EMERGENCE OF MODERN BRAIN AND THE IMAGINARY BUILD-UP OF CIVILIZATION

Name: EMERGENCE OF MODERN BRAIN AND THE IMAGINARY BUILD-UP OF CIVILIZATION
Author: Dan Mrejeru
ISBN: 978-1-64367-599-2

by Dan Mrejeru ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 22, 2019

An imaginative, if highly speculative, proposal on the evolution of the brain.

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.