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.

Glorified Dinosaurs: The Origin and Early Evolution of Birds

Average customer rating:

Great Pix, good read, complete coverage, expert author.
The best handbook on feathered dinosaurs and early birds
Excellent book
The most Authoritarian Book on the Subject

Glorified Dinosaurs: The Origin and Early Evolution of Birds
Luis M. Chiappe
Manufacturer: Wiley-Liss
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Dawn of the Dinosaurs: Life in the Triassic (Life of the Past)
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ASIN: 0471247235

Book Description

The last few years have witnessed an unparalleled rate of discoveries of early birds and their dinosaurian predecessors. Written by a recognised authority in the field, Glorified Dinosaurs: The Origin and Early Evolution of Birds provides a comprehensive summary of these discoveries and addresses the fascinating topic of how modern birds evolved from fearsome dinosaurs akin to the celebrated Velociraptor. The book focuses on an evolutionary approach and presents current research and fossil discoveries. The title includes coloured photographs of fossils and fossil localities, many of which have been rarely reproduced elsewhere.

Glorified Dinosaurs: The Origin and Early Evolution of Birds is an invaluable resource for every palaeontologist, ornithologist, evolutionary biologist, geology and life sciences student. It is also an exciting reading for people interested in dinosaurs and avian evolution and for all those with a general interests in the topic.

Customer Reviews:

Great Pix, good read, complete coverage, expert author........2007-06-15

Most books on evolution don't talk about the evidence in enough detail that you can really understand it, let alone be convinced by it. This is a tragic waste since there really is good fossil evidence for evolution, but the experts just can't be bothered to talk about it. There have been 3 recent exceptions to this rule: T. S. Kemp's The Origin and Evolution of Mammals, Jennifer A. Clack's Gaining Ground (origin of amphibians from fish), and now this book, which is the only one really accessible by the general public. Bird fossils is a field which have really exploded recently, I read lot's of science mags and try to keep up, but this book has tons of stuff I hadn't even heard about. The title of the review really says it all, I just want to add that the old debate about whether birds started as gliding tree dwellers or as two legged runners that flapped to go faster may have been finally settled. I won't give away the ending, though. Creationists will probably pay this book the supreme complicment of ignoring it completely, anyone with an open mind will be very impressed.

The best handbook on feathered dinosaurs and early birds.......2007-06-12

Luis Chiappe is one of the leading paleontologists working on Jurassic and Cretaceous predatory dinosaurs and primitive birds. In his "Glorified Dinosaurs" he summarises in clear words the arguments supporting the idea of close relationships between these two groups, but also discusses the alternative theories on the origin of birds and their flight. The illustrations - photographs, color drawings, reconstructions and diagrams - are of extraordinary quality. Photographs of virtually all the most important relevant fossils, such as Archaeopteryx and perfectly preserved feathered dinosaurs and birds from Liaoning in China, are provided. The book gives a very interesting insight into the history of discoveries and evolution of concepts. It is an invaluable tool for all the vertebrate paleontology teachers and a thrilling lecture for non-professionalists.

Excellent book.......2007-03-13

This book covers all the latest research, with readable text and splendid artwork and photography. It is a deluxe must-have book for dinosaur and paleo-bird enthusiasts everywhere.

The most Authoritarian Book on the Subject.......2007-02-10

I think it has come to be pretty well accepted by most scientists that the songbird outside your window is a descendent of the dinasaurs that once reigned supreme.

This book by a renowned paleornithologist, gives the best summary yet of how the dinosaurs evolved into birds. It begins with the development of feathers, and continues with the earliest fossil samples, including the famous archaeopteryx. (As best I can tell there is only one archaeopteryx in the United States at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center, Thermopolis. At this date the display for these fossils is being built. It should be open sometime in May, 2007, but check with them first.)

This book is current as to early 2007, reflecting all of the latest findings (especially in China) of the steps in the descent of the modern bird.

This book is lavisly illustrated with hundreds of illustrations from color photographs of fossils to line drawings showing the variations in skeletal structure as the birds developed. It uses high quality paper, printing and binding to insure a long useful life.

The Neandertal Enigma : Solving the Mystery of Modern Human Origins

Average customer rating:

engrossing, all round exploration of the Neandertals
a good primer for the beginner
Not just about Neandertals
Every armchair anthropologist should read this book!
Intimations of our distant past

The Neandertal Enigma : Solving the Mystery of Modern Human Origins
James Shreeve
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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In Search of the Neanderthals: Solving the Puzzle of Human Origins
The Last Neanderthal: The Rise, Success, and Mysterious Extinction of Our Closest Human Relatives
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Human Origins : The Fossil Record

ASIN: 0380728818

Customer Reviews:

engrossing, all round exploration of the Neandertals.......2007-03-26

This book is probably already outdated, but it is still a good read. Everything about the Neandertals, as the book make clear, is the subject of often heated controversy. The author does a good job of giving all sides in the story their say, even if the to-and-fro arguments make it hard to come to come to a conclusion. There's plenty of information here in a not too-hard-to-read book.

a good primer for the beginner.......2005-06-24

This is a great book to get you started on more serious writing about paleoanthropology. Shreeve gives consideration to many theories without taking sides. His writing is clear & easy-going. I would have loved more illustrations & maps.

Not just about Neandertals.......2004-05-19

The best thing about this book is that it is not just about Neandertals or Human origins. It covers enough from peripheries of science and the humanities as well as detailed natural history to make it accessible and interesting to anyone who has the slightest interest in this confusing subject.

Though Shreve identifies the complex issues allowing us to doubt everything, the book is far from confusing and there is an enormous amount of travel and biographical notes of the people he has met that Shreve has marshalled in. By all accounts this was an expensive and time consuming book to put together and almost no stone has been left unturned.

