History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

The Log from the Sea of Cortez (Penguin Classics)

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Look for the Hansen Sea Cow...
The Log from the Sea of Cortez
The Log From the Sea of Cortez
Journal of travel and research
Non-teleological thinking

The Log from the Sea of Cortez (Penguin Classics)
John Steinbeck
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140187448

Book Description

Today, nearly forty years after his death, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck remains one of America's greatest writers and cultural figures. Over the next year, his many works published as black-spine Penguin Classics for the first time and will feature eye-catching, newly commissioned art.

Penguin Classics is proud to present these seminal works to a new generation of readers—and to the many who revisit them again and again.

Customer Reviews:

Look for the Hansen Sea Cow..........2007-07-30

This is a classic book that is the synergy between two very different people. By the time you finish this, you will find you really like them... and wish you could have spent some time with them as well.
The science in the entire book is pretty good too.

The Log from the Sea of Cortez.......2007-03-22

The Log from the Sea of Cortez by John Steinbeck is the story of a group of men on a journey through the Gulf of California with the plan to study the marine organisms that lived there, but they ended up studying a lot more. As the book was written by a writer and not a scientist the scientific side is seen through a different angle. Amongst all of the stops to collect specimens are thrown Steinbeck's tangents about the ideas of the world, the way that people behave, and philosophical ideas.
Throughout the journey of the Western Flyer the company made many stops along the coast of the Baja peninsula and along mainland Mexico. At each one of these stops Steinbeck tells of the collecting and the names of the different organisms along with the environments that they lived in. Steinbeck does a careful job of describing the animals and plants and using their scientific names in order to make the book useful for scientific purposes.
The journey also contains many stops in the towns and cities that border the Gulf. At each one of these stops Steinbeck gives a detailed account of their experience and a description of the people and their culture. One feels like he is actually traveling through Mexico and meeting the people while reading the book.

The Log From the Sea of Cortez.......2007-03-04

This book is about a small crew of men, most of which are scientists. They rent a boat and set sail off the coast of California. They travel all over the sea on the coast of California and Mexico, in the Sea of Cortez. The point of this voyage is not for mere joy, it is for collecting, observing, and preserving species that inhabit the sea. The focus on the interdial zone for the most part.
This book documents the journey and all the adventures that take place. One of my favorite quotes from the book is " the reports of Biologists are the measure, not of science, but of the men themselves". These men took the time to log everything that they did. They were meticulous in their gathering, and studying.
This book is not just about the species they collected. It is about the men and the things they learned along the journey. They learned to slow down and actually look at life. They were able to ponder all kinds of life, theirs and those of land and sea. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about themselves and the adventures that can occur while doing research.

Journal of travel and research.......2006-02-24

This nonfiction book is an account of a research/specimen collecting trip Steinbeck made with his friend and marine biologist Edward Ricketts off the coast of Baja California in 1940. They rent a boat, a purse-seiner called the "Western Flyer," stock her with supplies, hire a crew, and set sail on the afternoon of March 11, 1940.

The raison d'etre of the trip is collecting sea specimens, but Steinbeck is interested in more than just recording scientific data. The men go ashore at various ports along the way, and encounters with other men are related (in one, the inspiration for what later became THE PEARL is told). Both Ricketts and Steinbeck have a philosophical bent, and they discuss in detail teleological vs. nonteleological ways of interpreting the world. Likewise, ecology and their theory that everything in nature has its place and makes a contribution to the whole world system is examined. Both men enjoy drinking, and that becomes a topic of conversation at one point. It's plain from Steinbeck's writing that they are having a good time in addition to the successful collecting. At one stop, at which they are given an icy welcome, they believe they've come amongst gun smugglers. The trip comes to a happy end on April 13 as they head for Monterey Bay and home.

The books initial publication coincided with the attack on Pearl Harbor and was virtually forgotten. Only recently have critics studied the book carefully, especially in terms of what it has to say about the environment. Regardless of that, the book is entertaining and informative. His prose is at times lyrical, at other times outright funny (after talking to other boat captains over the radio about how much fish was caught, he says after they found out they were on a collecting mission the other boats paid no attention to them: "We were obviously ridiculous"). Included is Steinbeck's lengthy and lively biographical portrait of Ricketts, who was killed in a train accident. Worth checking out.

Non-teleological thinking.......2005-03-22

This book represents the log of a voyage Steinbeck took with Ed Ricketts collecting biological specimens from the Sea of Cortez during the spring of 1940. The goal of the trip was to document the variety of sea creatures that lived in the tidal pools of the region, as well as to bring back specimens for identification and further study. In total, the voyage lasted about 4 weeks, during which time Ricketts, Steinbeck, and the rest of the crew documented hundreds of species, thousands of specimens, and discovered several new creatures that had not been known before.

The book begins with a lengthy preface introducing readers to Ed "Doc" Ricketts. Ricketts, of course, was the mythical Doc featured in the Steinbeck classics "Cannery Row" and "Sweet Thursday". In this biography of Ricketts, Steinbeck provides some of the details of Rickett's life, and describes his chief character traits as Steinbeck perceived them.

By today's standards, their approach and attitudes towards the animals they were catching seem rather appalling. In the tidal pools, it seemed they grabbed everything that moved, as well as everything that didn't move but merely showed some signs of life. In this manner, they collected rare as well as common species. The ship's crew enjoyed the sport of catching a sea turtle, shooting a shark through its fin, and harpooning giant rays. Modern readers can at least take comfort in the thought that society has advanced to the point that such behavior is no longer found acceptable on a biological expedition. Even Steinbeck, however, was shocked by the methods used on a Japanese shrimp trawler that they encountered dredging in Mexican waters. The Japanese, with full permission from the Mexican government, were literally dredging the ocean floor, bringing up every last living thing, from sea fans to sharks in their nets. Whatever wasn't shrimp they threw back, where injured or dead, it was reduced to seagull food. Steinbeck noted the short-sightedness of this approach, how it left nothing behind for future generations, no shrimp, but also no other fish.

