A Brain for all Seasons
Oliver Sacks meets Al Gore.
I’ve always liked William Calvin’s work, but the writing really improved in A Brain for All Seasons (he mentions at one point that it’s heavily edited. To me, it sounds like Oliver Sacks, who can be frustrating if you want information on a single topic, but fascinating if you’re willing to wander with his fancy). Not only that, but he’s not just talking about evolutionary psychology–he’s firmly linking it to climate change.
The bit about our origins is fascinating, as always. The bit about climate change is, well, scary. He goes well beyond global warming, and shows many details about drastic cooling in the past, and does a very convincing job of explaining how the current warming could set off a very nasty set of climate swings. Calvin is no fear-monger; he’s always been a very careful scientist. He’s also no pessimist: he figures we probably can overcome this, although he does think we should get moving on it very soon.
This book is very much worth reading. It’s in the King County library; or for that matter, it’s online at Calvin’s site.