The Parasitic Mind: How Infections Are Killing Common Sense by Gad Saad

 The author states "I am a parasitologist of the human mind, seeking to inoculate people against a class of destructive ideas that destroy our capacity to reason." The book contains many examples of destructive ideas that really happened. It's a sad commentary.

The Revolutionary Genius of Plants by Stefano Mancuso

 The subtitle is A New Understanding Of Plant Intelligence and Behavior. Plants contrast with animals in that animal functions are concentrated in specialized organs while those of plants are spread through the entire body. "Plants .. modular, diffused construction is the epitome of modernity: a cooperative, shared structure without any command centers, able to flawlessly resist repeated catastrophic without losing functionality and adapt very quickly to huge environmental changes." Animals use movement as a primary strategy to avoid danger but a plant can be thought of as a colony of modular parts. The author shows that widespread participation in making decisions is the system that evolution rewards most.

Overshoot by William Catton Jr.

 Overshoot is growth beyond an area's carrying capacity leading to die-off. Catton explains that America, with its vast open spaces, saved Europe from overcrowding, but now everywhere is full. Starting with the industrial revolution we starting drawing down irreplaceable resources putting us on a path to collapse and massive deaths. He wrote this in 1980 and since then the problem has gotten a lot worse.

Poor Charlie's Almanack by Charles Munger

 Munger provides quite a bit of wisdom in this collection of talks. One really has to be smart to have great success and one has to know ALL the relevant factors. For example if you're a trick or two short you should know all the six or so standard methos, long suit establishment, finesses, throw-in plays, crossrulls, squeezes, and various ways of misleading the defense into making errors. Talk 7 shows why the accounting for stock options can lead to inflated estimates of company revenue.

The Other Brain by R. Douglas Fields

The neurons, which use electricity to communicate have been, until recently, the main focus of brain research. But only 15% of the cells in the brain are neurons. In 1990 researchers observed that the glia communicate chemically and are not just housekeeping cells. The author delineates the role of glia in helpful functions, diseases such as ALS and Parkinson's, and mental illnesses. It make the structure of the brain even more mind-boggling. 

Dark Matter of the Mind: The Culturally Articulated Unconscious by Daniel L. Everett

 This book is somewhat difficult to read but has valuable insights. Dark matter is what individuals build up through developing culture starting even in the womb but definitely at an early age. He presents a new theory of how culture, language, and the unconscious work together. "It is about how our unconscious is structured and infused with meaning by our individual experiences and social living."  He worked in the Amazon region and found tremendous cultural differences that caused him to change the direction of his life.

The Upright Ape: A New Origin of the Species by Aaron G. Filler

     The author presents evidence that evolution is not gradual with many steps over many years to make a significant change, but happens quickly in a generation with the assimilation of a single mutation. For example, in insects the nerve chord runs along the front of the animal facing the ground with the digestive track running along the back facing the sun. Vertebrates have the opposite arrangement. Perhaps one mutation flipped the insect version to the vertebrate version.

     The discovery of the Moroto vertebra showed that 21 million years ago a mutation occurred that created a new type of body plan: the hominoid body plan. This allowed hominoids to be bipedal. So our ancestors were bipedal that long ago and some descendants went back to the older way of walking but we didn't. 

    Although written for the general reader the book does give extensive details.

Mind: A Unified Theory of Mind and Intelligence by Frank T.Vertosick

 This is a fascinating book that describes all life as intelligent. Bacteria work as a group using genetics to adapt to threats. Humans takes years to develop an antibiotic but bacteria can defeat it in a year. Our immune system changes its own genes to remember antigens and learns millions over our lifetime. The author compares serial processing to the parallel processing of networks and shows how network processing creates intelligence.