Does the key to understanding all human behavior lie in viewing evolution through the prism of the first living organisms? According to neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux, tracking the chain of the evolutionary timeline shows how even the earliest single-cell organisms had to solve the same problems we and our cells have to solve each day.

Drawing on his new book, The Deep History of Ourselves: The Four Billion-Year Story of How We Got Conscious Brains, LeDoux sheds new light on how the evolution of nervous systems enhanced the ability of organisms to survive and thrive, how nervous systems evolved in animals, how the brain developed, and what it means to be human. He explores our place in nature and how the emergence of what we humans understand as consciousness made our greatest and most horrendous achievements as a species possible.

LeDoux is the Henry and Lucy Moses professor of science at New York University, where he is a member of the Center for Neural Science and Department of Psychology. He also directs NYU’s Emotional Brain Institute.

The Deep History of Ourselves (Penguin Random House) is available for sale and signing.