A leading neuroscientist describes the long evolutionary process that led to the human brain
Our human brain is both unique and similar to that of other species. The only way we can trace its evolution is by comparing it to the brains of animals alive today. In this book, leading neuroscientist Rogier Mars offers an engaging account of the evolution of the brain by exploring the brains and cognitive capacities of animals from the humble sea squirt to the socially minded fox and the tiny shrew.
By examining the challenges that different animals and their ancestors faced, Mars shows that we can understand what drove the evolution of their brains. Early vertebrates became predators of the sea; mammals evolved a complex neocortex to deal with foraging for high-energy food; and social primates adapted to contend with a fast-changing environment in which groups of individuals team up to get food. Over the course of a long evolutionary road, the ancestors of present-day animals and their descendants continually adapted to challenges, modifying their brains again and again. For us humans, this process gradually led to a brain that is capable of so much, from inventing language to traveling into space.
Mars leads readers across eras and species, showing us how we resemble our animal cousins, how we differ from them, and how animals in one branch of the evolutionary tree did the hard evolutionary work of becoming human.
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
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Information
Publisher
Princeton University PressYear
2026Print ISBN
9780691238944
9780691238920
eBook ISBN
9780691287416
Table of contents
- Cover Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- Introduction. Different brains
- 1. The sea squirt, the lamprey, and the bee: What brains are for
- 2. The dragon and the shrew: Mammalian neocortex
- 3. The squirrel and the squirrel monkey: The primate visual-motor system
- 4. The lemur and the macaque: The simian way of foraging
- 5. The fox and the dog: The domesticated, social brain
- 6. The chimpanzee and the human: The integrated, cultural brain
- 7. The bird, the rat, and the human: Retrofitting the brain
- Acknowledgments
- Further Reading
- Image Credits
- Index
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Yes, you can access The Fox, the Shrew, and You by Rogier Mars,Rogier B. Mars in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Biological Sciences & Cognitive Neuroscience & Neuropsychology. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.