In the Steinbeck Museum in Salinas, CA, there is an exhibit with photographs of the expedition. In the center of one of the photographs is Carol Steinbeck, John's first wife, who was a crew member on this voyage, but who John managed to expunge completely from this written record. Nevertheless, he leaves us with a clue to her existence at the end of chapter 24, where he writes of a strong prejudice when there is a woman along on a voyage of scientific exploration, "the wife of one of the members of the party. She is never called by her name or referred to as an equal....She is nearly always a stringy blonde with leathery skin who is included in all photographs to give them `interest.'" Clearly, this account of the voyage is carefully crafted not to tell exactly what happened and to whom, but to represent the events as John chose to tell them. Most of the prose explores Steinbeck's and Rickett's concept of non-teleological thinking, where they take an idea and push its consequences beyond reasonable limits. Still, Steinbeck does provide a narrative account of the various collection stops they made, and what kinds of creatures predominated at each stop (this description was based on Rickett's notes). At the end of the book are a glossary of biological terms used and an index.

Journey into the Heart: A Tale of Pioneering Doctors and Their Race to Transform Cardiovascular Medicine

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Journey into the heart
An interesting study of angioplasty and people
Pity the Patient!
Journey into the Heart

Journey into the Heart: A Tale of Pioneering Doctors and Their Race to Transform Cardiovascular Medicine
David Monagan , and David O. Williams
Manufacturer: Gotham
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1592402658
Release Date: 2007-02-01

Book Description

The thrilling story of the brilliant and audacious pioneers who revolutionized cardiovascular medicine.

The history of heart surgery is a fascinating saga. In the dark ages of medicine, physicians commonly prescribed blood letting as a treatment for ridding the vascular system of diabolical elements and bizarre medicaments like brain extracts, and until quite recently, the basic treatment for a heart attack was to lie down and bear it. Within the last century, physicians have evolved from fearing to even touch a living human heart to rebuilding and even transplanting hearts with beguiling, if sometimes dangerous wizardry. Not long ago, cardiac surgery was celebrated as akin to miracle working, yet a new therapeutic age has since taken hold. Today heart attacks can often be stopped in their midst, and astonishing non-invasive surgical techniques regularly eliminate any need for a knife, while clearing vital arteries in just minutes.

Journey Into the Heart traces this epic quest involving a cast of thousands who struggled to solve medical complexities that long boggled the most brilliant minds on earth. David Monagan tells their story as never before, for the first time paying tribute to the daring tactics and outsized personalities of scarcely appreciated pioneers from Oregon to East Germany. The risks some took were hard to fathom: when a promising therapy seemed far too dangerous to perform on a patient, charismatic doctors experimented on themselves. Meanwhile, a multi-billion dollar business involving angioplasty and countless related knifeless procedures charged into life, often overshadowing the noble quest for innovation with a race for profit. The great figures behind these advances have been little chronicled, but their lives encompassed all the triumph and anguish of the last century.

Andreas Gruentzig, an East German “child of the rubble,” took center stage in revolutionizing cardiovascular care, developing the first tiny balloon-tipped probes in his Zurich apartment. Despite harsh skepticism, Gruentzig demonstrated that his gadgets could transform the lives of millions. His findings catapulted him to worldwide fame, and he was nominated for the Nobel Prize. After being lured to Emory University, Gruentzig's career escalated to dizzying heights, and then concluded tragically with an Icarus- like ending. Journey Into the Heart is a compelling biography and a multi-faceted tale of medical discovery and business intrigue, all centered on the seat of human life. The twentieth century journey to understand the human heart was a saga on par with the race to the moon.

Customer Reviews:

Journey into the heart.......2007-10-02

This is a well written book that very nicely details the history of interventional cardiovascular techniques. It is a good read.

An interesting study of angioplasty and people.......2007-04-23

I came to this book thinking it was truly a journey into the heart and its functioning. The book was actually a studied history of angioplasty, the use of catheters to clear the cardiac arteries and reduce the risk of heart attacks. Several themes stand out and make the book worthy of serious reading. The story again shows that medicine is now barely 100 years old in any modern sense as there is very little of note in the heart prior to 1900. Also, the book shows how much the review process has changed in the past fifty years, with surgical options which were untested and unproven being used with some regularity. Finally, the book profiles the leading researches and shows that medicine, like any other profession, is full of talented but unusual people.

Pity the Patient!.......2007-03-27

Pity the patient with heart problems/symptoms - a serious situation fraught with complex decisions and painful and risky alternatives. "Journey Into the Heart" tells of the struggle and errors of physician-leaders moving practice trends to angioplasty, and away from other treatments - especially CABGs (coronary artery by-pass grafts). But now a new study reports angioplasty doesn't save lives or prevent heart attacks better than generic drugs in non-emergency patients - where it is used mostly. Experts also concluded that it only fixes one artery at a time (vs. drugs operating on all at the same time), and the clogs treated are not the really dangerous kind.

Angioplasty also lost favor recently when it was reported that popular drug-coated stents can raise the risk of blood clots months later. Now the procedure in its entirety is in question.

Bottom Line: The "courageous" individuals pioneering this procedure featured in "Journey Into the Heart" were overzealous, at best. Unfortunately, "Journey Into the Heart" doesn't provide good advice about when to receive angiography, so here's some. About 600,000 angioplasties per year are now performed for patients with chronic chest pain - replacing just 350,000 with drug therapy would save as much as $10 billion/year. On the other hand, for those with unstable chest pain, stenting provides better outcomes than drugs alone, as well as for patients treated within 12 hours of a heart attack; later stenting for those with heart attacks, however, doesn't help. (Information courtesy of Wall Street Journal, 3/27/07, and Washington Post, 3/26/07).

Journey into the Heart.......2007-03-20

Very well written history of treatment of the problems of the heart, including those that made the problem worse, unto these enlightened days where so much can be done due to the hard work of so many doctors. The author had to do much investigation and then compilation to make such a readable book.

