The ape that spoke : language and the evolution of the human mind /

McCrone has chosen an appealing title; the subtitle focuses on the prime feature distinguishing humans from other animals. It is a subject that others have dealt with at many levels, ranging from publications with a strong technical and scientific basis to flights of fancy. McCrone's work lies somewhere in between, but closer to the hypothetical and imaginative scenarios of adaptation and change leading to mind and speech. This reviewer found the book to be too superficial and too free with generalizations and assumptions; also, there are factual problems. It reads easily, perhaps too facilely; it is directed toward a general readership. However, its 300 pages are too long for its limited substance. There are better works in anthropology, linguistics, or psychology for the interested reader. -D. Bardack, University of Illinois at Chicago

The operation of the human mind, from the version sported by early man to our own complex organ, is the subject of this fascinating, if at times rambling, book. It can be argued that our brains are what set us apart from the other creatures on this planet. Yet during the time of humankind's rise to dominance, from the worldwide explosion of culture to the present day, the brain has physically changed very little. McCrone explains this by asserting that not brain size but the abilities to both plan ahead and look behind and the individual's sense of self are what defines human beings. He rejects the concept that the mind is a static thing. Rather, he argues, it is plastic: it can and has been reprogrammed to take advantage of changes in the environment or culture. At times McCrone gets bogged down trying to explain just how the brain's mechanisms work; still, for those interested in how that gray blob between their ears got that way and does what it does, his book is a must. ~--Jon Kartman

From hairy hominids, rational, self-aware human beings sprang into existence within a mere two million years--an eye-blink in geological terms. McCrone believes it was language that triggered the quantum leap in human development, allowing Homo sapiens to arise in the midst of an inhospitable ice age and sweep across the earth. McCrone re-creates the way our Homo ancestors' use of language might have made possible an inner dialogue dependent on the controlled recall of memories--a skill essential to self-awareness. The British science writer's controversial conclusion is that ``the human mind is only a few degrees different from an animal's.'' Imagination, higher emotions and complex habits of thought, in his theory, are language-driven extensions of the animal mind. Imparting a shock of discovery, this exciting evolutionary odyssey seamlessly interweaves recent advances in linguistics, brain research, cognitive psychology and anthropology. Illustrations. BOMC and History Book Club selections. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

A science/technology writer based in England, McCrone here offers a blinkered look at the human mind. McCrone puts his cards right on the table: ""self-consciousness, memory, and higher emotions are al simple language-driven abilities which we pick up as children,"" and we differ from animals only in our possession of this ""cultural inheritance."" To back up his thesis, McCrone attempts on the one hand to trace the evolution of mind through toolmaking, fire-mastery, and the rise of language, and on the other hand to limn the workings of the mind, especially its ""not-forming properties."" All of this intrigues, and McCrone has a knack for carving a clear path through thorny science, but he seems to be writing in a cultural vacuum, unaware of current thinking in psychology, philosophy, and many another ""soft"" discipline. As a result, he posits views--that the mind contains no inherent archetypes, that conscience is a ""habit of thought"" begun with primitive taboos, that mind itself is no more than ""a convenient label for describing the brain at work""--that many readers will find hopelessly out-of, date. Indeed, the crux of his thesis--that consciousness and other ""higher"" capacities depend on language--has been recently challenged, perhaps demolished, in studies of languageless adults (e.g., in Schaller's A Man Without Words, p. 1520). An example of the defects that arise from narrowness of vision. McCrone has some talent, but next time should invest in a richer palette. Until then, the classic text remains Gordon Rattray Taylor's The Natural History of the Mind (1979). Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.