Deep History of Ourselves: The Four-Billion-Year Story of How We Got Conscious Brains

This book is the account of a leading neuroscientist offering a history of brain evolution — from the start of single-cell existence to the complex nature of the organ as seen in humans today. Joseph LeDoux shines perspective on how we got to today, examining similarities with our current selves and our evolutionary ancestors. Through this, LeDoux crafts a story of how we came to develop nervous systems and the organ to which they all link to: the brain. He examines how stages of this development came out of a need to progressively address problems that are now beyond our human consciousness — how nerves and subsequent realities allowed for organisms to survive and thrive, and are central into the kinds of awareness (and lack thereof) we now face as a species with a brain. This title has been longlisted for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award.

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