Halfway through the book, Sagan talks about dragons and the meaning behind the book’s title. Although dragons are mythical creatures, there are real animals that resemble dragons, one example is the Komodo dragon–a reptile that can weigh up to 300 pounds and be 10 feet in length (oh and did I mention they are venomous?).

There's good reason that our ancestors were afraid of these dragon-like creatures. It’s no surprise that there are plenty of myths about dragons and how they terrorized and attacked humans.

Interestingly enough, Sagan points out that dragon myths aren’t just found in the Western world, but are instead a worldwide phenomenon. This may be because of dinosaurs or similar reptiles, which may have resembled dragons.

Dragons might also be a metaphor for the ‘reptile brain’ in humans, which controls our aggression and rituals. Another theory is that perhaps humans fear the dragon inside of themselves and other people.

Sagan also notes that in the story of Genesis, Adam and Eve are tempted by a reptile in Eden. Since a reptile has been the downfall of man once, it’s possible man stays away from reptiles to avoid another mistake such as the one committed by Eve. Either way, dragons can be found inside of people and the outside world.

3) A Few Other Lessons

Since Sagan’s book is tightly packed with facts and information, here are some of the interesting ideas learned from his book:

The best measure of intelligence of an organism is not the mass of the brain, but the ratio of the mass of the brain to the total mass of the organism.

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.

Having a large brain compared to our body mass may be one of the reasons humans have been able to survive and rise to the top of the food chain.

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.

Our brain gives us the ability to think about the future and focus on long-term benefits, but we get a lot of anxiety from it and from thinking about our inevitable end.

Conclusion:

After reading "The Dragons of Eden", it’s clear to see why this book won a Pulitzer Prize. The book is jam-packed with incredible facts and information that will require readers to take a moment to soak it all in. The book flows wonderfully and has diagrams and images to help readers better understand the text.

The book is about 250 pages long and expertly written, so it is quite easy to read–no Ph.D. or Masters in science degree is required. However, I do wish this book had clear-cut lessons for readers at the end of each chapter to identify the key information from each chapter.

Also, since this book was written in 1977, its safe to say that in the past 40 years someone has written a book on this topic with updated information. But, since I have yet to find that book, I’m giving Sagan a curve and ranking his book a four out of five.

Rating: 4/5 stars

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