I think the fascination with this topic is because it asks the big question - What makes us human? Fortunately, though many answers are offered, Shreve takes care not to make any dogmatic assertion and provides a balanced overview of all the ideas, key workers and key debates.

As a student, I liked the way he discussed the basics of the biological species concept showing how difficult separating species can be at times, especially if using fossils. He also shows us how lots of ideas can be manufactured only to be holed by later workers or evidence.

Most of the book is very fluid. My only criticism is the lack of more illustrations of neandertals - perhaps in colour and a lack of any detail on the classic illustration showing Ramapithecus leading to Cromagnon which has been shown so many times, though this famous picture is discussed.

I think this book shows what science is not. It is not about a solution to the problem that you can believe and cling to. Rather, it is a provisional statement of current understanding and if it seems to explain things, all the better (speaking in the context of human origins).

So many people and ideas are mentioned that this is true journalism, no holes barred, sharp, comical, witty and above all accessible.

I thouroughly recommend it to anyone.

Every armchair anthropologist should read this book!.......2004-04-30

I read this book many years ago and it is still one of my all-time favorites. It combines an anthropologist's journey to answer questions about neanderthals with the scientific debates over human evolution. It is suspenseful and thought-provoking. Mr. Shreeve is a creative, objective and often witty science writer who will make you want to read more about this fascinating science.

Though the mitochondrial DNA evidence was just starting to be accepted when this book was written, it is still an excellent resource. It will also enlighten new anthropology enthusiasts about the separate battlecamps of multi-regional and replacement theorists in the human origins debate.

If you are on this page, you should just buy the book already. Then go get The Seven Daughters of Eve by Bryan Sykes!

Intimations of our distant past.......2002-08-22

During the great space race of the cold war, Sergei Korolev, the visionary architect of the failed Soviet lunar program, included a writer as an essential part of any expedition to the moon, displaying an informed sensibility of the role of artists in interpreting the philosophical impact of science for the masses. In the spirit of Korolev's unrealized, intrepid writer, James Shreeve explores the enigmatic rise and fall of our vanished first cousins, the Neandertals, and their significance in understanding the origins of modern humans. Shreeve's work on the subject is distinctive for its highly engaging pace and style, reading like a sprawling, pan-millennial detective story, but ultimately, it is his own speculation on the nature of Neandertal consciousness - well deserved after so much exhaustive research - that makes this work such an essential read. After an absorbing globe spanning search for clues, Shreeve's odyssey though the ever shifting revelations and counter-revelations of the scientific community culminates in the brave, intuitive synthesis of facts and mysteries that is the calling of a great writer, revealing the philosophical - and spiritual - dimensions of our interest.

Shreeve's roots are in fiction, and his novelistic sensibilities are what bring this story alive. The Neandertal Enigma is testament to how essential the poetic perspective is in divining the deeper implications of science for our own self-understanding.

The Origin of Humankind (Science Masters Series)
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Fascinating

Good introduction into Human Evolution

A good, easy to read intro

Good Introduction to Human Evolution

Best to look elsewhere

The Origin of Humankind (Science Masters Series)
Richard Leakey
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Origins Reconsidered: In Search of What Makes Us Human

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When the Wind Blows

ASIN: 0465053130

Book Description

Leakey has always been interested in far more than the mere physical features presented by fossils, and here he is particularly concerned with non-tangible human attributes, such as art, language and consciousness itself.

Leakey's personal involvement in many of the key discoveries of hominid fossils, and his friendships and rivalries with his fellow fossil hunters, add more than a dash of spice to his narrative.

`An outstanding account of our current understanding of human evolution' Sunday Times

`An elegant summary of what is currently known about human evolution' Observer

Customer Reviews:

Fascinating.......2006-08-29

Very interesting synopsis of many aspects of human evolution. Discussion of the evolution of bipedal locomotion is particularly interesting. Also, of note, Leakey explains the hypothesized explanations for slow growth and development of human children compared to their primate counterparts. I guess more than explanations for the mechanisms of evolution of human growth and development patterns, he does a good job of illustrating how such slow growth and development of human children provide survival and innovation superiority over other species. Very interesting book; however, much of what Leakey elaborates on does not rest on hard evidence (in my OPINION). Many explanations provided are based on logical conjecture. This in no way detracts from the thought provoking nature of the book. Great book for the interested non-anthropologist. As a scientist in a different discipline, I found the book to be very easy to read and assimilate, as Leakey writes to a lay audience.

Good introduction into Human Evolution.......2003-01-14

If I were an expert on anthropology and human evolution I probably wouldn't be reading a book on it from the Science Masters Series. This is really something of a primer on human evolution for people like me (I'm a Sociology graduate student) that are interested in the topic but really have very little background in biology or anthropology. Admittedly, I did find some of his topics overly interesting because of their apparent relationship to topics addressed by Sociology. One of these was the notion of consciousness. He attributes the idea of the Inner Eye/Inner 'I' to Humphrey, 1986. Perhaps Humphrey pulled a fast one on anthropologists because his interpretation is a rehash of George Herbert Mead's Symbolic Interactionism and his conceptions of consciousness and the 'I' and the 'Me'.

Aside from that criticism, I found the book to be a very enjoyable read. I have something of a background in biology (no expert by any stretch), but with what little background I do have the concepts discussed were not over my head. For individuals that have a good high school and perhaps college education, this book shouldn't be too difficult to digest and should be rather informative. I think I was most intrigued by the discussion of the human mind and consciousness, but the entire book was interesting (in a positive way) to me and I would highly recommend it.

There was one quote from Richard Dawkins in the book that I found particularly insightful (whether true or not, I don't claim to know), "Perhaps consciousness arises when the brain's simulation of the world becomes so complete that it must include a model of itself." (p. 142).

