THE HAND Panteon Books 0 By David Papineau OW did wo got tobe sosmart? ‘Yow mbon years ago our ncentors were folcking it te tes, with bo though ‘eyuning but the neat Danan. Now we fd then othe too, Something Bape Deca but what exactly? Nobody Ts hte sure’ Paradosially,one of he fo foestons aur big bain can"t sete Is ‘hy they became seg In “The Handy” ake R. Win veges an arresting answer. For him the Ihe peculiarities of the human hand Yimou our Taney mis, he arEoes, here wouldn't have been any pont i owing big brine. This evotstanary hes, however, 8 only one of te hemes in Wilsoa'samtious book. By ofesson he isthe medal rector of he Peter F. Ostwald Health Program Sr fetorming atthe nea Sraneiso. He works mally wit mus. ‘abe who have manual lords and 1S book celebrates the importance of ands to our ves today as wellas othe “Wisn'sewo concerns mate for an 1y theses with detailed analyses. of ‘nal anatomy ane eaetl references 2"the toss record By corns, his inking about dhe role ef hands he 1ogern Wor seonveyed more by ‘ation than by argument though tes of interviews in which people with wen The two Lids of material al Ste moughout te book Together they Her plenty of facts and a number ot Meresting storie. But Wisore own teins are sometimes buried beneath seni fal rig your acta a mh sem ast Ieligence favored by nator ect simply because Ie enhanced ser falls o explain why ie was worth “rung dow the platy headed path in ‘ti place. Obviusly, ou ug bran we mow allowed us to outed all mpettors an take over the pane. \Shage to survive and reproduce per. sty well wienout a bg computer i vid Papieas isthe Protesor ofthe ‘Mlsopy of Science st Kings College, Are hands the key to the evolution of human intelligence? their heads. What made our patiealar curevohlony history, and authorities fn the subjet have offered various a Sorts that we grew big brine inorder to gossip. Less faccuousy, the hea that hominis wath enough Brainpower tO be interested inthe payehaagy af th sha et ate one ‘onuarum that the ipods tne ote wen me et he ces de fences paged 8 part. But he sas {erence wete root for he special sre ‘Ashwell the story, the grounork for our hypernetigence was las When Tergeapesfirst started singing hough tho trove by tei arms. Ths elle for fd those abies proved very useful {rons Unite other animals they were ‘ble to throw tones and fasion cor plex tool it wae these specie manus ibeequent cerebral expansion ad Shade eran ate we a this eal reaummaby convincing OF Course, muchos perforce spective, Shr theres te drecterdenee beyond ew fragments of fonsined bone. Bt this a problem facing all theorizing a {his area and Wiens conjecture sees las: Perhaps be could be aceused ot Sverenphaiing he ans cara ace factor, af something i take the mele the hand seems a fas candnate can "The om of Wilson's interviews wrth contemporaries Is less clear-cut he ee of os, Sights nto the neural mechanisms tat Through jevelers, hotrod mechani, Iagleane and surgeons, turns out that than pslobgeal The pepte who rele Iy terest him have found a calling, ‘ten in cldhocd and thelr crm ment brings fublient to thee. Ives ‘Therock ember, or instance wae abi to pull hilt tothe top of chests of ‘rawers before he could wall, sod by Highschool wold ib the fae of 8 Foek without thinkin abou iat all When oo on eee would even consider ‘wise auines an eavestional pi losaphyinped by thie vsion ote filed person, Schools should doles 19 ‘ns euenoraed lowiedgs Sid more ‘nla potential: Many of hs iter tampered their development. Wises urges a “childareatod” approach to ‘eueation, sich starts withthe needs fd interest ofthe cbt He gors so far hove spentancously and volta on th at fo heron tation ‘oon cra probably prepare adequately {ocenter that carer bythe eget 20" Provided with de necessary asistance Tes somewhat surpeaig to find sudeat of evoludanary history emrac: {ng thie viow of ndvdual developers, forte do tat weal ontan the seeds ‘fou own desis gains no suport from eveluvooary tuning. Wien perfectly aware tht there nating Dreordained about the course of ay Species’ evolutionary development Eve Ito sa sequence of accidents path ‘Sas unpredictable asthe rajecory oa Pball Consider the deals ot Wilsons {et large. Tle growth togeter with {ravi eocourages them fo swing DY their arms Then once they come down Sires sel throw stones, hich ‘a inelgence to emerge, bt nothing {3 guiding this essential hophasard se quence toward hat partielar destin toa Ro wonder sophisticated. mel eee aden once no {foe dentin of species ‘8 sohappenstantil? Tere tno formal inconsistency eres theoretically pos: ‘Shi tat Iidual genes sould cha ‘elu along spe pes inthe way Be Shgzests, ever thing sitar gues Species. Sth ie seems unlikely. Surely Pinhal thay rainy trains Maybe Ee know where they are sng rom a fry age but man of we are bce Stound by many ferent ences abd fina niche that four dal selves. Tn'he le third of he book Wilson ‘whose manual oils become increas ‘Bey es sgiican Teresa caper tne among tmumber of aernatve thee to doubt thee particular tater oe ‘Se 1 tee formal education: Be Waeon Sit not evince me that mal be We todesgn our educational regimen ssc teal forte sliced Most ornary folyand perhaps sone of Wisi’ eset tf schling that euaniies the wet JULY 19,1998 THENEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW 9