Stones of Silence: Journeys in the Himalaya

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Contents:

Stones of Silence: Journeys in the Himalaya
George B. Schaller
Manufacturer: Univ of Chicago Pr (T)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0226736466

Customer Reviews:

Contents:.......2004-04-16

The mountains of the Himalaya, from the lushly forested slopes of Nepal to the barren ranges of Central Asia, offer solitude, enlightenment, and incredible beauty, as well as the brutal reality of barren peaks and wind-torn slopes and glaciers. They are a lost world of nameless valleys, of people living in the Middle Ages, of travel by yak caravan. To field biologist George Schaller, the Himalaya is all this, and yet it is more, forming as it does the habitat of the world's greatest variety of whild sheep and goats....markhor, urial, bharal, and other spectacular animals...as well as the elusive snow leopard.
This is a story of high adventure, introspection, observation, and discovery. It is primarily about the Himalaya and the people and the animals that live in it. It is a story told in the words of a poet, yet seen through the eyes of a scientists, as he struggles to save this mountain world from turning to stones of silence.

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The Journey of Genetics
Very interesting thesis, very readable
The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey
Clear explication of a still uncertain theory
We all wonder where we come from . . .

The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey
Spencer Wells
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 069111532X

Amazon.com

Spencer Wells traces human evolution back to our very first ancestor in The Journey of Man. Along the way, he sums up the explosive effect of new techniques in genetics on the field of evolutionary biology and all available evidence from the fossil record. Wells's seemingly sexist title is purposeful: he argues that the Y chromosome gives us a unique opportunity to follow our migratory heritage back to a sort of Adam, just as earlier work in mitochondrial DNA allowed the identification of Eve, mother of all Homo sapiens. While his descriptions of the advances made by such luminary scientists as Richard Lewontin and Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza can be dry, Wells comes through with sparkling metaphors when it counts, as when he compares genetic drift to a bouillabaisse recipe handed down through a village's generations. Though finding our primal male is an exciting prospect, the real revolution Wells describes is racial. Or rather, nonracial, as he reiterates the scientific truth that our notions of what makes us different from each other are purely cultural, not based in biology. The case for an "out of Africa" scenario of human migration is solid in this book, though Wells makes it clear when he is hypothesizing anything controversial. Readers interested in a fairly technical, but not overwhelming, summary of the remarkable conclusions of 21st-century human evolutionary biology will find The Journey of Man a perfect primer. --Therese Littleton

Book Description

Around 60,000 years ago, a man--identical to us in all important respects--lived in Africa. Every person alive today is descended from him. How did this real-life Adam wind up father of us all? What happened to the descendants of other men who lived at the same time? And why, if modern humans share a single prehistoric ancestor, do we come in so many sizes, shapes, and races?

Showing how the secrets about our ancestors are hidden in our genetic code, Spencer Wells reveals how developments in the cutting-edge science of population genetics have made it possible to create a family tree for the whole of humanity. We now know not only where our ancestors lived but who they fought, loved, and influenced.

Informed by this new science, The Journey of Man is replete with astonishing information. Wells tells us that we can trace our origins back to a single Adam and Eve, but that Eve came first by some 80,000 years. We hear how the male Y-chromosome has been used to trace the spread of humanity from Africa into Eurasia, why differing racial types emerged when mountain ranges split population groups, and that the San Bushmen of the Kalahari have some of the oldest genetic markers in the world. We learn, finally with absolute certainty, that Neanderthals are not our ancestors and that the entire genetic diversity of Native Americans can be accounted for by just ten individuals.

It is an enthralling, epic tour through the history and development of early humankind--as well as an accessible look at the analysis of human genetics that is giving us definitive answers to questions we have asked for centuries, questions now more compelling than ever.

Customer Reviews:

The Journey of Genetics.......2007-09-11

The Journey of Man, recently recommended by a friend in Dallas, is a story of state-of-the-art genetic research to trace the geographic history of homo sapiens based on, as I understand it, polymorphisms or mutations in human DNA. The idea is that by identifying these and analyzing their frequency of occurance in various areas of the world, the sequence in which they occurred can be deduced and, thus, the associated physical path by which we populated the world can be identified. The conclusion is that homo sapiens began about 50,000 years ago in north-eastern Africa, then spread to Australia, etc. The thought process nicely ties in related data from archaeology, anthropology, and other sciences to support and/or refute the genetic results. A very good book, aimed at laymen and easy to read, although not particularly well-edited and sometimes over-uses analogies to the point that you wish he'd just go ahead and say it.

Very interesting thesis, very readable.......2007-01-11

The book presents, based on genetic, archeological, climatological evidence, a possible (or probable?) route for the dispersion of men through our planet, from its birth in Africa. The evidence is clearly presented, in an organized and very understandable way. It makes a very interesting reading on a subject that is as appealing as it is controversial.

The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey.......2006-11-10

If you have ever questioned where Adam and Eve started and how planet earth was populated this is a must read. Doctor Wells located the oldest Africans he could find,took blood samples, then using his DNA knowledge, produced DNA markers. He continued this process around the world and by examining the DNA markers he could determine the path of primitive people and where they started. He produced a readable technical book that leaves the lay person with a clear understanding of where we started and where and when the first Adam and Eve left the trees and stood up on two feet.

