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Big Brain: The Origins and Future of Human Intelligence (MacSci)
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Product Description
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 for 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.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #611638 in Books
- Published on: 2008-03-04
- Released on: 2008-03-04
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Hardcover
- 272 pages
Features
- ISBN13: 9781403979780
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Editorial Reviews
Review
"A much needed book on big brains… Big Brain is a popular account of how brains enlarge, in both evolutionary and developmental terms. The strength of the book lies in the neuroscience, especially its treatment of neural plasticity and the "association areas" of the brain… "--William H Calvin, New Scientist
"The Lynch and Granger combination is like mixing gas with fire. In this book there are big, explosive ideas by two ingenious brain scientists."--Michael Gazzaniga, author of The Ethical Brain
"On a planet in which everything seems to be getting bigger (the internet), hotter (our climate), or more numerous (the world's population), Gary Lynch and Rick Granger reveal the intriguing possibility that people with larger brains than us may have been around a few thousand years ago. Their account of the mysteries of the brain and intelligence challenges conventional views in a scholarly yet wonderfully accessible manner."--Richard Morris, Director of the Centre for Cognitive and Neural Systems, University of Edinburgh, and President, Federation of European Neuroscience Societies, and Former Chair, Brain Research Association of the United Kingdom
"Riveting…the book tracks the evolutionary development of the human brain…" –Anthony Doerr, Boston Globe
"...A riveting account of how the human brain evolved." --Nicole Branan, Scienticfic American
About the Author
Richard Granger is W.H. Neukom Distinguished Professor of Computational Science and of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth. He has been the principal architect of a series of advanced computational systems for military, commercial and medical applications, and co-inventor of FDA-approved devices and drugs. He is a consultant, co-founder, and board member of numerous technology corporations such as Thuris Corporation and Cortex Pharmaceuticals, and government research agencies including the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the National Science Foundation, and the Office of Naval Research. His work has been highlighted in numerous popular press and television features, including recent stories in Forbes, Wired, and on CNN.
Customer Reviews
Fascinating Read.
Professors Gary Lynch and Richard Granger have put forth a strong body of work in support of why we humans have big brains and the implications for the future of our species, doing so in the context of anthropological and neuroscientific evidence.
As a neuroscience student who is interested in anthropology, it certainly was interesting to read of a species that had brains which were spectacularly larger than ours per body size. While explaining the development of brains in the context of evolution, Lynch & Granger make an effort to confront, as they refer to it, the ultimate "irresistable fallacy"-- that evolution favors us precisely because of our intelligence--strongly arguing why our intellectual capacity differs from other species (our big brains, as well as minute qualitative differences), and how this came about over millions of years. Lynch & Granger also portend, based on the tenets of their argument, what lies ahead for species with bigger brains--or in the case of the Boskops, what lies in the past.
This is a must read for anyone who believes they have evolution 'figured out', and/or for anthropological fans intrigued as to differences between primates based on neuroscientific knowledge.
An Interesting and at the same time disappointing read 
From neuroscience, evolutionary biology and genetics to history and anthropology to computing, this Big Brain: the origins and future of human intelligence by Gray Lynch and Richard Granger pulls together many diverse fields of knowledge to tackle the question of what makes the human brain and it's intelligence so different from any other animal, even our closest relatives. The book proves to be an informative read for anyone in any field of study. As a biology major currently taking a course in introductory neuroscience and have taken a course in evolutionary biology, I am of course a bit biased in saying that anyone will be able to understand the concepts presented since the majority are related to biology. But I can say that even with already being familiar with the most of the concepts, the book helped clarify and make more sense of what I am currently learning. I can also say that as someone who knows very little about computer science and how a computer works, the concepts presented that related to computing were very easy to understand. The authors' consistent use of analogies allows for understanding of unfamiliar fields.
The book opens with the discovery of the Boskop--a widely unknown extinct human relative that apparently had a brain 25 to 35 percent larger than that of human. The discovery posed the questions of if they had bigger brains and brain size directly correlates with new abilities, then why did Boskops not supercede humans and were they smarter than humans. These questions are left unanswered until the end of the book, and the authors move on to compare the brain circuits to a computing system posing the question of why machines cannot perform as human brains do.