And another quote which isn't so much the quote but the content, "Skilled players of the game-those equipped with a more acute mental model, a sharper consciousness-would have enjoyed greater social and reproductive success. This is grist for natural selection, which would have raised consciousness to higher and higher levels. This gradually unfolding consciousness changed us into a new kind of animal. It transformed us into an animal who sets arbitrary standards of behavior based on what is considered to be right and wrong." (p. 154).

Overall, there are undoubtedly other books out there with more up-to-date information. The presentation of the material in this book also reveals that with every passing year the information in the book will become more and more outdated - so it is with science. But for an introduction to human evolution, I very much enjoyed it.

A good, easy to read intro.......2002-10-06

This book focuses more on how the fossil and cultural (i.e., tool-making) evidence for early human ancestors illuminates various aspects of human nature and what it truly means to be human, rather than on the technical details and comparative anatomy of the different pre-homonid and homonid evolutionary lines. Leakey does spend some time discussing the fossils and anatomy, though, which would be almost impossible to avoid in a book on physical anthropology, of course, but it's not the main emphasis of the book. He's mainly interested in showing how the fossil record illuminates the important physical and cultural changes that occurred during our long evolution, and what that says about how early humans lived.

For example, Leakey discusses how the anatomical changes from early Australopithecus (Lucy) to Homo erectus suggest profound differences in the physiology and life style of our earliest ancestors versus the first and later homonids. During this evolutionary transition, all the following changes occurred: the prolonged, more helpless infancy of humans; our ability to be more active and athletic, more delayed sexual maturity; the ability to make and use finer tools; the ability to hunt and kill larger game, along with a more omnivorous diet; a more complex and sophisticated social structure; and finally, the development of true language. Leakey includes separate chapters on 'The Art of Language," "The Language of Art," and "The Origins of Mind," in which he discusses the evidence for these higher-level and more advanced cognitive processes. Leakey is also careful to discuss investigations ranging from traditional comparative anatomy to high-tech approaches using DNA techniques, microanatomy (such as tooth lines), and CAT scans.

Another important topic he discusses is how the fossil evidence has forced modifications in the conception of our evolutionary tree. Since I was last reading up on the subject, the tree has become much less linear and far more "bushy." Another hallowed and traditional idea that had to be abandoned was Darwin's own theory of primitive man being "special" and highly evolved even from the very beginning. As the fossil record has demonstrated, our evolution was far more gradual, with many intermediate homonids known for both H. sapiens and Neanderthal, such as the Sima de los Huesos and Petrolonas finds, which show that there were primitive, archaic Neanderthals in Europe who eventually evolved into the more modern types such as those found at Steinheim and Arago. For the pre-Homonids we now have Australopithecus afarensis, A. africanus, A. aethiopicus, A. robustus, and Australopithecus boiseii, as well as possibly two or different kinds of H. habilis, and so on. As I mentioned earlier, this has provided powerful support for a "bushier" family tree for human origins.

I only have one complaint, which is that the book, being now almost 10 years old, doesn't include the more recent finds of Ardipithecus ramidus and Sahelanthropus tchadensis, which together push our origins back several million years further even than "Lucy," at 3.6 million years, or Australopithicus afarensis.

Overall, however, a nice little introduction to the subject and the issues relating to our earliest origins, and I would give it four and a half stars if I could. After this book, you should have the background to tackle more technical books on the subject. If you decide to do this, I would recommend reading Richard Klein's book, The Dawn of Human Culture, next. It was published this year (2002), and discusses all the more recent finds in some detail. Klein's book is also probably the most readable and well-written account on the subject I've ever read, despite it's being at a fairly good technical level.

After you've finished with Klein's book, I would read Ian Tattarsal's Extinct Humans next, which is notable for the beautiful, high-gloss, color photographs of all the skulls, which is a great feature for comparing the descriptions of the comparative anatomy in the text to the actual specimens. It's also very well written, like Klein's book. In fact, the entire book is printed on very nice, high-gloss paper. The only downside is that this makes the book somewhat pricey compared to the other books here.

I have one more recommendation, which is that you could follow Klein's book with Neanderthal, by Paul Jordan. It's the only book I've seen covering the one genus, although Jordan includes chapters discussing the earlier and later homonids, too, but the emphasis is definitely on all the Neanderthal finds and their significance. It makes for more technical and somewhat dry reading, but does cover the subject in a more detailed way than any of the other books I've seen.

After reading these four books, you'll have covered the best current writing out there on the subject, along with all the major fossil finds. As I said, the only one missing from these books is the M. Brunet expedition's discovery of Sahelanthropus tchadensis, and you could just look up some online articles about it to get the scoop on that. Also, Time magazine had a major article on it in the July 22, 2002 issue, so you could try looking up that, too, at which point, you'd have covered everything.

Hope my little comparson review of these books helps. Good luck and happy reading!

Good Introduction to Human Evolution.......2002-07-12

This is a good introduction to our distant past and ancestors for beginners in the subject. Leakey writes very well and explains things quite concisely. He gives an overview of the major theories, but due to the shortness of the book (only 171 pages including index) he only fleshes out his own theories. I am not an expert in anthropology so I don't know if he is grasping at straws or not. He gives a pretty good bibliography in the back for further reading. There are some problems with the book. First, it is very short, so the author does not have time to really delve into the different theories as much as you may wish he would. Second, this book was written almost ten years ago. There has been more discoveries since then, including the 6 million year old hominid fossils in Chad, which I wish he addressed in an epilogue or an updated version of the book. I would recommend this if you have no background in anthropology and then do some extra research on the web to get up to date with new findings.

