Published in 1977, Dragons was widely hailed by critics from conventional media sources as a “delight” sure to fascinate readers. Some scientifically trained reviewers were decidedly less glowing, however. Dragons of Eden" is a beautiful book, worth reading even though some parts are outdated. Science may have advanced greatly in the past 40 years, but it's also become more compartmentalized. Today it's rarer today to see someone with knowledge both deep and wide in so many subjects — from mythology, to art, to molecular biology and astronomy — form theories and opinions on some of our biggest questions as a species.

What I do love about this book is the importance of the subject. There is nothing that should be more crucial in science that the study of the human brain. It is what makes humans so unique. Without it and its special properties, the conduct of science itself would be impossible. Sagan makes his appreciation for and the importance of the subject clear throughout the book. It is likely why he chose to write about something outside his realm of expertise. It is also something exceedingly complicated, and as a result even today, 36 years after this book's publication, prominent brain scientists often describe the study of the human brain as in its infancy.Another take down came in the form of a study published in 2022 in the journal Science. Researchers compared the brains of lizards and mice to see if similar neurons in both species were concentrated in certain areas of the brain. Countering the triune theory, they found that these neurons were scattered all over. There was no clear “reptilian” portion of the mammalian brain.

While parts are outdated, other parts make for fascinating scientific information that is still just as relevant today as it was in 1977. This book introduces the "Cosmic Calendar", where the entire history of the Universe since the Big Bang is set to scale as if it occurred in one year. The earth did not form until September and all of "recorded" history occurred in the last hour before midnight-exactly the kind of humbling truth that Sagan delivered so well. The parts on primate and early human evolution are fascinating and I imagine would be even more eye-opening to someone who had not been formally educated on those subjects. I love it when Sagan extends the scientific data to social and political issues, and there is plenty of that here, though perhaps less than in some of his other books. The average human brain has 10One day, the six Descendants went through labour and laid fourteen eggs, among the great anticipation of the whole of Eden. They have grown up to be fourteen powerful dragons, and the mightiest of all were the two oldest ones, Aiden and Edna. They were the two best candidates for the throne: holding the Supreme Power stone and becoming the Supreme Guardian of Eden.

For his work, Dr. Sagan received the NASA medals for Exceptional Scientific Achievement and (twice) for Distinguished Public Service, as well as the NASA Apollo Achievement Award. Asteroid 2709 Sagan is named after him. He was also awarded the John F. Kennedy Astronautics Award of the American Astronautical Society, the Explorers Club 75th Anniversary Award, the Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Medal of the Soviet Cosmonauts Federation, and the Masursky Award of the American Astronomical Society, (" for his extraordinary contributions to the development of planetary science…As a scientist trained in both astronomy and biology, Dr. Sagan has made seminal contributions to the study of planetary atmospheres, planetary surfaces, the history of the Earth, and exobiology. Many of the most productive planetary scientists working today are his present and former students and associates"). He hits upon something I had noticed quite independently; the tendency for Britain to produce a larger number of polymaths than other countries, and cited some of my other intellectual heroes; Bertrand Russell, A.N. Whitehead, J.B.S. Haldane and Jacob Bronowski (I would've added Peter Medawar as well). He wrote that it was important for society to allow for such broad and powerful thinkers - multi-disciplinarians, but that the evidence shows a steep 'decline' towards specialisation. I can see this borne out across various media - there is scant evidence of polymaths living in the UK today. At the time of writing, the right / left split of the brain factored heavily into theories of the mind. The left being the seat of analytical and linguistic functions, the right the center of creativity and dreams. More recent neuroscience points to a more modular brain with specialized areas throughout. What's consistent with theories of Sagan's time and today is that much of our brain activity is subconscious, and the sensation that we are actively directing our behavior is largely an illusion. We are indeed creatures of habit, following sometimes ancient patterns, written in the mysterious language of our genetic code. However, this gift comes with a price. Humans are the only species that experience pain during childbirth, this is due to the large skull of human babies.

The reason that makes our Dragons of Eden become one of most favourite keycaps comes from the sophisticated design. In this version 3, we continue to introduce a special design of our awesome creature in the modern fantasy world. In a diagram of brain mass versus body mass for primates, mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and dinosaurs, Homo sapiens rank number one while dolphins rank second.