function as it does (if you see it as special... or not....)

He traces through most of history. It is a broad, well-constucted swoop but one of which I still have not passed my final judgement. Perhaps it will take a couple of reads before I get to that point. What I am certain of is that this book, secondary to Julian Jaynes "The Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind" made me THINK more about how we think than any other book I have come across.

I wholeheartedly recommend for you to buy this book if you have stumbled across this page....

Earnest, Learned and Valiant Effort.......2000-05-18

Although I didn't finish this book altogether convinced (nor altogether unconvinced) of his schema for human cognitive evolution, I was nonetheless very pleased and very grateful for Merlin Donald's clear and thorough review of the facts. Donald carefully sorts through the wealth of anthropological, paleontological, physiological, linguistic, and, most intriguingly, cognitive-psychological data, to separate the real clues from the red herrings. He expertly demonstrates the complexity and nuances of the evidence, while at the same time building his outline of a theory of the emergence of human consciousness. While I found this theory somewhat hazy and incomplete, particularly with respect to the "mimetic" stage he posits for H. erectus, it is quite acceptable in the spirit in which it is given: a tentative suggestion of what a plausible origins scenario must look like. From this perspective, his thoughts are most valuable, and by necessity provoke the reader to ruminate on the bewildering array of issues the author navigates so expertly. Merlin Donald does not adopt the strident, advocative tone that so many big-picture human evolution theorists do--rather, he lets the steady buildup of evidence and counter-evidence show you how he arrived at his ideas. The book is a dated, but still glittering, treasure of references and findings in the fields of linguistics, anthropology, and animal and human cognition--I have used it quite a few times simply to remind myself--and others--of the strange but true, and of how things don't always conform to the wished-for pattern. For instance, Donald's wonderful and almost touching account of "Brother John", a paroxysmal aphasic, is a perfect rejoinder to anyone who equates "language" with "intelligence".

Average customer rating:

Evolutionary Computer Music

Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Evolution | Science | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Accessories:

ASIN: 1846285992

Book Description

The evolutionary computation approach to music is an exciting new development for composers and musicologists alike. For composers, it provides an innovative and natural means for generating musical ideas from a specifiable set of primitive components and processes. For musicologists, these techniques are used to model the cultural transmission and change of a population's body of musical ideas over time. In both cases, musical evolution can be guided by a variety of constraints and tendencies built into the system, such as realistic psychological factors that influence the way music is expressed, experienced, learned, stored, modified, and passed on among individuals.

This book discusses not only the applications of evolutionary computation to music, but also the tools needed to create and study such systems. These tools are drawn in part from research into the origins and evolution of biological organisms, ecologies, and cultural systems on the one hand, and from computer simulation methodologies on the other. They can be combined to create surrogate artificial worlds populated by interacting simulated organisms in which complex musical experiments can be performed that would otherwise be impossible.

This authoritative book, with contributions from experts from around the globe, demonstrates that evolutionary systems can be used to create and to study musical compositions and cultures in ways that have never before been achieved.

Eduardo Reck Miranda is a Professor in Computer Music at the University of Plymouth, UK, where he heads the Interdisciplinary Centre for Computer Music Research (ICCMR). He has recently been appointed the Edgard Varèse Guest Professor of Computer Music at the Technical University of Berlin.

Al Biles is a Professor and the Undergraduate Program Coordinator in the Department of Information Technology at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York. Between performances with GenJam over the last thirteen years, he has been active in helping establish information technology as a recognized academic discipline.

The Evolution of Thought: Evolutionary Origins of Great Ape Intelligence

Average customer rating:

The Evolution of Thought: Evolutionary Origins of Great Ape Intelligence

Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Cognitive Psychology | Behavioral Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Behavioral Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Professional | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Science | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0521783356

Book Description

Written for graduate students and researchers, this book reviews the reasons for, and the nature of, great ape intelligence. Great apes are the most intelligent primates next to humans. Exactly how this intelligence evolved is a complex question that, when resolved, will help us to understand why humans have reached an even higher level. No other book combines the expertise of paleontologists, biologists, anthropologists, and psychologists to attain an appreciation of intelligence in great apes.