Best to look elsewhere.......1999-07-29

There are other books on the subject (including Leakey's own, Origins Reconsidered) that survey the subject with more completeness, fuller explanation, and greater literary color. This is a very slim volume. Besides the restricted length (and thus restricted discussion), the two primary weaknesses with this book are its author's occasionally unrigorous opinions and flights of fancy (see the part about cave art and shamans). With respect to his dismissive opinions, Leakey is not alone among paleoanthropologists; but read the argument against Owen Lovejoy's theory of bipedalism and see if you think it holds up. (Mind you, it is difficult to see clearly the flaws in Leakey's arguments precisely because there is so little space to go into detail.) Second, there is nothing wrong with imagination in the sciences, provided scientists know what to do with it; but scientists sometimes impose their wishes and daydreams on the facts--and the two get muddled in the public's mind, because the "information" is coming from scientists (the true "priests" of our age). Leakey is better able than some to rein in this fancifulness, but it's still there---and, especially in a book this size, there just isn't room for it.

Neanderthal: Neanderthal Man and the Story of Human Origins

Average customer rating:

What we currently know about human evolution
Best coverage of Neanderthal
Heavy on the Fact of Human Evolution, But Not Well Written
A updated book about Neanderthals...
An outstanding, informative and up-to-date survey.

Neanderthal: Neanderthal Man and the Story of Human Origins
Paul Jordan
Manufacturer: Sutton Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

The Dawn of Human Culture
In Search of the Neanderthals: Solving the Puzzle of Human Origins
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The Last Neanderthal: The Rise, Success, and Mysterious Extinction of Our Closest Human Relatives
The Neandertal Enigma : Solving the Mystery of Modern Human Origins

ASIN: 0750926767

Book Description

Was Neanderthalman our direct ancestor, or was he perhaps a more alien figure genetically very different?

Customer Reviews:

What we currently know about human evolution.......2007-07-26

Why this human specie didn't make it, that was the motivation to learn more about Neanderthal people. This book was of great help, explaining the story we currently know about Neanderthals and also human evolution, using fossil and in some cases mitochondrial DNA found in different places, mostly in Europe and Asia. The life of these people was hard and difficult, they were predators but also prey, and they managed to make it through for ten of thousands of years until Homo Sapiens started to populate Europe. The fossil bones and skulls of these people tell us that they had marked differences with Homo sapiens but we cannot say much about their skin color or whether they interbreed or not with Homo Sapiens (we also don't know the skin color of those too). In my opinion is very strange that a whole race became extinct and probabilities say that some interbreed must have happened, at least providing the fittest Homo Sapiens of some genes, for instance a white skin color. Australian aborigines have very particular characteristics, but those are dissapearing little by little due to the mixture with other races.

This book is great to make you think about how difficult has been for human kind to reach up to this point, all the sufferings of people trying to make their best to survive.

Best coverage of Neanderthal.......2002-10-03

This book, as the title suggests, concentrates on Neanderthal finds, fossils, and tool-making, and it goes into a great deal of detail on the current state of our knowledge. In fact, I would say it's probably the most thorough discussion I've found of all the important Neanderthal finds, along with the many intermediate fossil discoveries that show the evolutionary progression of the Neanderthal line.

These include finds such as the Spanish Sima de los Huesos fossils, and the Greek Petrolona fossils, both of which strongly seem to represent an early, archaic form of Neanderthal in their heavier brow-ridges and smaller (about 1200 cc) braincases. Along with these, there are discussions of the several classic Neanderthal finds from France and Germany, too. As I mentioned, the author goes into a fair amount of anatomical detail discussing and comparing the fossils from the many different sites, and so this book may be somewhat difficult, dry, and technical for the non-specialist. Overall, however, it's a very thorough and detailed discussion of the state of our knowledge about this important homonid. The average reader, however, may find the author's prose a little turgid, and the overall technical level a little rough going, but in general, I can't fault the writing too much given the level of technical difficulty of the book.

In addition to the comparative anatomy, the author also discusses Neanderthal tool-making and cultural artifacts, such as the Mousterian industry, and others.

Given the difficulty of the book, I would recommend that many people read Richard Klein's The Dawn of Human Culture before tackling this book, unless you're already somewhat knowledgeable about human evolution. This is a more accessible and very readable book that discusses all the early pre-homonids and homonids from Ardipethicus ramidus up to Homo sapiens, giving much more equal weight to the different stages in human evolution. It will give you a better perspective on the entire line of human evolution before reading Jordan's more specialized volume, which heavily emphasizes Neanderthal. Jordan does provide later chapters discussing earlier and later fossils, so eventually he places Neanderthal in the context of the other homonids, but you don't find these until about half-way through the book.

Another nice point about Klein's book is the interesting discussion of high-tech dating methods and how they're being used, such as radio-isotope methods, luminescence dating, ESR or electron spin resonance techniques, and so on. Klein is also careful to discuss the pros and cons of each dating method, and what the difficulties are in using each method.

Overall, Jordan's book is an excellent, thorough, and fairly technical discussion of the subject which is worth reading despite being somewhat tough going for many readers.

Heavy on the Fact of Human Evolution, But Not Well Written.......2001-09-10

Paul Jordan provides a lot of detail as far as comparative anatomy and the location of various discoveries. He, essentially, has his facts straight and, at times, provides the reader with interesting insights and a discussion of the issues. But the book "Neanderthal" is not well organized and his style of writing leaves much to be desired. His very last chapter, the "epilogue," is the only one in the book where a readable style is apparent. Consequently, I would view this more as a reference work as it is not enjoyable reading. There are many pictures of skulls but almost none have explanitory notes as to what we should be looking for. One is left searching through text to try to make them useful. A few explanatory charts or graphs would have been helpful to try to make sense out of the wealth of factual material he presents. And his discussion of the "Out of Africa" vs "Multi-Regional" hypothesis is strewn all over the book and difficult to come to grips with for those uninitiated. His discussions of DNA testing etc can be mind numbing.