Clear explication of a still uncertain theory.......2006-10-31

Not much more than 50,000 years ago, something happened in East Africa that set humans on the move, and by about 10,000 years ago they had occupied almost every place on Earth, though it took another 9,000 years or so to get to the really good spots like Maui.
At least, that is how geneticist Spencer Wells interprets the evidence. The very short time span requires severe revision of the archaeological evidence.
Fully modern human bones have been found in Israel that are dated to about 100,000 years ago. Although equally modern fossils don't show up in Europe for another 60,000 years or so, the assumption has been that man's move out of Africa began at least 100,000 years ago.
Using changes in the molecular structure of the Y-chromosome, Wells and other geneticists believe that something -- he calls it the First Big Bang -- happened to a human, who lived somewhere in or near Ethiopia, around 50,000-60,000 years ago. That something did not show up in our skeletons but did mark the final evolutionary step to our current level of ability.
It could have been behavioral, although Wells is inclined to think it was some form of structural change in the brain that was closely tied to the beginning of language.
The new capabilities then made it possible to survive in novel habitats, and worsening climatic conditions in East Africa made it desirable to find some.
Genetics tells us we are all very closely related -- there is hardly any variation in our genes as between "races," a doubtful concept in human taxonomy anyway.
Variation piles up over time, particularly in long stretches of DNA that are, so far as anybody has been able to determine, inactive.
When a small band of people move, they take with them only a tiny fraction of the total variation of their larger group. Therefore, the more variation today within a local group, the longer it has been intact.
There is more variation on the Y-chromosomes of the men in an African village than among all the men in the rest of the world. Therefore, humans originated in Africa.
Geneticists believe they can not only measure but time these changes, although the timing is dependent on various assumptions that are uncertain to a degree. The goal of researchers like Wells is to interpret the gene sequences to fit other, paleontological or climatological, data without torturing the evidence too much.
The Y-chromosome determines male sex and therefore passes down from father to son. There is a strictly female record of descent in our cells, too, the mitochondrial DNA; but there is much less of it, so changes on the Y give much more precision in measuring mutations.
In "The Journey of Man," geneticists deduce that around 50,000 years ago, Africans started migrating, sticking to the coastal areas they already knew how to exploit. Within 10,000 years, they were in Australia.
We humans spread quickly but not equally quickly in every direction. In some areas, humans had to wait tens of thousands of years for the slow processes of climate to open up desert and mountain barriers that were too hard to cross.
Thus, Europe was settled very late, despite its closeness to Africa.
The same evidence says modern humans replaced Neanderthal humans; we did not descend from them.
The Y evidence also tends to shoot down evidence -- already equivocal -- that put humans in the New World more than about 12,000 years ago.
And it demonstrates, Wells says, some unexpected relationships. For example, northern Han Chinese are more closely related to their northern neighbors than they are to southern Han Chinese, despite the closer connection of their language dialects.
These various lines of evidence should allow us to retrace our ancestral steps, says Wells, but "many indigenous peoples are now refusing to participate in scientific studies."
He regrets this, not only professionally, but because the Third Big Bang -- the transportation revolution that is mixing up populations more than ever before -- will within a couple of generations obliterate the kind of genetic sleuthing that made "The Journey of Man" possible.
The Second Big Bang was agriculture, and that, he says, led humans to Hawaii. Hunter-gatherers had to go where the food was; Polynesian navigators could choose where to sail.
Wells' explication of what researchers like Wells think they know is first rate. I remain somewhat skeptical about the accuracy of the so-called molecular genetic clocks. Therefore, 3 stars. if the doubts about the 'clock' are resolved in the favor of Wells et al., then the rating would bump up to 4.

We all wonder where we come from . . ........2006-09-01

. . . and Spencer Wells provides many of the answers. Those of you who have seen his National Geographic special, also entitled _The Journey of Man_, will recognize the outline of this book, an exploration of what our genes (and those of people around the world) tell us about where and when our species got started, and how and when people occupied just about every part of the world. The book is able to go into far more detail, presenting clearly and convincingly our relatively recent African origins and the timing and likely routes of the migrations that brought modern humans to Australia, Europe and Asia, and, more recently, to the Americas and Polynesia. Along the way you'll learn why our genes clearly show that the Neandertals were cousins, but not ancestors, and that today's geographic "races" are far too closely related to have evolved from ancient to modern human form independently. The book is graced by pages of striking photos of people from around the globe, which add greatly to the fascinating scientific story that Wells tells. If you're at all interested in human origins, this is a must read. Robert Adler, author of _Science Firsts_ and _Medical Firsts_.

Waiting for Aphrodite: Journeys into the Time Before Bones

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Wonderful look at nature!
Invertebrates in All Their Glory!
Bug Lady of Maine
Invertebrates, and life, made easy
Scientific curiosity indulged, & presented with a fine touch

Waiting for Aphrodite: Journeys into the Time Before Bones
Sue Hubbell
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Nature Writing | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0395837030

Amazon.com

When Sue Hubbell moved from her longtime home on a farm in Missouri to a house perched on the rocky coast of Maine, the first thing she did was investigate the living things in her new environment to ease the loneliness of a new place. She peered under rocks, in dark crevices, and beneath mounds of leaves, looking for members of nature's secretive ruling class--the invertebrates.

In Waiting for Aphrodite, Hubbell first trains her microscopic gaze on camel crickets--"They grew a bright orange bump on the back of what we would like to call their necks but mustn't, because bugs don't have necks"--and sea cucumbers--"cool and leathery and limp, a little like a damp, deflated football." From there, she continues her tour with millipedes, sponges, periwinkles, corals, earthworms, horseshoe crabs, and other underappreciated earth-dwellers, describing each species in lushly metaphoric prose and a perfectly appropriate sense of wonder. These are strange beasts, and their ways are mysterious. Yet Hubbell seeks, and finds, common ground between invertebrates and humans. She writes that the first useful behavioral mandate for isopods such as pill bugs is "Walk toward shelter," a rule that applies easily to vulnerable humans as well.

The thing that binds all animals is the constant search for the necessities of life. And for Hubbell, a sense of place and knowledge of her neighbors is as crucial as food or shelter. Hence the heart of the book--her search for a glimpse of the elusive sea mouse, Aphrodite aculeata, a small, soft-bodied sea creature with a velvety, iridescent coat. While waiting for Aphrodite, she finds gorgeous bits of life all around her and begins to feel at home. --Therese Littleton

Book Description

In this wonderful new book Sue Hubbell takes us into the remarkable lives of the little-known creatures that really run the world: earthworms, corals, lightning bugs, pill bugs, millipedes, crickets, spiders, sea urchins, horseshoe crabs, and, most elusive and enigmatic of all, Aphrodite, the sea mouse. She also leads us on a journey through the mysteries of time -- geological, biological, and personal -- as she writes of the evolution of life on this planet and the evolution of her own life, from childhood next to a Michigan graveyard to beekeeping in the Ozarks and finally to a tower by the sea in Maine, where she waits and watches for Aphrodite.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful look at nature!.......2003-11-22

I grew up in New England, on the water, so when I came across this book it particularly sparked my attention. I've always had a great fascination with horseshoe crabs adn there's a superb chapter on them in this book. There are lots of neat animals discussed in this book - sea life like sea urchins, horseshoe crabs, sea sponges etc. But also land dwellers like spiders, millipedes, crickets fireflies, etc. Like other books by Hubbel there are some technical aspects to the book but its woven in so nicely with other interesting facts, stories that its an enjoyable read. I also like that she provides additional references for further reading.