Our Cosmic Origins: From the Big Bang to the Emergence of Life and Intelligence

Average customer rating:

The BIG picture!
Mind-expanding!
Emergence of the biosphere
Good if you already know quite a bit about the subject
A thought-provoking voyage through space and time

Our Cosmic Origins: From the Big Bang to the Emergence of Life and Intelligence
Armand H. Delsemme
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Astronomy | Astronomy | Science | Subjects | Books

Cosmology | Astronomy | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Evolution | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Cosmology | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0521620384

Book Description

Our Cosmic Origins tells the story of our remarkable adventure on this planet, beginning with a single event in the depths of space. It traces the rich and wonderful history of the Universe, from the Big Bang to the creation of atoms and molecules, from the formation of stars and planets to the emergence of life on Earth. Delsemme brings together cosmology, astronomy, geology, biochemistry, and biology to create a unique look at the complex story of the Universe. He chronicles how the first light atoms were made and formed stars and how heavier atoms were cooked in stars and scattered in space, creating dust mrains and organic molecules. He examines the growing eomplexity of plant and animal life, including the emergence and extinction of dinosaurs. Our Cosmic Origins shows how the coupling of eye and brain led to self-awareness and intelligence. It explores the cosmic coincidences that might explain our existence and concludes with the tantalizing suggestion that intelligent alien life is likely. This provocative book will appeal to anyone who has ever looked at the sky and wondered how we got here. Originally published in French, this edition has been revised to include the most recent research in astronomy and cosmology. Armand Delsemme has published four books and over 230 scientific papers. He received a Sigma Xi award for outstanding research and has had, by order of the International Astronomical Union, an asteroid named after him.

Customer Reviews:

The BIG picture!.......2003-07-20

Skirting metaphysics, this book assembles current science from many disciplines to create an integrated framework for understanding ourselves and the universe we live in. "Life, the universe, and everything," would work as a subtitle for this book that covers all the basics, building a launch pad for further explorations in any direction from biology to theology.

Without getting bogged down in details, Our Cosmic Origins sketches the basic story of reality as it is understood by science today, leaving open the questions that science cannot (and may never be able to) answer. It does get a little technical at times (there are even a few chemical equations) but it reads more like a detective novel than a textbook. The science is necessary to gain the confidence of readers who already have some knowledge of physics, chemistry, and biology. Others can skim these explanations and take the conclusions on faith without losing the bigger truths revealed in this book.

Every thinking person should read this book; it provides a solid foundation relating all empirical knowledge. I can't wait for it to be revised when the unified field theory is discovered!

Mind-expanding!.......2001-08-04

The book's subtitle reveals an uncommonly wide scope. We get a reconstructed history of our universe from the Big Bang, some 15 billion years ago. The history of the physical universe -- galaxies, stars, planets and the rest -- continues smoothly in the chemical one, and eventually in the evolution of life, on to the gradual emergence of intelligence and consciousness in some branches of the animal kingdom.

Delsemme, after a career in French-speaking Europ, is now Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Toledo, Ohio. His book was first published in French, in 1994. The American edition has been revised, updated and expanded. The author's background in a French, European cultural tradition is a special attraction for the English-speaking reader.

The author has succeeded well in his efforts to reach the non-specialised reader. As Nobel laureate Christian de Duve writes in his brief foreword: "This is an eminently readable and informative account, consistently written in a language that tries to eschew technical difficulties, while remaining solidly anchored to the realities of scientific concepts. Readers could not wish for a better introduction to the history of the universe."

I am myself neither an astronomer, nor a biologist. But I have a long-standing interest in both disciplines. I have read this book with increasing admiration both for the author's wide-ranging knowledge, and his ability to present it in a very palatable form. He also gives the general reader insight into the basics of scientific research. In particular, he exhibits the scientific attitude, which implies hypotheses, which start as creative guesses, but do not emerge as full-fledged theories until tested by carefully designed observations or experiments.

Like most modern astronomers, Delsemme adheres to the Big-Bang theory, emphasizing the increasing evidence in its favour. His own special field is the comets, a subject that has received much attention in the last decade, leading to the daring, but not implausible conclusion that the oceans of the earth have arisen from a massive bombardment of the planet by comets in the first billion years of its existence. Darwin's Natural Selection concept, the scientific basis of his evolution theory, is nowadays accepted as a foundation for biological science as a whole. Delsemme extends Darwin's creative insight not only to the creation of the physical world, but also, at the other end, to the world of the mind. Man also , like the physical universe he inhabits, is a product, literally, of star dust.

This is popular science at its best. A fascinating, mind-expanding book. For further reading I suggest Edelman & Tononi: A Universe of consciousness.

Emergence of the biosphere.......2000-11-26

This reference is easy to read, and condenses a vast knowledge ranging from the Big Bang to the emergence of human intelligence, into a moderately compact volume. This reference tends to emphasize the topics related to the author's astrophysical background and interest in the emergence of our biosphere.