All in all, I wanted to give this book three stars, but I had to relent and give it four due to its discussion of many of the important issues of human evolution and its wealth of detail. Oh, and also, if you are looking for something specific to Neanderthals...less than half this book deals with them. You can do better on Neanderthals with other authors.

A updated book about Neanderthals..........2001-04-28

This book has it all, from fossils to DNA tests. Paul Jordan knows his stuff and has the facts all at his finger tips as he takes us on a tour of the world of the Neanderthals AND the history of their discovery. The only complaint I can say is that it is a tad disorganized in format and might confuse people new to the subject. Lots of photos, but few charts or timelines to help the readers.

People just beginning might wish to read IN SEARCH OF THE NEANDERTHALS by Christopher Stringer and Clive Gamble. Being published in the 1993-4, it is already outdated, but most of the basic information on fossils, camp sites, food sources and stone tools are still valid, aided with maps, charts and timelines. THAN come to Paul Jordan's book for the updated data and ideas.

An outstanding, informative and up-to-date survey........2000-06-04

In Neanderthal: Neanderthal Man And The Story Of Human Origins , Paul Jordan draws upon his archaeological expertise to bring the reader up to date on our current understandings and interpretations of the Neanderthal species and its relationship to homo sapiens. Recently genetic testing on original bones from Germany show that the Neanderthal are not our direct ancestors, but rather a hominid off-shoot from a common ancestor shared with homo sapiens, having diverged from our line of evolution at least half a million years ago and doomed to die out during the last ice age. Jordan also surveys the evidence of about five thousand years of overlapping co-existence with homo sapiens, and some archaeological signs of interbreeding between modern humans and Neanderthal types. Neanderthal brings together under one cover all the research into the Neanderthal, their world, technology, way of life, death rituals, origins, and relationships to modern man. Ideal for the non-specialist general reader, Neanderthal is enhanced with more than one hundred black and white illustrations and eight pages of color photography. Also highly recommended are Paul Jordan's early works: Early Man; Riddles Of The Sphinx; and Ancestral Images: The Iconography Of Human Origins.

Gaining Ground: The Origin and Early Evolution of Tetrapods

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One Layman's Experience of
A humerus tale . . .
Fills a Large Gap in Early Tetrapod Evolution
First step on land
Gaining Ground: The Origin & Evolution of Tetrapods

Gaining Ground: The Origin and Early Evolution of Tetrapods
Jennifer A. Clack
Manufacturer: Indiana University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Evolution | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Dawn of the Dinosaurs: Life in the Triassic (Life of the Past)
After the Dinosaurs: The Age of Mammals (Life of the Past)
The Pterosaurs: From Deep Time
Mammoths, Sabertooths, and Hominids
Oceans Of Kansas: A Natural History Of The Western Interior Sea (Life of the Past)

ASIN: 0253340543

Book Description

"The journey our ancestors made from the sea to dry land is one of the greatest transformation in the history of life, and Gaining Ground documents it magnificently. This should come as no surprise, since Jennifer Clack has been revolutionizing our understanding of this crucial evolutionary episode for years now. In Gaining Ground, she decodes a wonderful tale encrypted in fossils, genes, and flesh." --Carl Zimmer, author of At the Water's Edge

Around 370 million years ago, a distant relative of a modern lungfish began the most exciting adventure the world had ever seen: it emerged from the sea and lay claim to the land. Over the next 70 million years, this tentative beachhead had become of worldwide colonization by any ever-increasing variety of four-limbed life. These first ãtetrapodsä are the ancestors of all vertebrate life on land. This book tells the story of their emergence and evolution.

Customer Reviews:

One Layman's Experience of .......2005-11-24

Other reviews on this page describe the contents well, so I'll focus on my own experience in the hope that it will be helpful to others with similar backgrounds. I have no formal education in science past the high-school level. I learn about science by reading and Scientific American is my favorite source, although I sometimes read more technical material. Gaining Ground falls into the "more technical" category.

One thing I found is that I can't keep track of all the terminology. For example, Clack describes changes in the structures of skulls and that involves a lot of bones I had never heard of before. But by concentrating on the things that I could keep track of, I could follow her basic points. For example, as our ancestors moved to land, where the buoyancy of water no longer kept their heads from sagging, the many skull bones were consolidated into a smaller number for strength. I'll never remember the names of all the bones, but I'll always remember why they changed. The same is true of the separation of the skull from the shoulder girdle and the formation of the neck, and of various other changes. I was content with the fact that there was much I couldn't follow because there was much that I could follow and learn from. And I enjoyed reading it.

Since I read the book, an article by Clack appeared in Scientific American (Dec. 2005) giving an overview of the origin of tetrapods, without most of the technical detail. It is excellent and I will tuck a copy into the book before I read it the next time. If you're unsure about buying the book, read the article. Then tuck a copy into the book as soon as you get it.

[...].

A humerus tale . . ........2005-05-24

. . . along with some ribs, vertebrae and shoulder bones. But it's the skull that captures the most attention. The multitude of variations that occurred as animals moved in delicate steps from water onto land that make the story most interesting. And Jenny Clack's story of our four-legged forebears is a wondrous tale. Ever since Charles Darwin explained the nature of life's evolution, the question of how sea creatures moved to the land has been an enigma. Consider the many issues involved: walking, breathing air instead of filtering water, hearing in air instead of water, how to feed - and where, and protecting eggs. Clack shows how these topics were addressed by slow, incremental changes in body plan, with changes in one area integrated with those in another.

