An imaginative, if highly speculative, proposal on the evolution of the brain.
Mrejeru (Augmentation and the Illnesses of Civilization, 2019, etc.) proposes a new theory for the emergence of language in this anthropological work.
According to the author, several brain mutations 4,500 to 7,000 years ago led to the invention of language. Language, in turn, changed not only the way that we communicated, but also the ways that we thought and felt. This gave rise to nuanced emotions, which, in turn, generated logical thinking, leading to civilization as we know it today. This evolution is the heart of Mrejeru’s book, which attempts to determine the factors that made humans’ brains so much more capable than their fellow primates’. He finally identifies an unlikely source for the mutations: low-dose “cosmogenic radiation,” which reached the Earth during shifts in the planet’s geomagnetic field. This radiation, he asserts, particularly affected the brain’s left hemisphere, where language functions are generally centered. Mrejeru develops these and other theories, exploring their ramifications on history, psychology, and language. Overall, the author’s prose style is academic and dry, and its awkward syntax often impedes its flow: “Various experiments on emotional dynamics found the subjects displaying continuous fluctuations, let’s say, from happier to sadder over a short period, like in a 2.5 minutes period, where have been measured 400 fluctuations.” Lay readers will have trouble with the book’s dense terminology and monotonous tone. Those with backgrounds in anthropology, biology, psychology, or a number of other fields, however, may be intrigued by Mrejeru’s theories, which have implications for many of the sciences. His argument may not ultimately persuade them, but they will grant that it goes in some truly unexpected directions.
An imaginative, if highly speculative, proposal on the evolution of the brain.Pub Date: July 22, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64367-599-2
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Urlink Print & Media, LLC
Review Posted Online: May 6, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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