Good if you already know quite a bit about the subject.......1999-06-11

Despite being promoted as an introduction to cosmology and the origin of life for the general reader, this book assumes that you already know quite a bit about these things. For example, the Big Bang theory is described only in a one-page appendix and such fundamental concepts as Hubble's Law or the structure of matter are not explained, presumably because the author considers that too elementary--things everyone already knows about. But my non-science-major students certainly don't. When the first thing they encounter in the chapter on the origin of the universe is a cryptic argument that the vacuum genesis theory is superior to the singularity theory, they are lost, and it doesn't get better from there. The material on the origin on life, for example, assumes at least a basic familiarity with organic chemistry and molecular biology.

Throughout the text, the author promotes his own views, often sparring with opponents, usually unnamed. Chief among these views is the hypothesis that both water and the organic building blocks for life were delivered to the earth by comets. Alternative hypotheses, such as that the source of water is degassing of the earth's interior, are dismissed in such an offhand way that the uninitiated reader is unlikely to even realize what is happening. The only instance where Professor Delsemme is explicit in identifying an opposing position is the case of Fred Hoyle and his view that life itself, not just organic molecules, arose in outer space.

There is not much geology in this book, but what there is contains some errors, including an incorrect explanation of the origin of marine magnetic anomalies, confusion of "era" and "epoch," various creative spellings of Cretaceous (which may be the translator's doing), and, in a brief desciption of dinosaurs, use of the terms "sauropod" and "ornithopod" as though they were synonyms for "sauriscian" and "ornithiscian."

Nevertheless, there is much that is interesting and worthwhile in this volume for the reader who already knows the basics, and is aware of the uncertainties, controversies, and alternatives that swirl around many of these subjects. The chapter I enjoyed reading most is the one on the possibilities of life beyond our solar system. So, read this book if you are already into cosmology and the question of the origin of life and want to get a provocative slant on these topics, but not if you are looking for a ground-floor introduction.

A thought-provoking voyage through space and time.......1998-09-22

This book is the only one that I am aware of that covers a wide variety of topics ranging from the creation of the universe to the evolution of life on earth and the possible existence of life elsewhere. It is an up to date account of the current knowledge in the field of cosmology. The author is very objective and does an excellent analysis of current theories and explains them in a fashion that does not require you to have a PhD in physics. The book is a must for astronomy, cosmology enthusiasts and anyone in general who ponders when looking at the sky at night and asks themselves fundamental questions such as where do we come from ? how did it all start ? and where are we going ?

Origins of Intelligence: The Evolution of Cognitive Development in Monkeys, Apes, and Humans

Average customer rating:

An excellent book

Origins of Intelligence: The Evolution of Cognitive Development in Monkeys, Apes, and Humans
Sue Taylor Parker , and Michael L. McKinney
Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Cognitive | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Mental Health | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Evolution | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Cognitive Psychology | Behavioral Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Behavioral Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon

ASIN: 0801860121

Book Description

Since Darwin's time, comparative psychologists have searched for a good way to compare cognition in humans and nonhuman primates. In Origins of Intelligence, Sue Parker and Michael McKinney offer such a framework and make a strong case for using human development theory (both Piagetian and neo-Piagetian) to study the evolution of intelligence across primate species. Their approach is comprehensive, covering a broad range of social, symbolic, physical, and logical domains, which fall under the all-encompassing and much-debated term intelligence.

A widely held theory among developmental psychologists and social and biological anthropologists is that cognitive evolution in humans has occurred through juvenilization -- the gradual accentuation and lengthening of childhood in the evolutionary process. In this work, however, Parker and McKinney argue instead that new stages were added at the end of cognitive development in our hominid ancestors, coining the term adultification by terminal extension to explain this process.

Drawing evidence from scores of studies on monkeys, great apes, and human children, this book provides unique insights into ontogenetic constraints that have interacted with selective forces to shape the evolution of cognitive development in our lineage.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent book.......2000-01-11

This is really two excellent books in one. The first book is a comprehensive comparison of how the cognitive abilities of humans, apes, and monkeys develop. Like others of Professor Parker's books, it will be a reference for years to come. A particular strong point is the numerous easily-understood tables that present a large mass of important information in a readily-understood manner. These compare not just the development of the species, but the different theories that have been proposed about how development occurs. The second book proposes a theory about how the differences among primates evolved, then applies it from monkeys through apes and Homo erectus to ourselves. The theory is the opposite of that proposed by Stephen Jay Gould. Instead of being laid to neoteny, or progressive juvenilzation, the authors argue that the cause is progressive adultification. A very worthwhile book for anyone interested in the intelligence of humans, apes, or monkeys.

