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Title: Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors by Ann Druyan, Carl Sagan ISBN: 0-345-38472-5 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 07 September, 1993 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.69 (35 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Understanding ourselves...
Comment: ...and the reasons why we do what we do as humans --that's the basic concept of this book which, as most books written by Sagan, is easy to understand and read.
He starts with the big bang, followed by one cell organism , gradually taking the reader into a tale of how it is that we as a species came to be. It gives plausible explanations of so many of the things that religion cannot explain. Biology, human nature and sociology are explained in a simple but interesting way . It leaves the human species uncovered on just what it is that makes us. Books such as Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors enriched my life. Sagan and Druyan were a great team and I for one miss Carl Sagan and his wise approach in explaining science.
Rating: 5
Summary: Carl Sagan breathes humanity into the souls of his readers
Comment: From DNA, Darwin, and Huxley to dominance, submission, and primates this book has it all. Carl Sagan was simply a shaman of words and wisdom, while being a prophet of science and rational thought. Shadow's of forgotten ancestors is Sagan's finest hour with unwavering skepticism and a passion unparalleled in the scientific community. I have read this book cover to cover twice, and still feel as though it will have more insight to offer as I begin to read it a third time. The book reveals the egocentric nature of man and his attitudes toward animals as lesser organisms based on ancient fears of his own past . Animals are very complex and intelligent, a sentiment that is for some a deplorable idea with atheist and Darwinian connotations. Sagan simply diffuses the idea to his readers that animals have the ability to feel complex emotions and acquire learned behaviors from parents, just as humans. It is not the author's intention to drag humans through the mud of the animal world, but, rather, lift the animals up to the level of humans by showing our similarities which include: reproductive strategies, behavior patterns, altruism, love, and the perpetuation of the species. Sagan offers an alternative view of the world, a world in which man shares the Earth with other organisms and accepts their differences rather than condemning them. Such an optimistic belief in a world that breeds hate, bias, and indifference. Anyone who reads this book and still believes man is superior to animals and holds a special place in the world, missed the entire point and needs their compassion spoon fed to them.
Rating: 5
Summary: Have You Ever Wondered Who We Are?
Comment: After I read The Dragons of Eden, I learned that Carl Sagan explored more than cosmology. He also explored evolutionary biology-stimulated by his wife, the biologist Ann Druyan. Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors is a book that Sagan and Druyan wrote together. It is much more scientifically rigorous and sophisticated than The Dragons of Eden, and deals not with the evolution of the tripartite brain, but on the evolution of consciousness itself. Druyan and Sagan write that we are like babies left in a basket on a doorstep, never knowing and always wondering what our ancestry is. For me, the most influential of the book's explorations involve the study of the levels of consciousness in other animals, aside from the human animal. Through study after study, many amusing and all interesting, Druyan and Sagan emphasize that the difference between the consciousness of the human animal and other animals is "a difference of degree rather than kind." Indeed, some of the studies indicate that some of the other animals may have consciousness that surpasses in degree that that of the human animal. The book stresses that we will not understand who we are until we view ourselves as part of a continuum, and the book also explorers the history of human resistance to this idea. One or two of the chapters were too difficult for me to understand as a non-scientist, but I was basically able to understand the book while only skimming the difficult chapters about DNA construction and such. It was nice to know that rigorous science was part of the book. This is one of those books that will change your outlook on the world.
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Title: Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan ISBN: 0345346297 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 12 December, 1986 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: Demon-Haunted World by Ann Druyan, Carl Sagan ISBN: 0345409469 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 25 February, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Broca's Brain by Carl Sagan ISBN: 0345336895 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 12 February, 1986 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Billions & Billions by Carl Sagan ISBN: 0345379187 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 12 May, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan ISBN: 0345376595 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 08 September, 1997 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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