Big Brain: The Origins and Future of Human Intelligence | 
 enlarge | Authors: Gary Lynch, Richard Granger
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 34900
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.2
ISBN: 1403979782
Dewey Decimal Number: 612.82
EAN: 9781403979780
ASIN: 1403979782
Publication Date: March 4, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product 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 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.
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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 Does a bigger brain make you smarter? July 12, 2008
In Big Brain, two neuroscientists offer up an intriguing argument about the size of brains and how that size corresponds to evolutionary advancements. They also shed light on the politics that sometimes informs how scientists present or obscure information.
I found this book interesting, but beyond their argument about bigger brains, I didn't find anything startlingly new. Most of what they presented is information about how the brain is believed to work and how it allows us to think and learn. They did focus on some intriguing mutations that are found in the occasional person where said person has gifts some of us don't have while also having disabilities that we don't have.
The book is an interesting read and does provide some solid information for people who are just learning about neuroscience. It's perspective on evolution is also intriguing, but there are other works that provide more insight into how the brain works than this book will.
 Is bigger better? May 25, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
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
Brain Theories May 9, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
People had to have significant intelligence to survive
nature in earlier times. Brains are known to learn from
past experience. In fact, each body part has its
command and control center in some part of the brain.
Each brain area has inputs. The Hippocampus
is central to controlling memory. The cortical
circuits generate forward projections to downstream
areas and back to the inputs. Synaptic changes cause the
responding neurons to respond identically to changes
in inputs. Organizing precepts are arranged into
groups and subgroups. Slight genetic changes give rise
to differences in brain path connectivity.
Humans have a language critical zone called Broca's area
on the left side frontal area but not on the right.
Big brains have a significant capability to store
arbitrary information according to the author.
The book goes on ad infinitum with facts about the brain.
It is an interesting read for the scientifically inclined
readership. This work would be perfect for a science project.
Exciting and relevant April 8, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The past few years have seen prodigious leaps forward in knowledge about our species. This book lays out the development of our brains, presents an exciting theory about how we grew those very special organs, and hints at our future. At first I skipped over the heavy duty explanation of how brains function, and went for the gossipy stuff. Then I went back and reread the science. I love this book; it captures my imagination and makes me think about evolutionary process.
 BIG Problem April 5, 2008
11 out of 14 found this review helpful
Granger & Lynch are both accomplished neurobiologists, but they clearly didn't do their homework on evolutionary biology & evolutionary anthropology. How so? The "Boskop" race of humans that are a central point of discussion in this book only existed for about 40 years, after researchers started digging up ancient crania in South Africa, & before they started analyzing them with modern science. Google the topic, & you'll find that in the professional literature, the Boskops were dismissed as artifacts of shoddy scholarship over 50 years ago! To make a long story short, geological & archeological contextual affinities are a bit more important than similarities of morphology in identifying populations. Are Shaquille O'Neal & Yao Ming from the same population because they're both extremely tall? This is basically how the Boskops were created by early 20th century scientists...
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