The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence

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Book was listed as 'very good' condition, but when it arrived the cover had stains, creases and folds, and a small tear on one edge. All of recorded history occupies the last 10 seconds of December 31; and the time from the waning of the Middle Ages to the present occupies little more than one second. Carl Sagan takes us on a great adventure, offering his vivid and startling insight into the brain of man and beast, the origin of human intelligence, the function of our most haunting legends - and their amazing links to recent discoveries. By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions.

It is a tour de force that mixes and matches history,paleontology, psychology and other branches of human understanding to come up with a fascinating study. Kennedy Astronautics Award of the American Astronautical Society, the Explorers Club 75th Anniversary Award, the Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Medal of the Soviet Cosmonauts Federation, and the Masursky Award of the American Astronomical Society, (" for his extraordinary contributions to the development of planetary science…As a scientist trained in both astronomy and biology, Dr. Sagan played a leading role in NASA's Mariner, Viking, Voyager, and Galileo expeditions to other planets. Carl Sagan is probably best known for his “Cosmos” television series where he attempts to explain the concepts of modern (at the time) physics to ordinary viewers.

Are dreams holdovers from a prehistoric world where, because of inadequate shelter and protection, we had to stay alert and awake during the night to engage with snakes and crocodiles on their own terms? Other topics mentioned include the evolution of the brain (with emphasis on the function of the neocortex in humans), the evolutionary purpose of sleep and dreams, demonstration of sign language abilities by chimps and the purpose of mankind's innate fears and myths.

He argues that the brain to body mass ratio is an extremely good correlative indicator for intelligence, with humans having the highest ratio and dolphins the second highest, [1] though he views the trend as breaking down at smaller scales, with some small animals ( ants in particular) placing disproportionately high on the list. It may be hard to grasp just how old everything in the universe is so Sagan creates a Cosmic Calendar to better comprehend the length of time. But Dragons of Eden is not a polemic against creationism: in fact, the book is chock-full of biblical imagery and mythology, but is used for what should be its true purpose, to understand where humans have been, not where they are or are yet to go.Our brains are constructed of several sections, all of which are overlays of a core that could rightly be considered reptilian. in 1978 for his book The Dragons of Eden, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Distinguished Public Service Medal (1977 and 1981), and the Ørsted Medal from the American Association of Physics Teachers in 1990.