Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Peppered with wit and controversial topics, this is a refreshing new look at the co-evolution of mind and culture. Bestselling authors Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen (The Collapse of Chaos, 1994) eloquently argue that our minds evolved within an inextricable link with culture and language. They go beyond conventional views of the function and purpose of the mind to look at the ways that the mind is the response of an evolving brain that is constantly adjusting to a complex environment. Along the way they develop new and intriguing insights into the nature of evolution, science, and humanity that will challenge conventional views on consciousness. The esteemed authors tantalize the reader with these bold new outlooks while putting a revolutionary spin on such classic philosophical problems as the nature of free will and the essence of humanity. This clearly written and enjoyable book will inspire any educated reader to critically evaluate the existing notions of the nature of the human mind.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface
• Prologue
• 1 The origins of life
• 2 The reductionist nightmare
• 3 Ant country
• 4 Winning ways
• 5 Universals and parochials
• 6 Neural nests
• 7 Features great and small
• 8 What is it like to be a human?
• 9 We wanted to have a chapter on free will, but we decided not to, so here it is
• 10 Extelligence
• 11 Simplex, complex, multiplex
• Epilogue
• Notes
• Further reading
• Index

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Mathematics and geometry professor Stewart, who writes the "mathematical recreations" column in Scientific American, and biologist Cohen are witty, erudite, clever, at times funny, and generally clearheaded in this rationalist's view of the universe and human evolution. Their thesis is that the human mind evolved in response to the complexity of the world and that language‘and, indeed, culture‘are inextricable parts of this process: there could be no mind without evolution but no evolution without mind. As is apparently mandatory in books on this subject, the authors include examples, anecdotes, and samples from literally every field of human and animal endeavor to illustrate, illuminate, and elucidate their thesis, making their case by seemingly having on hand millions of bits of information. A delightful but heavy read that is excellent for academic collections and general collections with a highly literate readership.‘Mark L. Shelton, Univ. of Massachusetts Medical Ctr., Worcester (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Ian Stewart is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Warwick, UK, and Professor of Mathematics at the Royal Institution of Great Britain. In 1995 he was awarded the Royal Society Michael Faraday medal.
Jack Cohen is an internationally known reproductive biologist who was a university teacher for thirty years and has published nearly a hundred research papers. He acts as a consultant to top science fiction writers and frequently appears on radio and television.