The Genomic Potential Hypothesis : A Chemist's View of the Origins, Evolution and Unfolding of Life (Molecular Biology Intelligence Unit, 16) (Molecular Biology Intelligence Unit, 16)

Average customer rating:

Embryos swimming in a fresh water pond!

The Genomic Potential Hypothesis : A Chemist's View of the Origins, Evolution and Unfolding of Life (Molecular Biology Intelligence Unit, 16) (Molecular Biology Intelligence Unit, 16)
Christian Schwabe
Manufacturer: Landes Bioscience
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Biochemistry | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Evolution | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Biochemistry | Basic Science | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Genetics | Basic Science | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Book Description

The Genomic Potential Hypothesis is a biochemist's view of the origin, evolution, and development of life. The arguments given in this book question the old explanation in order to make room for new thoughts at the sight of the same evidence. It is widely accepted that there is no way to proof a hypothesis, but a current hypothesis can be disproved when science has driven development beyond the foundation of the old model. So it happens that the same data will be presented with a new interpretation and that too is not uncommon in a world that was mostly flat not too long ago.

Evolution is the ripening of the embryonic quasi stem cells of each origin which began to transform, group by group, into the final phenotype in the Cambrian, the least complex ones being first to make their fossil imprint. Once established species do not branch or adapt beyond physiological limits. Stressed beyond these limits a species will suffer extinction. Mutations are not a mechanism to produce new organisms. Therefore there are no intermediate forms and the evolutionary trees are an image created by the sequential ripening of pro-forms and their rapid rise into the fossil scene.

Customer Reviews:

Embryos swimming in a fresh water pond!.......2003-06-17

To overthrow the ruling paradigm in a scientific discipline one needs a much more solid critique than Schwabe offered in this 114-page book. Schwabe thinks it is easy to overthrow Darwinism because all the evidence is against Darwinism and there is no evidence in favour of Darwinism. But anyone trying to do this must not only be an expert on the paradigm at hand, neo-Darwinism, but must also possess a fairly good knowledge of the relevant disciplines, in this case evolutionary biology, genetics, cell-biology, ecology, palaeontology, systematics and developmental biology. Schwabe fails most seriously in the biological disciplines. And chemical reductionism cannot compensate for this. His goal to derive as many as possible properties of life from the laws of chemistry is good mainstream science, and a DNA/gene-centred view is common in the age of genomics. However when organism and its environment entirely disappear from the stage, reductionism is counter-productive. This is especially obvious with his science fiction alternative (embryos in a fresh water pond). At times Schwabe is a good critic of Darwinism, but at other times he just repeats the 15-year-old example of Michael Denton, ignoring that Denton recently adopted common descent and evolution. Multiple origins of life (in a restricted form) is creeping into the textbooks of evolution. To deal with Schwabe's theory kept me busy for months with a mixture of excitement, amazement and a growing disappointment and brought me into every area of biology. It is useful to have an alternative scientific theory for Darwinism, but Schwabe's theory in its extreme form is no viable alternative to natural selection and common descent. Dissenters such as Schwabe maybe critical but not more self-critical than the average mainstream scientist. Both just follow a different paradigm to wherever it leads them. Evolution may have its anomalies and puzzles, I prefer it above science fiction. Gert Korthof

Big Brain: The Origins and Future of Human Intelligence

Average customer rating:

Big Brain: The Origins and Future of Human Intelligence
Gary Lynch , and Richard Granger
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Evolution | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Anatomy | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Cognitive Psychology | Behavioral Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Behavioral Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Our big brains, our language ability, and our intelligence make us uniquely human. But barely 10,000 years ago--a mere blip in evolutionary time--human-like creatures called "Boskops" flourished in South Africa. They possessed extraordinary features: forebrains roughly 50% larger than ours, and estimated IQs to match--far surpassing our own. Many of these huge fossil skulls have been discovered over the last century, but most of us have never heard of this scientific marvel.Prominent neuroscientists Gary Lynch and Richard Granger compare the contents of the Boskop brain and our own brains today, and arrive at startling conclusions about our intelligence and creativity. Connecting cutting-edge theories of genetics, evolution, language, memory, learning, and intelligence, Lynch and Granger show the implications of large brains on a broad array of fields, from the current state of the art in Alzheimer's and other brain disorders, to new advances in brain-based robots that see and converse with us, and the means by which neural prosthetics-- replacement parts for the brain--are being designed and tested. The authors demystify the complexities of our brains in this fascinating and accessible book, and give us tantalizing insights into our humanity--its past, and its future.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books