Invertebrates in All Their Glory!.......2003-08-01

Sue Hubbell's book, "Waiting for Aphrodite: Journeys into the Time Before Bones," is a treat for anyone interested in these fascinating creatures. Her coverage of earthworms, millipedes, fireflies, sponges, horseshoe crabs and the strange mouse-like worm, Aphrodita, is a joy to an invertebrate zoologist and should be a great read for laymen who are open to the strange world of so-called creepy-crawlies. I have studied these creatures for much of my life, but could find few errors in Hubbell's chapters. She did her research well. Her life on the Ozarks reminds me of a woman I once met at a scientific conference. She also came from the Ozarks, where her family had worried about her when she was a little girl because she liked to watch salamanders in the rain and spiders spinning their webs. Some of her mountain relatives were sure she was bewitched. I am sure that Sue Hubbell is also "bewitched" by the strange world of these strange creatures- weird enough to live on the planet Mars. I know I was!

Read this book if you are at all interested in the natural world around you. It will introduce you to the real masters of our planet.

Bug Lady of Maine.......2001-06-01

At first this book is interesting and sometimes amusing. Above all it is informative and then again it is informative. In the final analyses it is informative. Did I mention that the book is informative? The next time Mr. Spock says that he left a bad taste in the mouth of the alien being because of his copper based blood, you can say, "According to Sue Hubbell that is no big deal; as pill bugs have a copper based system. So there!"

Sue covers a variety of bugs that haven't got any backbone. And we all know what you think of creatures without backbone. I am not sure that she is too focused or too diverse? However she really covers them and it is so informative that you may find yourself falling to sleep.

Invertebrates, and life, made easy.......2000-11-09

Before reading this book I could never have foreseen myself wading through 232 pages on invertebrates. Sue Hubbell not only maps the journey, she makes it intoxicating and leavens her science with a generous smattering of life philosophy. Which could be tedious from a lesser person. Not from Hubbell, who presents the workings of a sharp intellect with such a light touch that her logic and opinions have a homespun tang. There is an unassailable rightness about many of her views, her argument for conservation for instance. But this isn't a platform for her ideals, it's a showcase for the kind of tiny animals few of us bother to notice unless they threaten us. From crickets to sea mice (the Aphrodite, or part of it, of the title) via spiders, woodlice, sea cucumbers, fireflies, horseshoe crabs, honeybees and many others, we're given just enough information to intrigue and inspire investigation into the generous "Further reading" list at the end of each chapter. It's difficult to make a book like this work. Go too deep, and you've scared-off the layman. Stay on the surface, and you're labelled a dilettante. For my money, Sue Hubbell compromises triumphantly. She puts her small animals centre stage and ensures you'll look on them with new and respectful eyes. But the real heroine of the book is Hubbell herself. Her love for her animals and for life itself blazes through the book and you close it thoroughly warmed through.

Scientific curiosity indulged, & presented with a fine touch.......1999-08-12

This is the third book I've enjoyed by Sue Hubbell. Her curiosity reminds me of my childhood days around my back yard creek when it seemed there was always something to be amazed at, and I took the time to be amazed. Some of the creatures she describes: well, you've always wondered about them; others: you've never heard of. In the background she is describing her sources and the characteristics of these creatures in a personal, straight forward, no axe-to-grind way. Then, she quietly slips in the best argument I've ever heard for trying not to eliminate any of our fellow creatures, regardless of how much or how little we think we understand about their value and their relationship to humans. It could be heavy - but it isn't. It could be trivial - but it isn't.

Journey to the Ants: A Story of Scientific Exploration

Average customer rating:

amazing
Wonderful!
Networks to Socialism, Love and Learn from the Ants
Fantastic and fun book for everyone from the myrmecologist to the layman...
Must Read!!! Family Book.

Journey to the Ants: A Story of Scientific Exploration
Bert Hölldobler , and Edward O. Wilson
Manufacturer: Belknap Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0674485262

Amazon.com

"Look to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise," says the proverb. Bert Hölldobler and E.O. Wilson have joined together to tell how they took this advice and to share the fruits of their wisdom. As Nature said, they "have done for ants what Levi's did for denim." Not just a good-parts version of their magisterial, Pulitzer-winning The Ants, Journey is also a double autobiography--the history of how early enthusiasm developed into an enormously fruitful scientific collaboration. "We, having entered our bug period as children, were blessed by never being required to abandon it," the authors write. Their devotion to their chosen field shines through.

Journey to the Ants gives an outstanding overview of the enormous variety and fascination of myrmecology, from the primitive bulldog ants of Australia to the complexities of weaver ant societies, slave-making ants and agriculture, army ants, and the social parasites concealed within anthills. There is an appendix with practical instructions for collecting individual ants or whole colonies, dead or alive. Hölldobler and Wilson clearly want other children to follow in their footsteps, growing from simple bug love to insights into evolution and society. --Mary Ellen Curtin

Book Description

Richly illustrated and delightfully written, Journey to the Ants combines autobiography and scientific lore to convey the excitement and pleasure the study of ants can offer. Bert Hölldobler and E. O. Wilson interweave their personal adventures with the social lives of ants, building, from the first minute observations of childhood, a remarkable account of these abundant insects' evolutionary achievement.

Customer Reviews:

amazing.......2007-08-03

There is few to say that has not been said. It is very well written and the information is mind-boggling.

Wonderful!.......2007-07-09

I loved this book. After reading it I spent the next night telling my wife all I'd managed to remember.

Networks to Socialism, Love and Learn from the Ants.......2007-06-29

As many have said in the reviews and hard to top, this is a book that the whole family can enjoy as it includes instructions at the end on starting an Ant farm. I would however advise just one point for the kids and that is if the smaller kids are reading it by themselves and that is just tell them to skip over the big technical words and they will get just as much a kick out of it as I did. They can learn the technical words as they progress. But WOW ! , what a great book and the vast implications to so many areas from human society to our entire planet as a whole.

