Evolution's End: Claiming the Potential of Our Intelligence

The author of The Crack in the Cosmic Egg claims that schools have collapsed because most American children are neurologically damaged. By age 11, he maintains, the brain loses most of its neural connections, partly due to medical interventions during childbirth, lack of breastfeeding, routine circumcision without anaesthesia and other factors Pearce believes rupture the mother-infant bond and thus inhibit the growth of the child's cortex. He also faults television, which floods the juvenile brian with images at the very time it should be producing images from within; day-care and regimented schooling, which stifle spontaneous play; and synthetic growth hormone residues in meat, poultry and dairy products, which induce premature sexuality in adolescents. To overcome these impediments, Pearce outlines a developmental psychology drawing on the work of Jean Piaget, the novels of Carlos Castaneda, tantric Indian cosmology and quantum physics. Much more rigorous and demanding than his previous books, his controversial tract makes many sweeping claims likely to prompt skepticism. $30,000 ad/promo; author tour. (Oct.)