Walking on land meant not only building bones strong enough to support the body, but muscles to drive them. The humerus, the single bone in your upper arm, not only had to be stronger, it had to have joints for a new form of movement. A stride is far different from the flapping of a fin, so the paddling fin had to change. Clack discounts the older, simpler views that the "lobe-finned" fish just developed better "legs". Moving from the sea requires more than just crawling up the beach. There had to be an intermediate step. Clack finds that step in brackish lagoons and shallow, meandering rivers. There, the new four-legged creatures learned to walk on silty soils and learn to mix air and water breathing methods.

It was a reinforcing cycle as the change in surroundings developed new capacities. Diet went from fish to insects. No longer able to simply swallow prey as fish do, tetrapods began feeding on insects and their own smaller cousins. That meant biting and chewing, requiring stronger jaws and specialised teeth. Skulls once short and narrow became wide and flat. This reorganising of the entire skull required new musclature for support. The more time on land, Clack shows, meant not only stronger legs, but a sturdier backbone. Ribs developed that held muscles for breathing. Although the earliest tetrapods likely gulped air as a fish gulps water, before long they were using their nostrils to fill lungs.

As should be obvious, this isn't a simple narrative. The fossil bones are meticulously detailed - when they are available. Clack's task is rendered more difficult by the paucity of fossils. She has been lucky in her own finds in Greenland and Scotland. Others have encountered Carboniferous fossils in the Ohio Valley, Nova Scotia and Australia. The real treasures should be in coal seams where plant remains have become burnable stone. However, mining operations leave little opportunity for discovery. What has been found has often been misinterpreted. In order to depict what happened to tetrapod bodies over time, she is meticulous in describing individual bone types and how they changed. She helps the description with photographs and a wealth of line drawings. Still, this isn't a book for the uninitiated. It requires careful reading and no little back-flipping of the pages. The endeavour is well worth the effort, however. Clack has established an new foundation for understanding where and how creatures like ourselves originated. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Fills a Large Gap in Early Tetrapod Evolution.......2004-08-28

Dr. Clack has really come up with a winning book. I envy her personal experiences finding Paleozoic fossils in Greenland. She goes into considerable detail with fish and amphibian osteology which is difficult to non-exitant to find in popular literature. But this book is no dry scientific text. It is an exciting subject and she does an excellent job of handling the task. I found her understanding of chemistry a little weak in a couple of places but the other information is superb. I had to give this book five stars because it is well presented and it is alone in its class. I am glad I purchased the book because it will make a great reference for my library. Thank you Jennifer Clack for a wonderful book!

First step on land.......2003-02-19

This is the book to be read. There's no reason to hesitate, neither to read the commentaries to decide. As far as books of prehistoric animals are concerned, those of dinosaurs occupy most of them. And maybe this is the first, and the best I insist, to be written on the primitive form of tetrapods. Detailed investigations show us before and after the first members of tetrapods including their environmental conditions, soft tissues such as respiratory, sensory and reproductive systems and interpretation inferred based on the existent animals whose morphological character is insinuating. And, of course, their relationship analysed by cladistics comes in later chapter.
The most important point the author puts emphasis on is to urge our public image or concept on the early members of tetrapods. She intentionally avoids the word "amphibians" for them. You'll see why through the text. This is a superb book! Why don't you take a close look at their intriguing story?

Gaining Ground: The Origin & Evolution of Tetrapods.......2003-02-11

Gaining Ground: The Origin and Evolution of Tetrapods written by Jennifer A. Clark is a book on comparative anatomy of tetrapods on Earth.

The origin and evolution of tetrapods started about 370 million years ago, something strange and significant happened on Earth. That time, part of an interval of Earth's history called the Devonian Period by scientists such as geologists and paleontologists, is known popularly as the Age of Fishes. After about 200 million years of earlier evolution, the vertebrates... animals with backbones... had produced an explosion of fishlike animals that lived in the lakes, rivers, lagoons, and estuaries of the time. The strange thing that happened during the later parts of the Devonian period is that some of these fishlike animals evolved limbs with digits, fingers and toes. Over the ensuing 350 million years or so, these so-caled tetrapods gradually evolved from their aquatic ancestry into walking terrestrial vertebrates, and these have dominated the land since their own explosive radiation allowed them to colonize and exploit the land and its opportunities. The tetrapods, with limbs, fingers, and toes, include humans, so this distant Devonian event is profoundly significant for humans as well as for the planet.

This book tells the story of the evolution of tetrapods from their fish ancestry and puts the sequence of events into its ecological context. The story if founded on an understanding of the evolutionary relationships between tetrapods and their fishy relatives... their phylogeny... and traces the family tree of tetrapods from its roots to the point at which the major groups of modern tetrapods branch off from its original trunk. The tetrapod family tree is in fact more like a bush, with several main branches, some of which have died out during the course of evolution and some of which have become large and important from small beginnings.

This book looks at the changes that occured in the transition from creatures with fins and scales to those with limbs and digits in an attempt to understand how, as well as when, these changes occurred, and to do this, it is necessary to understand something of the anatomy of the animals involved. Chapters 2 & 3 are devoted to these parts of the story. Chapters 4,5,& 6 set out what is currently known of the earliest tetrapods and their lifestyles. By careful analysis of what is known of them from fossils, and by comparison with modern animals that live at the transition between water and land, it may be possible to understand a little of how the early tetrapods worked as animals. After the tetrapods had become established, they radiated into a ranges of forms requiring modification of the original tetrapod pattern. Chapters 7,8,& 9 carry the story forward from the origin of tetrapods to their ultimate conquest of terrestrial living. The final chapter drws together some of the threads that have been taken up in the preceding chapters and shows how they impact the study and understanding of tetrapods today.