I was mostly interested in myrmecology to learn more about network systems and their benefits and implications, but got way more. The more I read of Edward O. Wilson, the more eager and the more desire I have to read further. My only regret is that it took this long to come across both his and others work.

Of note and besides the many enlightening aspects in the book, my favorite insigt is in the first few pages, as paraphrased, "It would appear that socialism really works under some circumstances; Karl Marx just had the wrong species." If that quote interests you, then the rest of the book will too.

Fantastic and fun book for everyone from the myrmecologist to the layman..........2007-05-25

This book is very informative and extremely entertaining, offering a review of the history and landmark findings of myrmecology by two of the field's greatest minds. While it is not nearly as exhaustive as the authors' great tome The Ants, Journey to the Ants carries a momentum that The Ants at times can lack due to its nature as a technical monograph. Part gripping narrative and part academic text, it offers something for anyone with a healthy interest in biology.

Must Read!!! Family Book........2007-02-03

I have the author's award winning, "The Ants" and it is truly the landmark book on all things Ants. But it is big and difficult for a non-scientist to read through. I recommend it, nonetheless. This book, however, is a wonderful distillation of the key points from the bigger book. It was specificilly written to engage a non-expert on the wonderful and amazing creatures called Ants. They succeed admirably in their attempt to impart good science and information about ants, but they succeed even better in their attempt to write an engaging, thrilling, intellectually stimulating book. Everyone who has the slightest appreciation of nature and love of learning will like this book. Adults can read it straight through, younger readers can sample at will, and younger children will love the pictures and short "readings to". This is one of the best non-technical science books I've read.

Washed Up: The Curious Journeys of Flotsam and Jetsam

Average customer rating:

Beachcombing
Gifts and Lessons from the Sea
Stories from time and space
For beachcombers and all lovers of the sea

Washed Up: The Curious Journeys of Flotsam and Jetsam
Skye Moody
Manufacturer: Sasquatch Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1570614636

Book Description

Where does it all come from? From tennis shoes, gold doubloons, and rubber ducks to ambergris, seedpods, and dead whales, the ocean gives up many curious prizes. In Washed Up, author Skye Moody walks the coast, dons her wet suit, and heads out to sea to understand the mysterious debris that accrues along the tide line. She finds advanced military technology applied to locating buried Rolexes, hardcore competitive beachcombing conventions, isolated beach communities, and learns about the Pacific Garbage Patch, a 200-mile swirl of current that holds everything from car parts to basketballs to kilos of heroin. Like the best walks down the beach, Washed Up pauses for shiny objects and colorful people and gives inspiration to both budding and seasoned treasure hunters.

Customer Reviews:

Beachcombing.......2007-02-01

The author has travelled all over the world and beachcombed. She uses humor to teach us about ocean currents that take items from say Japan to the Washington state coast. I was expecting a book about beachcombing, another quick read about glass floats and driftwood. But this book is so much more than that. Skye explains currents. She explains about sperm whales that regurgitate a product that can be found on some beaches, then warns us about buying this products on the internet. (It's illegal in the states to purchase products from sperm whales because they are an endangered species.)
She also writes about the problem of dumping wastes in our oceans, and how that affects the food chain.
All of this is done in a highly readable writing style, laced with a sharp humor. Weaving through the book is a tale about an item she found at Alkai Beach in Seattle, but she discarded thinking she couldn't possibly carry one more item. She regrets having tossed it.
I'm glad I purchased and read this book. Now, I must go...beachcombing!

Gifts and Lessons from the Sea.......2007-01-19

Skye Moody has been a journalist covering Ukrainian coal mining and Siberian reindeer herding, a bush guide in East Africa, a literature teacher, a poet, and a novelist. She has also written nonfiction books before, but has now written one about a subject in which what she is really interested. Moody is a flotsamist, which is a fancy way of saying she is a beachcomber. In _Washed Up: The Curious Journeys of Flotsam and Jetsam_ (Sasquatch Books), she has described her passion with all the enthusiasm of the most devoted hobbyist. There's always a danger that someone writing about a hobby will be unable to communicate the hobby's fascination to those who don't share the passion, but there is no such problem in Moody's book. For one thing, the subject is inherently fascinating; no one who has ever walked on a beach has failed to pay attention to shells, driftwood, seaweed, or bottles that have washed up on the sand. For another, Moody is a funny writer, amused by her own obsession and by those who share it. For yet another, studying what travels around the ocean can be scientific evidence of how currents work, so tracking flotsam is not a trivial folly.

In 1990, Nike shoes began washing up on the beaches of the Pacific northwest. Six months before, a huge container ship had lost twenty-one shipping containers in a severe storm, including five containers holding 80,000 Nike shoes. This was bad news for Nike, but good news for oceanographers who could track the shoes and improve their models of ocean currents. The flotsamists who collected the shoes realized that there were few matches; the laces of the shoes had not been tied together, so shortly after being dunked, the right shoes parted ways from the left shoes. The parting was not random. The slight change in curvature between left and right shoes caused the righties to follow the northward Alaska current and show up around Queen Charlotte Sound, while the lefties tended to follow the southward California current and wound up in Oregon. The most romantic of all flotsam is the message in a bottle; even if you have never found one, you know how eager you would be to open a washed-up bottle containing a message. Some bottles are literally vectors of romance. In 1956, a Swedish sailor jettisoned a bottled note overboard, asking for a reply from any pretty girl who found it. A Sicilian fisherman eventually found the bottle, and gave it to his daughter as a joke. Some joke: two years later, the couple were married.

The saga of flotsam isn't all trivial fun. There are important issues mentioned here having to do with the modern ways we use the seas. Loose cargo used not to be a big problem; below decks, it only went down if the ship went down. Modern container ships, however, stow many of their big boxes in the open, where they are liable to be washed over in a storm. The boxes can float at least temporarily, and are a significant traffic hazard on the sea, especially at night. The other great problem is that most flotsam is not a curious message in a bottle or a pretty glass float. Most flotsam is garbage, and just as seaweed accumulates in the Sargasso Sea, garbage accumulates in what are now called "garbage patches". The name is official enough that even the North Pacific's Great Garbage Patch has two components, the Eastern and the Western Garbage Patches, each with tons of garbage. The floating garbage displaces plankton, and since it is mostly plastic, it stays and stays until it eventually degrades into nasty stuff that poisons the creatures that eat it. Some of the garbage skims off at times, and hits the beaches, where flotsamists might welcome it while bemoaning it. This cannot go on forever, but looking for the novelties from the sea will go on as long as the seas roll. Moody's is not a downbeat book, however; it is jovial and light, and covers a subject of irresistible interest.

