Dragons of Eden  (English, Paperback, Sagan Carl)

The Dragons Of Eden is a fascinating exploration of the evolution of human intelligence, and the origins of the fears and beliefs that still haunt humans.

Summary Of The Book

The story of human evolution, especially the evolution of human intelligence, is told in the author’s engaging style. Using the Cosmic Calendar, he begins with a quick overview of the whole story of evolution, beginning from the Big Bang to the evolution of humans and human civilization.
Time as measured from the perspective of the Universe is epic in its proportions and hard for humans to comprehend. The Cosmic Calendar is a concept that was devised to make this huge time scale comprehensible to humans. The second chapter of this book explains this concept, and uses it to fit the entire story of the Universe and the emergence of humans in a single chapter.

The book mainly focuses on the evolution of the brain and intelligence, and looks at the characteristics that sets humans apart from other species. Which, the author points out, is not much, for people are still very closely related to apes and primates. This book describes the brain to body mass ratio as a good indicator of a species' relative intelligence, with humans and dolphins emerging high on the list. It also looks at the main functionality of sleep and dreams.

The book also examines some of the deep-seated fears and beliefs that still linger strongly in humans. It relates some of the common fears, myths and legends to evolutionary heritage. For instance, Sagan takes up the common human fear of falling and frequent dreams humans have about falling. He thinks this is the vestigial remains of the very real fears primates and tree dwelling apes have of falling from trees.
Sagan says this fear is so deep in the human psyche, it even manifests itself in the symbols used in machines, like in elevators. The color for Up is shaded green, while the color for down, associated with falling and danger, is red.

The Dragons Of Eden touches on several fields like computers, biology, anthropology, psychology, and cosmology, all linked together in the search for answers to vital questions. It all contributes to determining how humans got to where they are, how they evolved, and how the brain evolved.

About Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan was an American scientist.

Some other books by this author are The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, Cosmos, Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science, and Contact.

Carl Edward Sagan was born in 1934 in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated with a degree from the University of Chicago, then earned a Master’s degree in Physics. He later received a Doctorate in Astronomy and Astrophysics. His scientific achievements include contributions towards the understanding of the surface temperature of the planet Venus, and the atmosphere of other planets. But, he is best known for his work as a writer of popular science books that brought the secrets and science of the Universe within the comprehension of the general public. He is also well known for the TV series, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which he co-wrote and presented in the 1980s.