What Pulitzer Prize-winning book did Carl Sagan write in 1977?

The Pulitzer Prize-winning book Carl Sagan wrote in 1977 was The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence. The book examines how human intelligence may have evolved, combining ideas from anthropology, evolutionary biology, psychology, neuroscience, and computer science.

Sagan explored the structure and development of the brain, the possible evolutionary purposes of sleep and dreams, animal communication, human fears, myths about dragons, and the relationship between intelligence and survival. The title suggests that ancient fears of predators may have contributed to cultural stories about dragons and other dangerous creatures.

The book was published in 1977 and received the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1978. That distinction explains a common source of confusion: the publication year and the award year are different. It was Sagan's first Pulitzer and helped establish him as a major public intellectual as well as an astronomer.

Unlike Cosmos, which presents a broad tour of the universe, The Dragons of Eden focuses primarily on the origins and nature of intelligence. Broca's Brain was another Sagan science book, but it was not the Pulitzer-winning title.