How Homo Became Sapiens

Peter Gardenfors embarks on an evolutionary detective story to try and solve one of the big mysteries surrounding human existence—how has the modern human being's way of thinking come into existence. He starts by taking in turn the more basic cognitive processes—such as attention and memory, then builds upon these to explore more complex behaviours, such as self-consciousness, mindreading, and imitation. Having done this, he examines the consequences of 'putting thought into the world'—using external media like cave paintings, drawings, and writing.