Amazon.com

Speaking, like breathing, is something we do every day without thinking. And just like breathing, speech is the result of a complicated dance between neural mechanisms and muscle responses. Although everybody makes use of language--in some form or another--little is actually understood about what it is or how it began. In Eve Spoke, Philip Lieberman, a professor of cognitive science and linguistics, outlines his own theories about this mysterious subject. From development of the human vocal tract to the latest models of where language skills occur in the brain, Lieberman covers the physical aspects of producing speech. He then tries to explain just how the brain puts it all together to create meaning from sound.

Book Description

If we were to summon the first man and woman from their prehistoric graves, what would they--indeed, what could they--say to us? The human imagination never ceases to be captivated by the quest for its own roots. Who were our ancestors? In the evolutionary clash of brains and brawn, what was it that prevailed and made us, Homo sapiens, uniquely human? Today scientists cite language as the distinctively human feature. But what is language--a sign, a grunt? a sound with collective symbolic meaning? This remarkable book seeks to set the record straight with a critical refinement of the language theory, providing us for the first time with a scientific explanation of how Eve came to speak at all. Wrestling with the age-old question of why such a large gulf exists between humans and other animals, Philip Lieberman mines both the fossil record and modern neuroscientific techniques to chart the development of the anatomy and brain mechanisms necessary for human language as we know it. Eschewing any notion of a language gene or instinct, he pursues instead an evolutionary path in which environment acts on a biological capacity to reveal the interconnectedness of systems that make us most human: precise motor skills, speech, language, and complex thought. Eve Spoke challenges the dominant scientific theories of language's origins and forges a new understanding of the role of language in our evolution. Lieberman interweaves his decades of research in anthropology, neuroscience, psychology, and linguistics with fascinating studies and playful discoveries on such disparate matters as the demise of the Neanderthals, the limits of chimp language, the chinchilla's share of the language gene, and Mt. Everest's contribution to language research.

Customer Reviews:

Why and how mankind evolved the plumbing required for speech.......2007-06-07

A good complement to Robbins Burling's "The Talking Ape," Stephen Pinker's "The Language Instinct," and John McWhorter's "The Power of Babel." Each has its own niche. Pinker approaches the question from the structure of the brain, and the structure of language itself. McWhorter is a linguist; he talks about how languages are put together.

Lieberman and Burling occupy themselves with the evolutionary question. How did language come about? Their works complement each other quite nicely. Lieberman examines the physiological changes that were required in the evolution of the sound production mechanism that is so unique and so characterizes Homo sapiens. Burling approaches the same question from a linguist's perspective. How could language of all in such a way that each step represented an evolutionary advantage over the prior step, but yet the overall result was a qualitative leap which he says went from analog to digital communications.

Burling advances a number of large theories. The kinds of theories that would be impossible to prove given the fact that speech leaves no historical record, and even the archaeological record of the evolution of the speech apparatus is fairly spotty.

He proposes that the evolution of language was driven by listening and perception rather than production. The ability to produce speech would have been worthless unless it was paired with listeners capable of interpreting it. Conversely, superior ability to understand utterances of other members of a social group would always be advantageous to the animal possessed of that ability. This ties in quite well with Lieberman's timeline for the development of the human speech apparatus. Lieberman goes into a lot of detail about the differences between Neanderthal and Homo sapiens' vocal tracks, evolutionary differences that occurred very recently, in the last 200,000 years or so. I believe this would make sense to Burling; the production mechanism evolved quickly once the listening mechanisms were substantially in place. Lieberman notes that the human vocal tract imposes a number of disadvantages. We're the only animal that can asphyxiate in the process of swallowing. The location of our larynx impedes airflow for maximum aerobic performance, and requires that we have smaller and less useful jaws. It could only have evolved the way it did if language had a high selective advantage.

Burling observes that that human speech is digital whereas most animal communication is analog. Words are discrete from one another; they do not fall on a continuum. Bat and bag are two different words. Our hearing apparatus may err in choosing between them, but our brain will form one concept or the other. Compare this with a baby's cry, which can vary continuously from a whimper to a full-blown scream.

Both authors address the question of why a speech is a vocal rather than a gestural matter. It is both, on both the analog and the digital side. On the analog-visual side, a smile can represent quite a continuum of emotion. On the digital-visual side you have true languages like American sign language, and gestures such as a knotted head or an extended finger. Their conclusion is practical. The vocal tract can operate quickly, can operate in the dark, and it leaves the hands free. Lieberman cites statistical analyses showing that speech is about five times faster than any other mode by which people could communicate with one another. It evolved because it was highly efficient. Primatologists have written that grooming behaviors limit group size. It takes a lot of time to maintain social hierarchies picking nits from one another. Speech makes us more efficient nit pickers.

Burling asserts that there are five specific cognitive tools that are essential to learning a language:
1. A rich conceptual understanding of the world around us.
2. Joint attention: the ability of two individuals to focus on a single object, such as a tree to which one is pointing, or a coffee cup was holding.
3. The ability to imitate. If I make a sound or a gesture, you can imitate it.
4. The ability to understand pointing gestures, and representative signals such as "big" and "small," to establish abstract thoughts that can be verbalized as adjectives and adverbs, for instance.
5. The assumption that language will be pattered and repetitive ways. For instance, in a given language the subject will precede the verb and the object will follow it, or vice versa.

People are good at this. A trained anthropologist can sit with a person whose language is totally unknown to him and figure out how to communicate within a matter of hours or days. Even our closest primate relatives are fairly weak on these abilities.

Burling addresses the evolution of the structure of language. The first major question is words. There are 60,000 or so in the average vocabulary. Where and how they are stored as a mystery that is only now being unraveled. What is clear is that no such memory and retrieval system was required when communication was largely analog. We need syntax to hold our words together in meaningful relationships. Burling talks about how elements of syntax are likely to have evolved from independent, standalone words. See the McWhorter book for a more extended discussion.

