Customer Reviews

The Ape That Spoke: Language and the Evolution of the Human Mind

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Even 12 years after it was published, McCrone's first book remains a lucid introduction to the workings of the human brain, the history of its evolution, and the role of language in the development of self-consciousness and intelligence. He discusses how the brain evolved over millions of years, then he narrows his focus to examine how, during the last 40,000 years, language and self-awareness enhanced the brain's capabilities (through a process he calls "cultural evolution"). With its lack of jargon, "The Ape That Spoke" could be read by non-scientists interested in pursuing the far more exhaustive (and perhaps intimidating) studies by the likes of Steven Pinker or Antonio R. Damasio.

The reader should be aware, however, that McCrone's survey is occasionally reductive or misleading. Its most noticeable shortcoming, as the author himself admits on his own Web site, is that the book is "pretty sketchy on the neurological underpinnings of consciousness." (His later books attempt to address this disparity.) Second, readers must be very attentive to the endnotes in order to differentiate between scientific findings and McCrone's frequent speculation. Third, the book often presents tentative scientific conclusions as established fact and skirts the heated debates among scientists regarding language, consciousness, and intelligence. (His neglect of neurological studies only exacerbates this weakness.)

Finally, and perhaps most important, McCrone repeatedly uses the concept of "evolution" when he means "progress," "change," or "development." (Two examples selected from dozens: "Language gave early man just such a way to evolve and pass on complex ideas." "But now technology is starting to open the door to rapid mental evolution.") Even McCrone acknowledges that such oversimplification is not always useful when talking about something as complex as evolution, "where an effect can be its own cause and . . . where stable patterns emerge as what works outlasts what does not." Yet he nevertheless persists in using "evolution" in its metaphorical sense. Such vagueness may be appropriate for some topics, but it is certainly confusing in a book on evolution and language. In particular, as Stephen Jay Gould notes in "Full House," the term "cultural evolution" should be abandoned altogether, since societal transformation, unlike evolutionary change, can occur--and regress--both rapidly and deterministically (e.g., humans can easily and radically influence the direction of their culture and still remain human, but they cannot alter the genetic makeup they collectively inherited from evolutionary processes!).

Keeping in mind these caveats and shortcomings, diligent readers might still find McCrone's survey a useful introduction to more accurate and complex works on the topic.

I picked up my copy of "The Ape That Spoke" in the overstock bins at my local bookstore, so who could have imagined that it would be one of the most engaging books I had ever picked up? Like the PBS series "Connections", the author weaves disparate threads of topics into an easily understood foundation for social fabric. "The Ape That Spoke" reveals current theories about why intelligence was a successful factor in human evolution. It relates the power of speech with self expression then with social interaction. The ability to formulate complex expression is then shown in the contexts of prehistoric man as well as modern life. The viability of these theories is backed by a description of the data from experimentation. This helps ground the theories so that it is easy to follow the conclusions made by the anthropologists whose work is represented by the book's author. I'd encourage the reading of this book for anyone with a curiosity about the workings of the mind, and further would suggest it as a required reading for a college philosophy course.

I read this book for a book review I had to do for my "Mind Brain and Behavior" class in college. It was a very simple book to read and understand. I dont neccessarily agree with all McCrone has to say, but he does do an excellent job at making his ideas clear to the reader. I also enjoyed the fact that he had stories, etc. to help the average reader understand it more.

Regardless of what the other 'scientist' says, I found it very helpful for the person that is just beginning their understanding of linguistic anthropology. It is very understandable and makes clear some of the mysteries of the human brain. I, too, am a scientist but found this book very helpful for my students.

It's 16 years past the publish date on this book, but it is still viable and interesting. Well written, and so interesting it reads like fiction, I highly recommend this book to those who wish to understand how language influenced humans to become self aware and see where the side effects of self awareness have led us. Very enlightening book.

I just want to echo bilge's comments. I, too, picked this book up in a overstock bin and found it compelling and fascinating. If you can get a hold of a copy, buy it!

While this book brought up some interesting topics, it was too journalistic to be considered a serious scientific commentary. Maybe if it had been written by a scientist, or if I wasn't a scientist, I would have enjoyed it more. I did find it reasonably interesting, but not particularly compelling. I get the idea that this sort of psycho-babble is becoming popular, and pseudo-informed books like this are ten-a-penny. Science for the masses maybe, but not for the scientific.