Up from Dragons John Skoyles and Dorion Sagan (McGraw-Hill, 2002)

Dorion Sagan and John Skoyles

Dorion Sagan and John Skoyles both make references to American writers and poets. John, who was born in New York in 1949, has done a lot of research in a variety of fields (Skoyles and Sagan 448). Dorion Sagan, on the other hand, was born ten years after John. Through his continued theoretical investigation and use of fictional facts, he too continues to advance science. The two authors’ works span topics like evolution, culture, and history.

The Work of John, Skoyles, and Sagan Dorion in Summary

The development of human intelligence up from dragons. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002. Print., the man, has come a long way to achieving evolution regarding the anatomical structure of the brain. The book focuses on the nature and operations of the intelligence of man. The two authors compile a comparative data of different species that have and continue to exist including the earlier existing human species. Through the eighteen structure of the book, John and Sagan take the reader through an extensive journey on the large folds of the brain with the inter and intra-structure of the brain playing a major part in the adaptation of the brain functions.

The Importance of Unknown Parts of the Brain

The two authors describe the importance of unknown parts of the brain that influence behavior and relationships in human beings. Some of the mentioned parts of the brain by the book include the amygdala, dorsolateral prefrontal brain cortex and the orbital part of the brain. It also explains the future discovery of physiological substrates that may have a relationship to the discovery of intelligent human behavior.

One Aspect of the Book Discussion

The book champions the common aspect of neuroscience and its importance to human behavior. Neuroscience also referred as neurobiology, is the scientific study of the nervous system. It is a multidisciplinary branch of biology that deals with the biochemistry, anatomy, molecular biology, physiology of neurons and neural circuits while borrowing a lot from mathematics, physics, pharmacology, psychology among other fields (SFN par. 2). The book focuses on the evolutionary development of the nervous system in relationship to the endangerment of the dinosaur species. It puts the man at the forefront of species’ evolution. It defines the different advantageous characteristic traits that put the man on the forefront regarding surviving all the major adverse factors that killed the lesser stronger species (Skoyles and Sagan 73). The man has gone through a series of adaptive seasons to enable him to become a species with the current existing traits (Skoyles and Sagan 15). The human brain has and continues to evolve to protect man from any damage brought by the social and physical environment around him. The book summarizes the various contribution made by the brain in adapting new advantageous traits that create survival status.

Strength of the Book and Lessons Leant

Both John and Sagan have clearly spelled out the importance of the mind in the field of neuroscience. The book has extensive research with well-referenced data that focuses on the origin and evolution of man in his environment. The book has defined some new parts of the brain that scientists failed to discover in the past. According to the two authors, the book opens the mind of the reader to a new possibility of the discovery of new functions of the brain. It also uses facts that influence hope and intrigue of new discoveries that lead to the understanding of the human emotional and social life in general (Skoyles and Sagan 115). The lessons learned focuses on the importance of research in understanding the true nature of a specific item. One has to undertake research to enable them to understand the reason as to why something exists in a given manner. Another important lesson focuses on the fact that the human brain does not remain static, it continues to evolve to achieve a greater deal of functions that allow the man to adapt new strong characteristics.

Recommended Reading

For any person with an urge and interest to read a scientific manuscript, they needs to focus on the book written by John and Sagan. The book is rich in innovative threads and ideas which, are intrinsically entertaining but also if followed could result in a fuller understanding of who we are -cumulatively as well as individually- and who we could become in the future. It has proven to be a champion of neuroscience with the major discovery of brain functions and parts that still amazes major researchers in the field of science and psychiatry (Harrub, Thompson and Miller 97). For any great reader, I recommend him/her to read the book to get enough satisfaction on the importance of the human mind.

Work Cited

Harrub, B, B Thompson and Miller. “ The origin of language and communication.” Journal of Creation 17.3 (2003): 93-101.

SFN. About neuroscience. Society for Neuroscience. www.sfn.org/about/about-neuroscience. Accessed 7 Feb 2017.

Skoyles, John R. and Sagan, Dorion. Up from Dragons: The evolution of human intelligence. New York: McGraw Hill, 2002. Print.