Stories from time and space.......2006-10-17

This is a book for filling your head with amazing facts to regurgitate when walking on the beach with friends or children. I can attest to the latter's fascination with tales of astronaut poop, and the origins of ambergris, the fragrant sea-borne product of whale regurgitation.

The book collects together stories from across the globe and over the centuries, in styles reminiscent of People Magazine (with photographs), Tattler and National Geographic. Moody has a journalist's eye for detail, and a storyteller's ability to inject dry facts with human interest. Her name-dropping is both cheeky and fun. She covers whimsical topics (floating phalluses) and serious ones (the proliferation of plastic garbage in the tidal gyres of the Pacific), but it's a quick read, ideal for say, a flight to Melanesia (home of the cargo cultists).

The book could do with an index, to allow the reader to locate and re-read some of the more interesting tales. And, there was an unfortunate bobble in the explanation of why driftwood floats. But neither criticism detracts from what is an entertaining and informative read. I recommend it.

For beachcombers and all lovers of the sea.......2006-09-23

"Washed Up" is a beautifully written collage about the tangled, tide-driven world of flotsam and jetsam. Reminiscent of Kurlanski's "History of Salt," the book is well-researched--chock full of history, science, flotsamist characters, and legends of the sea. Sometimes exotic, sometimes quirky, sometimes amazing, "Washed Up" is a marvelous voyage. Author Skye Moody clearly loves the sea, adding her own flotsamist obsessions to carry the reader on a tour both informative and funny. By the time I was done, I understood terms like lagan, wrack, spermacetti, and gyre, but even more, I felt so much the richer and wiser about our indelible human impact on Earth's oceans.

Why We Age: What Science Is Discovering about the Body's Journey Through Life

Average customer rating:

All the latest lore on aging, health, and nutrition
An entertaining introduction to the science of aging
This is the most amazing break through in science
Why We Age needs Companion Volume
Interesting

Why We Age: What Science Is Discovering about the Body's Journey Through Life
Steven N. Austad
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0471296465

Amazon.com

Before we know why we age, we need to know how we age. According to Steven Austad, we should blame the process on rusting and cooking. Oxygen causes our cells to rust, and glucose causes some of our tissues to take on the qualities of cooked meat. If we eat less food, we cook more slowly and we live longer. So, why do we age? Austad claims that we've evolved to have a certain reproductive usefulness, and after that the species doesn't need us anymore. What about all the "antiaging" equations modern science promises? Generally, the best they can do is prevent premature death. Sound harsh? Well, that's life, and Why We Age is one of the most entertaining and comprehensive guides on aging that you'll find.

Book Description

Why has the life span of the average American increased from 48 to 75 years in this century alone?

. . . If the body is a machine that simply wears out, why do some cells seem immortal?
. . . Is there an aging gene? And can we control it?
. . . Can antioxidants and hormone therapy actually slow the aging process and extend life?

Steven Austads compelling book investigates the history, the theories, and the personalities behind the quest to understand the nature of aging. Here is hard evidence from the front lines of research that science is finally closing in on the fundamental processes of human biology and life.

"Austads book can be read with pleasure and profit by any intelligent person with a smattering of biological knowledge." -Science

"In this clear, engrossing overview, Austad takes the sting out of a subject that will ultimately capture us all." -Publishers Weekly

"Why We Age is remarkably rigorous in its analysis and thorough scope. . . . A comprehensive examination of its topic." -Science Editors, Amazon.com

"The problem with long life is that one keeps getting older; heres an able and clearly written summary of the latest theories on why we age and what might be done to ameliorate the process." -Kirkus Reviews

Customer Reviews:

All the latest lore on aging, health, and nutrition.......2002-08-08

This is a relaxed, somewhat witty book on aging and health by a zoologist with an emphasis on evolutionary biology. I particularly enjoyed Austed's use of statistical analysis in the beginning of the book in distinguishing popular notions about aging from what the raw data has to say. Austed uses statistics beautifully here. When Kant was trying (unsuccesfully) to formulate a science of metaphysics, he asked what other real life example of synthetic (additive) thought a priori was used by people. Math! Austed uses math to demonstrate apodaectically that what we generally refer to as extending human life is no more than altered longevity due largely to water purification, antibiotics, and less back-breaking labor rather than an actual delaying of the aging process. He also shows how our species tends to begin dying at about ten years of age according to the statistical dictate of mortality-doubling time. The limits of how old we may grow as determined by genetics is evidently about what it was back in Socrates' time, although these days longevity is greater. If cancer, according to professor Austed, were eliminated we could add a couple of more years to average longevity and likewise with heart disease; the two most prolific killers in the industrialized world. However, even if we unrealistically eliminated all disease, not only would our genes kill us somewhere around 90 years of age, but many of us would die from accidents in any event. Aging is determined by our genetic program and chance, not necessarily in that order, and the only possible hope we have for extending our limits of aging per se lies in some far off genetically engineered discovery. Presently, if you don't get flattened by a bus, your genes will get you, no matter how many vitamins you scarf down.

As for special diets, lizard's eyes (special vitamins), and magnets and crystals, these are largely placebo actuators. Unless you have special nutritional needs, a sensible diet, adequate sleep, moderate excercise, and being rich are about as much as you can do to determine your future health and longevity outside of avoiding firefights with religious fanatics and other testosterone dementias. Austed doesn't really address low stress as a longevity booster except perhaps to mention the nobles tended to live longer than peasants in pre-antibiotic days. Austed excecutes a revealing discourse on tales of how certain societies in far away mountain regions tend to live to older than normal ages by eating goat yogurt and smoking ginko leaves: these are folk tales and the author uses various examples of innoent charlatanry to demonstrate exactly how gullible people are when they very badly want to hear what they've already made up their minds to believe.

