How the Mind Changed: A Human History of Our Evolving Brain

by Joseph Jebelli

Overview

The extraordinary story of how the human brain evolved… and is still evolving. 
 
We’ve come a long way. The earliest human had a brain as small as a child’s fist; ours are four times bigger, with spectacular abilities and potential we are only just beginning to understand.
 
This is How the Mind Changed, a seven-million-year journey through our own heads, packed with vivid stories, groundbreaking science, and thrilling surprises. Discover how memory has almost nothing to do with the past; meditation rewires our synapses; magic mushroom use might be responsible for our intelligence; climate accounts for linguistic diversity; and how autism teaches us hugely positive lessons about our past and future.
 
Dr. Joseph Jebelli’s In Pursuit of Memory was shortlisted for the Royal Society Science Book Prize and longlisted for the Wellcome. In this, his eagerly awaited second book, he draws on deep insights from neuroscience, evolutionary biology, psychology, and philosophy to guide us through the unexpected changes that shaped our brains. From genetic accidents and environmental forces to historical and cultural advances, he explores how our brain’s evolution turned us into Homo sapiens and beyond.
 
A single mutation is all it takes.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316424981
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	07/12/2022
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	476,946
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Joseph Jebelli is a neuroscientist and a writer. He received a PhD in neuroscience from University College London for his work on the cell biology of neurodegenerative diseases, then worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Washington, Seattle. His much acclaimed first book, In Pursuit of Memory, was shortlisted for the Royal Society Science Book Prize and longlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize. He lives in London.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Pearl Inside the Oyster 1

1 Building the Human Brain 7

2 Inventing Emotions 29

3 Our Social Brains 55

4 The Genesis of Memory 79

5 The Truth About Intelligence 101

6 Creating Language 129

7 The Illusion of Consciousness 155

8 Different Minds 179

9 The iBrain 203

Acknowledgements 223

Notes 225

Bibliography 241

Index 297

Editorial Reviews

05/16/2022

Neuroscientist Jebelli (In Pursuit of Memory) ranges a bit too wide in this history of the human mind. In exploring the question of “why have we ended up with the brains we have,” Jebelli draws on philosophy, theology, and literature and considers empathy, consciousness, and depression. He offers up science’s take on free will (“You have free will, you just don’t have conscious will”), memory (evolutionarily traced back to “remembering predators and the location of food sources”), language acquisition (which began around 500,000 years ago, when “brain size ballooned in humans”), and artificial intelligence (some neuroscientists posit it may evolve in a way similar to the human brain). While he argues effectively that “to study the brain is to study the essence of what makes us human,” his frequent jumps in topic and timeline distract, and his most provocative claims—“Were we to understand the brain better than we currently do, we could predict a person’s future behaviour with astonishing accuracy,” and “Our autistic ancestors probably played a fundamental role in shaping early human societies due to their unique strengths and special abilities”—are presented without enough supporting evidence. This one doesn’t quite come together. (July)

Publishers Weekly

"How did humans develop such a runaway mind? Joseph Jebelli masterfully illuminates the neurobiological road by which we arrived, and where it might reach from here."—David Eagleman, bestselling author of Livewired and Incognito

"A slim, accessible and thought-provoking book...Jebelli writes with aplomb and an eye for arresting asides."—The Times (UK)

“Jebelli ably demonstrates just how successful evolution's experiments with the human brain have been while it remains a wondrous work-in-progress.”—Booklist

From the Publisher

Hearing Joe Eyre narrate this dexterously written text by a neuroscientist is both intellectually stimulating and just plain fun. Eyre's smooth, lively voice impresses listeners with its authority, warmth, and enthusiasm for the topic. While listeners learn about both contemporary theories in neuroscience and the latest findings in paleoanthropology, the author also shares his unique insights on how depression, autism, and cultural diversity affected evolution. What Joe Eyre tells us so convincingly is that the brain is a marvelous organ and that what we think of as our mind, soul, or consciousness is really clusters of rapidly firing interconnected neurons generating our sense of self and our place in the world. This audiobook is diverting and visionary and offers listeners an opportunity to study the evolution of the human mind over the last seven million years. D.L.G. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2022 - AudioFile

Hearing Joe Eyre narrate this dexterously written text by a neuroscientist is both intellectually stimulating and just plain fun. Eyre's smooth, lively voice impresses listeners with its authority, warmth, and enthusiasm for the topic. While listeners learn about both contemporary theories in neuroscience and the latest findings in paleoanthropology, the author also shares his unique insights on how depression, autism, and cultural diversity affected evolution. What Joe Eyre tells us so convincingly is that the brain is a marvelous organ and that what we think of as our mind, soul, or consciousness is really clusters of rapidly firing interconnected neurons generating our sense of self and our place in the world. This audiobook is diverting and visionary and offers listeners an opportunity to study the evolution of the human mind over the last seven million years. D.L.G. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2022 - AudioFile