The authors then go through the evolution of the brain from very early vertebrates to mammals explaining change in sensory systems that accompanied the evolution, but more importantly explaining the expansion of the mostly the cortex that accompanied the evolution into larger brains. Two types of organization in the brain--point to point and random access are involved in brain circuits. It is the random access circuits that allow for the expansion of the cortex and subcortical systems. The authors then move onto explain the feedback and hierarchy of cortical circuits in bigger brains and how they process information, specifically an image, and explain it is the multiple layers of processing that allows for complex thought processes.
Finally the authors speculate exactly how the big brain came to be. Throughout the book, the authors take on the stance that as humans who have higher intelligence than any other animal, we think that there was evolutionary pressure for us and for the organisms that let to our evolution to evolve better senses and more complex brains. Yet this is a trap we fall into, and in fact many traits that may seem superior just happened to occur because of chance. This is the case with the bigger brain. One of the only traits that actually correlates with big brains is larger size of babies at birth. Larger babies between species is just about the only thing consistently correlated with bigger brains. Larger babies are possible due to the lumbar region occupying a greater part of the trunk length. This larger lumbar region is due to the change to walking upright. So in conclusion bigger brains just happened due to the switch to walking upright.
For the majority of the book the authors have claimed that the large size of the human brain and the increased subcortical circuitry that accompanies it is responsible for intelligence, but they also pose there are some differences that could also be the culprit. These differences include a few different cell types, local circuits, different connectivity, and brain shape. In the end of the book the Boskop is revisited and their intelligence is speculated. The authors claim that the larger brain means more subcortical connections which simply means higher lever processing.
Immediately after finishing the book, it seems to deserve at least a four out of five star rating; the amount of information gained about what makes the human brain complex and about the evolution of larger brains is satisfying. The profound reasoning behind the speculation that human brains are bigger not due to selection pressure for more complex thought processes, but instead just because it happened covers up the fact that there are too many loose ends in the book. The number of questions unanswered or not given enough explanation is unsatisfying. For example, when the authors compare the brain to a computer and pose the question of why the machines cannot be built to accomplish the same mental abilities as human brains, they leave the question largely unanswered. Even in the case of the Boskop and the question of their superior intelligence and what this intelligence would mean, the answer is at most weak. The authors could have effectively left out the example of the Boskop instead of using it as a device to draw readers in and then briefly revisit it in the end only to disappoint with weak speculations as to their intelligence.
Is bigger better?
Summary
Granger and Lynch have done an excellent job of explaining brain evolution; how the human brain evolved and adapted over millions of years. There are many theories out there of how our brains came to be and this summarizes the research very well. The book revolves around an interesting but controversial finding of a race of humans that had bigger brains than we did. Granger and Lynch manage to explain the controversy well and use this as a starting point to think about what it means to have bigger brains.
Audience
If you want to understand how brains evolved read this book. Don't let the controversies around the discoveries stop you. I have read many books on neuroscience and brain evolution and this book provides one of the best explanations of brain evolution.
Details
Granger and Lynch use the discovery of the Boksops, a race of humans that possibly had bigger brains then we do to explain how our brains evolved. They explain the controversies and background around the discovery and why it was shunned by the establishment. BUT this book is so much more than just about the boksops. The book delves into the meaning of bigger brains and the evolution of the brains from early mamals to homo sapiens and beyond. Granger and Lynch don't shy away from the controversy and provide new angles on the subject. This is a fascinating area of research and it adds a new dimension to how brains work. Don't let human-centric chauvinism distract you from understanding the human brain.
Take Aways
If you want to understand the brain more, what it means to have bigger brains and how it relates to intelligence, then pick up this book. I wish the book was marketed differently and it didn't emphasize the controversial finding of the Boksops, since it distracts from the fact that this is a great book on an important area of brain research. Granger and Lynch have done an excellent job of writing one of the best explanations of brain evolution and what it means to have big brains. Read, think and enjoy.
Kes Sampanthar
Inventor of ThinkCube
