Customer Reviews

The Runaway Brain: The Evolution of Human Uniqueness

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Okay, this is not my typical light-reading fare. I was browsing the Harvard book store in Cambridge, MA and saw it in the bargain bin and grabbed it. It may be the best buy I ever made.

Wills walks us down the evolutionary path of mankind explaining the paleontology and genetics involved in tracing man's lineage through the years. He has a knack for writing in an entertaining style and explaining the hard science in a way that us lay-people can understand without insulting our intelligence.

Though the book is several years old now, it is possibly more timely than ever as the popular press pushes the pop-science of genetics down our throats with little regard for the accuracy of the science involved. The press would have us believe that there is a "happy gene" and a "sad gene" and even a "good Mom" gene. Pure bunk as Wills makes clear.

He also lays to rest the myth that we are all descended from a single "Eve" as was reported in the late 1980's. Instead, he explains what the real science was. He explores the mitochrondial genetic materials that is passed down through the female lineage of our species and how we attempt to trace our species back to "Eve". She was most likely more than one person though possibly a small number. "Eve" most likely lived in the Rift Valley of Africa though it is possible that she may have lived in Asia.

We explore the fossil evidence and told some unforutately sordid tales of racism by scientists through the years that has clouded our thinking of evolution. Wills walks us through two plausible genetic scenarios of how we are evolved from "Eve" without delving himself into racist science. He also walks us through the myths and realities of genetic mutations, fossil evidence of human ancestors, and even unravels the DNA strands of genetic material making it clear what the Human Genome project is really all about.

I found it especially revealing when I attempted to locate Wills' title. Eventually, I did find that he is, indeed, a Ph.D. in his field. Not that it was easy. Wills is not on an ego-trip; he is not overly impressed with his intellectual prowess. I am convinced that this is from whence his down-to-earth writing style emanates.

It is always nice to put down a book knowing that not only were you entertained, but also walked away a little better informed than when you opened up the book. Thank you Chrisopher Wills.

Quite simply, this is one of the best books on not just evolution, but the brain and many other areas of science which are deeply involved with one another. I cannot praise Christopher Wills' writing and his knowledge and ability to tie all this information together. If I were not living in PIttsburgh finishing my PhD on science education, I'd probably go out to San Diego and beg for a job from this guy.

I picked up the book years ago while getting my BS and MS in neuroscience. I put it aside for whatever reading, then this winter got sick and started in on the book. It took me a long time to read which is very unusual for me as a speed reader, but it was more than worth the time. The thing is so much of what he wrote and taught, the reader has to back away from the book and assimilate it, so that it can make sense, especially the parts of science such as archaeology and anthropology that I did not have classes in, or much exposure to. Wills has whetted my appetite in many of these areas, and unlike many of my other books, this one will not be resold. In fact, I intend to reread it again, so I can understand more of what he teaches. So much of the science makes sense where many of my professors were totally incapable of rational explanations for certain things concerning the brain and why it developed the way it did. Wills answered many of my questions that I had. The book is not as easy to read as say something from Oliver Sacks, not because of the writing but due to the sheer amount of information Wills managed to fit into the book.

This book should be a definite required reading in neuroscience as well as anthropology. As a deaf person I especially enjoyed the fact that he included information and research on deaf done by Bellugi and Neville, that shows that we are not as stupid as the world has previously assumed us to be. It also demonstrates that research into people with differences help us to understand how the brain works and rewires itself.

This book is not the typical book on the brain, but rather one that explains the evolution of the brain from microorganisms from millions of years ago, to the current status of our brains. I am sure that if we are not stupid enough to ruin our planet within the next few years, our brains will continue to evolve, and things which we would considered either odd or miraculous now, will become things that we take for granted in the future...

Now I have to go find his other books to read, and he better well not quit writing!

Karen L. Sadler

I much enjoyed the Runaway Brain - for reasons of breadth and humility. The book is full of non-cliche evidence and research trivia that doesn't feel like trivia. For example, the author - on a couple of occasions - references a curious fact that neurons are - evolutionarily speaking - descendents of skin cells. Now that really got me thinking about the phenomenology of our neural networks. Similarly, the book is rich with what struck me as unorthodox but quite reasonable intepretations and conclusions. For example, the author posits that proportionately speaking the brains of all and any living species are similarly complex and evolved in comparison with these species-specific brains at their respective evolutionary starting points. Modern humans are more neurally capable than the first ones, and the same goes for modern day dogs and ants and you name it. This sobering - for this non-biologist - reminder of the parallel evolution across the entire gamut of species is the kind of side-bar observation that is characteristic of the humble tone of the book.


Pavel Somov, Ph.D., Author of "Eating the Moment: 141 Mindful Practices to Overcome Overeating One Meal at a Time" (New Harbinger, 2008)

The Runaway Brain: The Evolution of Human UniquenessThe Runaway Brain: The Evolution of Human Uniqueness

by Christopher Wills

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

View all my reviews

In my lifelong effort to understand what makes us human, I long ago arrived at the lynchpin to that discussion: our brain. Even though bipedalism preceded big brains, and we couldn't be who we are without that upright stance, I believe we would be little more than vertical apes without being followed quickly by an explosion in our brain size. And, I'm not talking about volume--quantity--as much as quality. Neanderthals taught us brain growth must be in the correct part of the brain. Bigger, stronger animals require bigger stronger brains, but that doesn't mean they are more efficient or effective. Neanderthals had a brain bigger than modern man, but it was used to drive their life style, not their evolution.

It is this topic that Christopher Wills investigates in his wonderful book, The Runaway Brasin: The Evolution of Human Uniqueness (Harper Collins 1993). His approach is not so much a simple discussion of our brain's changes over time as a focus on how those changes turned the genus Homo into the most unique animal on the planet. His writing is fun, easy-to-understand and almost like a thriller as we are forced to turn pages long after we might have put the book down. Why? We must see what happens next. He discusses not only evolution, but brain growth in modern man--how does the brain mature throughout our own lifetime. I learned most of this in my child psychology classes, but reading it through his eyes was so much more fun than the way my professors described it.

The real meat of the book is his discussion of changes in the brain that enabled our evolution to Thinking Man. So much of what we are wouldn't be possible without drastic changes in the brain's structure. Mutations, certainly, but we're thankful for them. Our ability to speak as we do is one. Our interest in art and music--symbolic thinking, where we don't just say things in a black-and-white sort of way, but use mental pictures. As recently as the early 1900's, this sort of symbolic thinking allowed primitive tribes to travel their habitat without ever getting lost--even to places they had never before been.

How did we come up with counting? How did we decide to adorn ourselves with paint and jewelry? These would not have occurred without changes in our brain that made these seem normal. Why does man problem-solve? Most other species follow instinct. If there isn't a solution that's hard-wired into their genes or they can learn from a parent, it's out of their reach. Not mankind.

These are all part of the Runaway Brain. Jump in and don't let go. If you borrow the book from the library, you'll end up purchasing it because you'll want to refer to it over and over.