Michael C. Corballis's Books

From Hand to Mouth

The Origins of Language

By: Michael C. Corballis

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

From Hand to Mouth

The Origins of Language

By: Michael C. Corballis

A psychologist shows how gestures rather than sounds formed the basis of language fundamentals, using evidence from anthropology, animal behavior, neurology, molecular biology, and anatomy to make his case.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

272

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0691116733

ISBN 13

9780691116730

A Very Short Tour of the Mind

21 Short Walks Around the Human Brain

By: Michael C. Corballis

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

A Very Short Tour of the Mind

21 Short Walks Around the Human Brain

By: Michael C. Corballis

“Thoroughly enjoyable” essays from a cognitive neuroscientist, filled with surprising facts (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). Modern computers might be faster, and whales might have larger brains, but neither can match the sheer intellect or capacity for creativity that the human mind enjoys. It is arguably the most complex organ in the universe. If you’ve ever wondered why your dog can remember where it buried its bone but you can’t find your keys, or whether it’s true that we use only ten percent of our brainpower, this concise book offers some answers—and introduces us to what science has learned about the intricacies of the human brain over the last fifty years. Leading us through behavioral experiments and neuroscience, cognitive theory and Darwinian evolution, Michael Corballis punctures a few hot-air balloons, and explains just what we know—and don’t know—about our own minds. “Poses questions we wouldn’t have thought to ask and then answers them with clarity and wit.” —American Scientist

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

Publisher

ABRAMS

Published Date

ISBN 10

1468315463

ISBN 13

9781468315462

The Truth about Language

What It Is and Where It Came From

By: Michael C. Corballis

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Truth about Language

What It Is and Where It Came From

By: Michael C. Corballis

Evolutionary science has long viewed language as, basically, a fortunate accident—a crossing of wires that happened to be extraordinarily useful, setting humans apart from other animals and onto a trajectory that would see their brains (and the products of those brains) become increasingly complex. But as Michael C. Corballis shows in The Truth about Language, it’s time to reconsider those assumptions. Language, he argues, is not the product of some “big bang” 60,000 years ago, but rather the result of a typically slow process of evolution with roots in elements of grammatical language found much farther back in our evolutionary history. Language, Corballis explains, evolved as a way to share thoughts—and, crucially for human development, to connect our own “mental time travel,” our imagining of events and people that are not right in front of us, to that of other people. We share that ability with other animals, but it was the development of language that made it powerful: it led to our ability to imagine other perspectives, to imagine ourselves in the minds of others, a development that, by easing social interaction, proved to be an extraordinary evolutionary advantage. Even as his thesis challenges such giants as Chomsky and Stephen Jay Gould, Corballis writes accessibly and wittily, filling his account with unforgettable anecdotes and fascinating historical examples. The result is a book that’s perfect both for deep engagement and as brilliant fodder for that lightest of all forms of language, cocktail party chatter.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

273

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

022628722X

ISBN 13

9780226287225

A Very Short Tour of the Mind

21 Short Walks Around the Human Brain

By: Michael C. Corballis

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

A Very Short Tour of the Mind

21 Short Walks Around the Human Brain

By: Michael C. Corballis

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

Publisher

ABRAMS

Published Date

ISBN 10

1468315463

ISBN 13

9781468315462

The Psychology of Left and Right

By: Michael C. Corballis,Ivan L. Beale

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Psychology of Left and Right

By: Michael C. Corballis,Ivan L. Beale

Originally published in 1976, this title deals with the problem of how we tell left from right. The authors argue that the ability to tell left from right depends ultimately on a bodily asymmetry, such as preference for one or the other hand, or dominance of one side of the brain. This has implications for child development, reading disability, navigation, art, and culture.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

259

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1000089738

ISBN 13

9781000089738

From Hand to Mouth

The Origins of Language

By: Michael C. Corballis

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

From Hand to Mouth

The Origins of Language

By: Michael C. Corballis

Writing with wit and eloquence, Corballis makes nimble reference to literature, mythology, natural history, sports, and contemporary politics as he explains in fascinating detail what is now known about the evolution of language. Line illustrations.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

292

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0691088039

ISBN 13

9780691088037

The Recursive Mind

The Origins of Human Language, Thought, and Civilization - Updated Edition

By: Michael C. Corballis

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Recursive Mind

The Origins of Human Language, Thought, and Civilization - Updated Edition

By: Michael C. Corballis

The Recursive Mind challenges the commonly held notion that language is what makes us uniquely human. In this compelling book, Michael Corballis argues that what distinguishes us in the animal kingdom is our capacity for recursion: the ability to embed our thoughts within other thoughts. "I think, therefore I am," is an example of recursive thought, because the thinker has inserted himself into his thought. Recursion enables us to conceive of our own minds and the minds of others. It also gives us the power of mental "time travel"--the ability to insert past experiences, or imagined future ones, into present consciousness. Drawing on neuroscience, psychology, animal behavior, anthropology, and archaeology, Corballis demonstrates how these recursive structures led to the emergence of language and speech, which ultimately enabled us to share our thoughts, plan with others, and reshape our environment to better reflect our creative imaginations. He shows how the recursive mind was critical to survival in the harsh conditions of the Pleistocene epoch, and how it evolved to foster social cohesion. He traces how language itself adapted to recursive thinking, first through manual gestures, then later, with the emergence of Homo sapiens, vocally. Toolmaking and manufacture arose, and the application of recursive principles to these activities in turn led to the complexities of human civilization, the extinction of fellow large-brained hominins like the Neandertals, and our species' supremacy over the physical world.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

