HOW BRAINS THINK expands on my October 1994 Scientific American article to address the evolution of consciousness, intelligence, and language. The parallel 1996 book is The Cerebral Code from MIT Press; though not as well suited for the general reader as the present book, those interested in the neural circuitry of the brain needed to run a darwinian process may wish to look at The Cerebral Code if Chapters 6 and 7 of the present book arent enough. Here's the excerpt that appeared at HMS Beagle. This isn't an IQ book; I'd recommend Earl Hunt's article "The role of intelligence in modern society." HOW BRAINS THINK was on both the London and the Washington DC science bestseller lists of New Scientist (May 1997). At Amazon.com, it was #29 of 100 Bestsellers for 1996. All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts and personal photocopying of a single chapter, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form (including information storage and retrieval, photocopying, and recording) without permission from the publisher.

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, Seattle All chapters are available on the web (see below). Reviews of HOW BRAINS THINK: "[HOW BRAINS THINK], part of the Science Masters series, offers an exquisite distillation of his key ideas. He's a member of that rare breed of scientists who can translate the arcana of their fields into lay language, and he's one of the best. There are other, competing theories for explaining consciousness. But Mr. Calvin, so lyrical and imaginative in his presentation, draws you into his world of neural Darwinism and inspires you to read more."

Marcia Bartusiak, in --, in New York Times Book Review, November 17, 1996 "Nothing in showbiz right now is as thrilling as the debate surrounding consciousness. Darwinism decentred the body. The new debate is scarier: it decentres the mind. This goes down badly at dinner parties. Quote, say, Daniel Dennett's Consciousness Explained over dinner, within seconds your guests will have worked themselves up into an orgy about light bulbs having souls or Psion organisers writing Shakespeare.

Do not despair: William Calvin's How Brains Think will quickly ease your blood pressure.... This is a valuable introduction to the consciousness debate--a clever, exuberant work. It assumes no knowledge and pulls no punches. Nail it to the foreheads of dissenting dinner guests."

-- Simon Ings, in , in New Scientist (8 March 1997)



-- Sunday Times (London) "This book sets out what we know about our brains with remarkable skill."

-- Financial Times (London) "Challenging and rewarding. As always, Calvin's thinking about thinking gives plenty of food for thought."

--Kirkus Reviews "Still partially a mystery, intelligence's nature (and manifestation in language) gets a consummately clear summary in Calvin's hands."

--Booklist