An Instinct for Dragons [Paperback]

David E. Jones (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415937299 | ISBN-13: 978-0415937290 | Publication Date: June 23, 2002 | Edition: 1

From J.R.R. Tolkien's treasure-hoarding Smaug to the bright red beasts of the Chinese New Year's celebration, this magnificent, fire-breathing creature is ingrained in our culture. But where did the dragon originate? And how is it that people from Africa to China to America picture it the same?
An Instinct for Dragons is anthropologist David E Jones's account of his search for the mysterious birth of this ubiquitous monster. In a vast synthesis of art, mythology, history, and anthropology, Jones finds that the dragon is in fact a universal image. Not only does every culture in the world have a name for it -- smok in Polish, tatsu in Japanese, unktena in Cherokee -- but dragons everywhere share many of the same characteristics: multiple heads, talon-like claws, blazing breath.
Jones spans dragon lore from the Loch Ness monster to the Internet, as well as dragon inscriptions on cave walls, cliffs, and pots. His conclusion is stunning: not only is our fear and fascination with dragons a direct result of the predators who threatened our evolution - eagles, leopards, and pythons - but humankind is essentially hardwired to believe in this creature.
Captivating and eloquent, An Instinct for Dragons decodes the ancient puzzle of the oldest and fiercest monster.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Jones (anthropology, Univ. of Central Florida) contends that the dragon, a universal image of a creature that does not exist, is a direct result of the evolutionary process. Guided by the tenets of biocultural anthropology, Jones postulates that the dragon is a construct of the three predators that most threatened humankind in its infancy: the raptor, the snake, and the large cat. Allowing for the "cultural and individual artistic lenses" of world societies, Jones demonstrates the incredible similarities in the appearance and behavior of dragons in the lore and legend surrounding them. He examines the political and economic patterns that led to the sighting of dragons and their defeat by cultural heroes. While Jones's theory is just that, it is certainly interesting and convincingly presented, with numerous cultures cited. Recommended especially for academic libraries but also for school and public libraries with strong folklore collections.DKatherine Kaigler-Koenig, Ellis Sch., Pittsburgh, PA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Scientific American

Many societies have a concept of and a word for the dragon, even though the creature never existed. Why? Jones, professor of anthropology at the University of Central Florida, thinks the concept derives from the experience of ancestral humans and prehumans with three kinds of predator: "Over millennia," he writes, "the raptor, big cat, and serpent began to form as a single construct-the dragon--in the brain/mind of our ancient primate ancestors." Jones got his idea from the behavior of vervet monkeys in Africa. They have three different alarm calls that provoke three different defensive responses: one for the leopard, one for the martial eagle and one for the python. Most of the 40 illustrations in the book portray dragons as different societies envisioned them. The common theme is that they look scary.

EDITORS OF SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (June 23, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415937299
• ISBN-13: 978-0415937290
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #624,278 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mythology and anthropology blended, April 4, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: An Instinct for Dragons (Hardcover)

In the human condition we have blended the three predators that preyed on us. With the compression of memory the leopard, matial eagle and serpent were blended into the dragon.This idea occured to him when he was preparing a lecture on the alarm calls of vervet monkeys. As Dr. Jones points out in this thoroughly researched book- every culture has dragons myths. This book is a combination of myth, anthropology and sociology. Dr. Jones as a professor of Anthropology at the University of Central Florida has done an excellent job of explaining the phenonomen of the dragon. This book is very engaging. I have been a student of folklore for many years and found that Dr. Jones told me of new dragons I had never found in other sources.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting hypothesis, but somewhat lackluster presentation, October 14, 2007

By 

Henry C. Astley (Cincinnati, OH United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: An Instinct for Dragons (Paperback)

Overall, I thought this was quite an interesting idea, and I suspect that Jones is correct, though I'd wager that the snake played a disproportionate role (though not the only one, as the other reviewers suggest) and that during the time in which we were savannah apes we also included the crocodile.

However, the support for this hypothesis is rather spotty. In several cases, he neglects compelling evidence (such as the total lack of dinosaur fossils on Hawaii due to their recent volcanic origins) or makes errors which should have been caught (such as suggesting snakes' eyes face their prey as they strike, when in fact the mouth opens so wide that vision is totally obstructed). In some cases, he reaches too far (attempting to justify every minor embellishment of the dragon as originating from one or all of the three original predators), in other cases not far enough (a surprisingly cursory view of the reactions of basal primates to snakes, particularly lemurs, which have been isolated from venomous snakes for ~90 million years). His sections of evolution were generally good, but were too adaptationist and failed to seriously examine factors such as genetic drift and founder effect which could have led to individuals with altered perception of the "dragon threat" being disproportionately represented in the genepool.

More importantly, Jones clearly has done his utmost of expand the idea to fill the minimum book length, which is clearly evidenced by the full-page figures and entire last chapter. This has resulted in long lists of evidence and myths scattered throughout the book which distract from and bury the main point. The addition of the section on The Tree of Life as a universal symbol was similarly distracting.

It's a good idea with some strong potential, but the way in which it was written was enough to bump it down a whole star in rating. In my opinion, it should be re-issued as part of a larger whole exploring the biological basis of other universal symbols such as the tree, with much of the evidence and myth relegated to an appendix and with a herpetologist or at least an evolutionary biologist reviewing it prior to printing.

5.0 out of 5 stars Instinctively evolutionary, September 12, 2011

By 

James B. Mattinson "James" (Houston TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: An Instinct for Dragons (Paperback)

I have an interest in answers to the three big questions :-
1.Where did I come from?
2.Why am I here?
3.To where do I go when I am gone?
I've made considerable progress in finding answers to these questions but hit a brick wall when I realised that 'Instinct' plays a far more important role in our psyche than that for which it is given credit and/or is researched.
"An Instinct for Dragons" provides a 'missing link' in the chain of my comprehension.
It deserves massive attention.