308

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0691160945

ISBN 13

9780691160948

The Wandering Mind

What the Brain Does When You're Not Looking

By: Michael C. Corballis

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Wandering Mind

What the Brain Does When You're Not Looking

By: Michael C. Corballis

Does the fact that as much as fifty percent of our waking hours [finds] us failing to focus on the task at hand represent a problem? Michael Corballis doesn't think so, and with [this book], he shows us why, rehabilitating woolgathering and revealing its ... useful effects. Drawing on the latest research from cognitive science and evolutionary biology, Corballis [posits that] mind-wandering not only frees us from moment-to-moment drudgery, but also from the limitations of our immediate selves"--Amazon.com.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

184

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

022641891X

ISBN 13

9780226418919

The Lopsided Ape

The Evolution of the Generative Mind

By: Michael C. Corballis

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Lopsided Ape

The Evolution of the Generative Mind

By: Michael C. Corballis

How great is the evolutionary distance between humans and apes, and what is it that creates that gulf? Philosophers and scientists have debated the question for centuries, but Michael Corballis finds the mystery revealed in our right hands. For humans are the only primates who are predominantly right handed, a sign of the specialization of the left hemisphere of the brain for language. And that specialization, he tells us, makes a massive distance indeed, as he describes what exactly it means to be the lopsided ape. In The Lopsided Ape, Corballis takes us on a fascinating tour of the origins and implications of the specialization of the two halves of the brain--known as laterality--in human evolution. He begins by surveying current views of evolution, ranging from the molecular level--the role of viruses, for instance, in transporting genes between species--to the tremendous implications of such physical changes as walking on two feet. Walking upright freed our ancestors' arms for such things as tool-making and gesturing (a critical part of early language). Corballis argues that the evolution of the brain--and language--was intimately tied up with these changes: The proliferation of objects made by early hominids, in an increasingly artificial environment marked by social cooperation, demanded greater flexibility in communication and even in thinking itself. These evolutionary pressures spurred the development of laterality in the brain. He goes on to look at the structure of language, following the work of Noam Chomsky and others, showing how grammar allows us to create an infinite variety of messages. In examining communication between animals and attempts to teach apes and dolphins language, he demonstrates that only humans have this unlimited ability for expression--an ability that he traces back through hominid evolution. After this engrossing account of what we know about evolution, language, and the human brain, Corballis suggests that the left hemisphere has evolved a Generative Assembling Device, a biological mechanism that allows us to manipulate open-ended forms of representation and provides the basis for mathematics, reasoning, music, art, and play as well as language and manufacture. It is this device, he writes, that truly sets us off from the apes. Both a detailed account of human language and evolution and a convincing argument for a new view of the brain, The Lopsided Ape provides fascinating insight into our origins and the nature of human thought itself.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

377

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0198024525

ISBN 13

9780198024521

The Recursive Mind

The Origins of Human Language, Thought, and Civilization - Updated Edition

By: Michael C. Corballis

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Recursive Mind

The Origins of Human Language, Thought, and Civilization - Updated Edition

By: Michael C. Corballis

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

308

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0691160945

ISBN 13

9780691160948

The Truth About Language

What it is and Where it Came From

By: Michael C. Corballis

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Truth About Language

What it is and Where it Came From

By: Michael C. Corballis

While birds can chirp and monkeys can chatter, only humans possess the extraordinary power to tell stories and offer explanations, to explain and persuade, to baffle and bullshit that we call language. How come? Where did language come from? In this book, Michael Corballis takes on what has been called the hardest problem in science. From God to Noam Chomsky, many have suggested that language arose suddenly in a way that cannot be explained through ordinary evolutionary processes. Corballis argues otherwise. He uncovers the precursors of language in the ability of mice and other animals to engage in 'mental time travel', the use of gesture by apes, the capacity of chimpanzees to step into the shoes (or paws) of others, and the increasing need for social co-operation as hominins left the forest. By adding voice and grammar, language enabled humans to take all those capacities up an evolutionary notch. Now we could share stories, we could work collaboratively in groups, and - as different languages became standardised - we could even learn to dislike different groups and different cultures. We were human. Language fills our daily lives with talk and gossip, our televisions with soap operas and sports commentators, our lecture halls with bespectacled wisdom and our libraries with books like this. Where did language come from and why do we like it so much? Michael Corballis has an answer.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

264

Published Date

ISBN 10

1869408632

ISBN 13

9781869408633

The Wandering Mind

What the Brain Does When You're Not Looking

By: Michael C. Corballis

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Wandering Mind

What the Brain Does When You're Not Looking

By: Michael C. Corballis

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

184

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

022641891X

ISBN 13

9780226418919

The Lopsided Ape

The Evolution of the Generative Mind

By: Michael C. Corballis

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Lopsided Ape

The Evolution of the Generative Mind

By: Michael C. Corballis

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

377

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0198024525

ISBN 13

9780198024521

Book's by Michael C. Corballis

From Hand to Mouth

From Hand to Mouth

A Very Short Tour of the Mind

A Very Short Tour of the Mind

The Truth about Language

The Truth about Language

A Very Short Tour of the Mind

A Very Short Tour of the Mind

The Psychology of Left and Right

The Psychology of Left and Right

From Hand to Mouth

From Hand to Mouth

The Recursive Mind

The Recursive Mind

The Wandering Mind

The Wandering Mind

The Lopsided Ape

The Lopsided Ape

The Recursive Mind

The Recursive Mind

The Truth About Language

The Truth About Language

The Wandering Mind

The Wandering Mind

The Lopsided Ape

The Lopsided Ape

Username

Password

Username

Password

Password again

Birthday

Email