Review: The Evolution of Human Intellect: Discover the Information that Schools and Religions Aren't Yet Teaching

The Evolution of Human Intellect: Discover the Information that Schools and Religions Aren't Yet Teaching
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

First the title of this book promises too much, it really does not deliver what it states. The use of the Disney theme ride and Sara, the guide, is completely unnecessary and really detracts from the ideas presented in the book. I was really annoyed by that and almost gave up on the book altogether.

The book though does have some redeeming qualities and some of the ideas presented by the author do make you think e.g. nature causes nurture, emotional signalling and loss of hair in females. In this book the author uses emotional signaling as the basis for the evolution of human intellect. I find it interesting that he attributes that the giving birth by females to young ones requiring love and attention as the driving force behind this evolution even leading to the loss of facial hair for females so as to foster a higher level of emotional signalling between mother and child. So I guess humanity can thank the women for being the key to human evolution.

He does not delve at all into the biology of evolution, he rather focus on the journey. The reasons he puts forward for the evolution of the human mind have also affected other mammals on earth but they have not evolved to our level. This is where for me he falls short because apes, gorillas and orangutans have the same ancestors as us. He fails to explain the split and why our brain has been able to evolve while theirs has not evolved as much as ours. Because they also have emotional signalling and other characteristics he attributes for our evolution yet they have fallen short.

He also fails in my opinion to explain the evolution of God from eye to eye (as he puts it) to heaven. But towards the end of the book I felt that he had his ideas together and they were clearer. I do agree with him saying that our intellect is evolving in leaps and bounds as opposed to the slow pace in the beginning. I honestly think that he does not need the use of the Disney ride to get his point across and its use makes me question his target audience for this book.

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