City Libraries, City of Gold Coast

Metazoa, animal minds and the birth of consciousness, Peter Godfrey-Smith

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

platesillustrations

index present

non fiction

Metazoa

bibliography

Peter Godfrey-Smith

animal minds and the birth of consciousness

Dip below the ocean's surface and you are soon confronted by forms of life that could not seem more foreign to our own: sea sponges, soft corals and flower-like worms, whose rooted bodies and intricate geometry are more reminiscent of plant life than anything recognisably animal. Yet these creatures are our cousins. As fellow members of the animal kingdom, the Metazoa, they can teach us about the evolutionary origins of not only our bodies, but also our minds. Peter Godfrey-Smith explored the mind of the octopus, the closest thing to an intelligent alien on Earth. In Metazoa, he expands his inquiry to animals at large, investigating the evolution of experience with the assistance of far-flung species. Godfrey-Smith shows that the appearance of the first animal body form well over half a billion years ago was a profound innovation that set life upon a new path

Protozoa -- The glass sponge -- The ascent of soft coral -- The one-armed shrimp -- The origin of subjects -- The octopus -- Kingfish -- On land -- Fins, legs, wings -- Put together by degrees