I was a bit unmoved by Austed's refutation of the cellular Hayflick limit's role in aging. While controlled cell division is certainly crucial to normal development and cancer mitigation, cells, like whole organisms, are also sitting ducks for unforeseen catastrophy. A non-regenerating cell is also an accident waiting to happen through injury, free radical damage, or deliterious mutation. In terms of generalized deterioration (aging) nonregenerating cells are eventually going to deteriorate to the point where they outnumber healthy nonregenerating cells, at which point, disfunction (aging) is certain to occur; but then what do I know, maybe this is just "what I want to believe."

Austed's observation that we seek a way to study certain whale species for their menopausal physiology (rare in the animal kingdom) and lower than human cancer rates is intriguing. How this would be accomplished outside of simple skin sample research is questionable however.

All in all a good book to have read for interpreting the almost daily media reports of miracle breakthroughs in aging and health. Austed's reliance on hard statistical analysis is very helpful in this context.

An entertaining introduction to the science of aging.......2002-02-04

Why do we age? The simple answer is, there is no simple answer. The simplest "simple" answer is probably, we age because we live, and living wears our bodies out.

In order to live we breathe because our bodies use oxygen to convert food into energy. But in the process something called "oxidative damage" happens to our cells. In other words: we rust. Inevitably. The two other main reasons why bodies wear out are connected to glucose and "browning damage", and to self-repair mechanisms of our cells that fail to stop and lead to uncontrolled cell growth - what we call "cancer".

The three processes of rusting, browning and cancer are part of aging. They are "how" we age. But "why" do we age at all? Why don't we stay healthy for, say, 150 years and then simply drop dead? In very simple terms the reason is: aging is genetic. The genes do not care about the body after the body has served its purpose: to replicate the genes and ensure that they can replicate again. This is called the "selfish gene" theory, an expression coined by Richard Dawkins.

Gerontology, the study of aging, is a field of science in rapid growth. I do not claim to be a specialist; therefore I do not want to go into much detail here. Steven Austad's book explains very well "what science is discovering about the body's journey through life". He ends his book with a chapter of particular interest for women ("Reproductive Aging, Menopause, and Health"), and a chapter on our hopes of how to make the best of our ultimate genetic fate ("Slowing Aging and Extending Life: Remedies and Expectations").

Apart from Austad's humor - it can be both droll and dry - I have particularly enjoyed his short portraits of scientists in the field of gerontology and evolutionary biology, such as the geneticist J.B.S. Haldane, the immunologist Peter Medawar, the American scientist Raymond Pearl (who in 1938 produced the first paper analyzing the extent to which smoking reduced life expectancy, but also was of the opinion that people above 50 should forfeit their right to vote, because they would have grown too foolish), the German physiologist Max Rubner, the gerontologist Alex Comfort (who discovered the joy - and profitability - of sex), the biologist John Maynard Smith, and the two-time Nobel prize winner Linus Pauling.

Austad's cameo of Max Rubner is my favorite because of its psychological insight into the downside of dedication and narrow focus: "The first scientist to investigate the rate-of-living idea in any rigorous fashion was the German physiologist Max Rubner. Rubner could make people very uncomfortable with his Teutonic bluntness. He was noted for his long silences, punctuated with outbursts of aggressively sarcastic humor. But he was also an obsessively precise investigator of the energy contained in food and the use of that energy by animals. Like obsessives everywhere, he felt that the significance of his obsession was underappreciated by others."

This is the most amazing break through in science.......2002-01-21

Wow, I am impressed. I never expected this to be a good book when I saw it on my collage reading list. This turned out not only to be scientific jargon, but keeps the reader facinated with the authors great personality which comes through in the writing.

IF YOU BUY ONE BOOK EVER BUY THIS BOOK, AND IF YOU BUY ANOTHER, BUY THIS ONE AGAIN!

Why We Age needs Companion Volume.......2002-01-02

After reading Austad's book, you should read THE IMMORTALIST MANIFESTO: STAY YOUNG & SAVE THE WORLD by Elixxir. It complements Austad's book..... Find out why Harvard's philosophy professor Cornel West calls the author FIRST RATE! ORIGINAL...RAZOR-SHARP.

The Immortalist Manifesto argues persuasively that the anti-aging breakthroughs will not necessarily come in time for you and me. Unless there is an Immortalist movement which pushes society into a Manhattan Project or Apollo Program to conquer Old Age and Death. If this book does not stir us into action, nothing will. It is to Immortalism what The Communist Manifesto was to Socialism.

The Immortalist Manifesto minces no words to remind us that "do-it-yourselfism" is not enough if your goal is to conquer Old Age. Just as you alone can never make it to the moon. Reading Austad won't hurt. But reading THE IMMORTALIST MANIFESTO just might save your life!

Interesting.......2001-02-02

This book presents a thoroughly readable introduction to the science of aging, not just human aging, but aging among all animals. The author begins by pointing out that all claims for pockets of extraordinarily aged people in various corners of the world have always lacked documentation or other substantiation. He states that there is a limit to human longevity that has remained constant even as life expectancies have risen with improved health care and living conditions.

Austad's somewhat simplistic writing style seems geared towards readers of self-help bestsellers at times, and occasionally his analogies lack clarity. Early in the text he defines the beginning of aging as the time when the probability of death is at its minimum, which seems to be about age 11 in humans. While this may be the standard measure for the science of aging (?), Austad never compares this to ordinary people's measures. For instance, many lay people distinguish between aging and longevity. They accept that there is a limit to life but within that limit, they want to have the highest quality of life possible right up until the end. Such people might define aging as a decline in life quality due to pain or illness, and loss of balance, strength, or memory. Certainly, quality of life does not start to decline at age 11. Later in the book as Austad examines ways that people might lengthen their lives, he still never takes up the issue of quality of life. Austad argues that some of the things that people do to try to make themselves healthier (exercise, vitamins) have not been shown to increase longevity but he seems to overlook the fact that they might increase the quality of life so they still might be worthwhile.