Origins of the Modern Mind
Book description
This bold and brilliant book asks the ultimate question of the life sciences: How did the human mind acquire its incomparable power? In seeking the answer, Merlin Donald traces the evolution of human culture and cognition from primitive apes to artificial intelligence, presenting an enterprising and original theory of how…
Why read it?
1 author picked Origins of the Modern Mind as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Cognitive neuroscientist Merlin Donald posited that, at the most fundamental level, humans have a hybrid mind, one that consists of a gene-based mammalian, analogue brain, onto which is grafted a culture-based, symbolic brain. The former, the primitive mammalian brain, is a space where “the lines between consciousness and the mind’s inaccessible unconscious modules are drawn very deep in the sand” (p. 286).
As to myth, Donald noted that virtually all hunter-gatherer societies observed in the modern era have or had elaborate mythological systems, all structured along the same lines, in which myth informs every aspect of life: “myth permeates and…
From Thomas' list on C.J. Jung and the evolution of culture.
If you love Origins of the Modern Mind...
I Am Taurus
The constellation we know as Taurus goes all the way back to cave paintings of aurochs at Lascaux. This book traces the story of the bull in the sky, a journey through the history of what has become known as the sacred bull.
Each of the sections is written from…
Want books like Origins of the Modern Mind?
Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Origins of the Modern Mind.
Share your top 3 reads of 2024!
And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.
1,593
readers submitted
so far, will you?
