A well written and illustrated book full of interesting thoughts about the evolution of brains leading up to our own.
The level of writing is about that of a review paper. Although Allman covers a lot of subjects, from genetics, developmental biology, palaeontology to primate vision, all concepts are well explained and illustrated and the book makes good reading for a research biologist as well as for an interested layman.
Allman started his career as an anthropologist, which gives him a different perspective than the average neuroscientist's. He not only describes the workings of the nervous systems and behaviors of different animals, but puts them into perspective with their evolutionary roots and their ecological niche. All these insights are not hand-waving speculation, but well supported by comparative studies.
Another strong point of this book is how Allman guides the reader trough the evolutionary lineage leading from amphibians to reptiles, mammal like reptiles, mammals, primates to ourselves. At every branch point he points out the critical innovations, the evolutionary pressures that most likely lead to these innovations and the trade offs made. A key question he addresses is, "why isn't every animal equipped with a big brain?". It is our own experience, both phylogenetically as well as everyday life, that a big brain, and the resulting high level of intelligence, is an advantage. Allman points out the high cost of rearing big-brained young and of maintaining such an energetically expensive organ.
If you are interested in how animals use their brains to deal with ever-changing environments and why our brain evolved to be so much more powerful than any other species', then this book is for you.
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