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The Dragons of Eden

The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence
Dragons of Eden.jpg
Cover of the first edition
Author Carl Sagan
Cover artist Don Davis
Country United States
Language English
Subject Human evolution, intelligence
Publisher Random House
Publication date
1977
Media type Print (hardcover and paperback)
Pages 263 (first edition)
ISBN
OCLC 2922889
153
LC Class BF431 .S2
Followed by Broca's Brain

The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence is a Pulitzer Prize-winning 1977 book by Carl Sagan. In it, Sagan combines the fields of anthropology, evolutionary biology, psychology, and computer science to give a perspective on how human intelligence may have evolved.

Sagan discusses the search for a quantitative means of measuring intelligence. He argues that the brain to body mass ratio is an extremely good correlative indicator for intelligence, with humans having the highest ratio and dolphins the second highest, though he views the trend as breaking down at smaller scales, with some small animals (ants in particular) placing disproportionally high on the list. Other topics mentioned include the evolution of the brain (with emphasis on the function of the neocortex in humans), the evolutionary purpose of sleep and dreams, demonstration of sign language abilities by chimps and the purpose of mankind's innate fears and myths. The title "The Dragons of Eden" is borrowed from the notion that man's early struggle for survival in the face of predators, and in particular a fear of reptiles, may have led to cultural beliefs and myths about dragons.

In 2002, John Skoyles and Dorion Sagan published a followup to The Dragons of Eden entitled Up from Dragons.


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