Burling is fascinated with the question as to why language provided such a strong selective advantage. In his field work in rural India he notes that most tasks within a village can be accomplished without a great deal of verbal communication. People learn those tasks involved in agriculture by observation. Deaf-mutes can master the tasks about as well as hearing people. He offers a number of theories, the most intriguing of which is sexual selection. The peacock's tail is supposed to have evolved not because it gives the male peacock any advantage in life, but simply because it is more attractive to the peahen. Other authors have posited that sexual selection is the reason that blonde hair, blue eyes, hairless bodies and large breasts crept into the human populations. There is no doubt that both men and women prefer articulate partners, and that articulate people rise to the top of any human social grouping. They will have more mating opportunities. Burling notes as well that we measure intelligence in large measure as the expression of verbal ability. Upon this premise, he would say that there is sexual selection for intelligence.

The question that led me to read these books is the assertion that McWhorter makes that human speech is only 150,000 years old. The conclusion I get from both these authors is that the 150,000 year figure applies to speech by Homo sapiens. The production mechanisms we use were available about that long ago. A lot of the mental mechanics, the word storage, the syntax, and some of the production had to be in place much earlier.

It is interesting to superimpose the 150,000 year figure over the timeline of human migrations. Most authors believe that modern humans arose in Africa about 200,000 years ago and left about 50,000 years ago. We might expect the same kinds of evolutionary differentiation in linguistic abilities that occurred in human physiognomy. Neither author addresses the question, but on the very morning that I write this review there is an article in The Economist that a Dr. Dediu and a Dr. Ladd have found genetic differences between people to speak tonal languages such as Chinese and the rest of us. There is more to be learned about this most essential character of the human animal.

Thus Spake Eve and Lieberman!.......2002-01-05

I give this work a "C" because I expected more from a man who has spent most of his life engaged in the study of the evolution of human speech and language. This book is loosely constructed, as if the author dictated a few paragraphs over coffee each morning, with little apparent direction in mind other than discussing the overall, global idea that language and speech have evolved along with the anatomy of the head and neck. That's ok, however. This book is geared more to the average reader with some science background. He does a nice job discussing other research that was germinal to our present day understanding of speech perception and production. He reviews his own research on reconstruction of the vocal tracts in skulls of early man. Although his studies over 30 years, which suggested that the human larynx descended in order for human speech to develop, made him almost a popular science icon, alas, some of his work subsequently has been dismissed by various linguists and paleo-anthropologists.

For example, there is no reason why humans could not develop speech and language with a higher seated larynx. Indeed, a human can be understood while using just ONE vowel in running speech (this is in iximpil iv whit i min). And a language could be constructed around one vowel by simply making longer words. Also, humans who are adept at buccal speech (where the vocal tract is basically the oral cavity) can be readily understood.

It is true that a lowered larynx indeed allows more vowels to be produced and makes speech more efficient, but that does not prove that this was why the larynx descended. The larynx may have descended in order for humans to bellow out deeper nonspeech warning cries to predators. And, further, a higher larynx is not the reason chimps do not talk. That is to say, there is no reason to suspect that had their larynges moved South, nonhuman apes would begin conversing in human-like fashion. Lieberman points out that the chimp lacks higher cortical centers for speech and language, but he eschews a Chomsky-type innate language acquisition device. His arguments against this are interesting, if not compelling.

Certainly, articulators such as the tongue,velum, and lips, and the way they are articulated are far more critical to the production of speech than is the position of the larynx. Yet, the perception of speech takes place despite fairly sloppy articulation.

In Lieberman discussion of vocal tract normalization, he suggests Terrance Nearey (1978) first described this phenomenon, when, indeed, this concept was written up very nicely by Tim Rand in a Haskins Lab Research paper in 1970.

As Lieberman writes in the Coda of this book, "Evolution in itself has no direction." Despite his research and views, I believed the larynx gradually lowered in humans, but did not HAVE to. It just evolved that way and consequently made speech more efficient. Lips could have protruded more to lengthen the vocal tract (and thus allow more vowels), but, if anything, human lips, in general, have receded over time, not protruded. Yes, a lowered larynx increases the risk of choking to death, but does this really prove that the reward of more efficient speech is the underlying cause for this? Who knows?

What came first, the lowered larynx or language? I say, language, however "primitive" it may have been. What did Eve say to Adam? Obviously, she spoke the equivalent to "Yes" or we would not be here now. Lieberman is correct in saying there may have been many Adams and Eves over the past five million years. He exhibits his humane side when he adds "We are not the lords of creation, made in God's image because we talk, masters of the birds and beasts, which cannot speak. The purpose of human life is surely that we must use the gift of speech, language and thought to act to enhance life and love, to vanquish needless suffering and murderous violence - to achieve a yet higher morality." He may be stretching it a bit here, but it would be nice to think he is right.

and adam listened.........1999-07-01

Lieberman's book is concise, well-written, and fascinating. While the book may be intended for a popular audience, some knowledge of basic anatomy and neuroscience is necessary in order to fully appreciate his ideas. The organization of topics is refreshingly casual, unsuitable for textbook writing, but perfectly appropriate for this particular work. A quick, enjoyable, and informative read. Great preparation for a cocktail party.

where's the thesis?.......1999-07-01

Given how short this book is, it's surprising how poorly organized it is. There's a lot of interesting information in here but the job of turning Lieberman's incoherence into a reasoned thesis is left entirely up to the reader. This is really a shame, since some of Lieberman's arguments and cited studies really are interesting -- but in that sense _Eve Spoke_ is more of a limited reference tool than a book. I've read this book twice, and the content is still pretty fuzzy. I'm just thankful it wasn't assigned reading, as taking notes for this must be a nightmare.

In short: decent writing, useful material, terrible organization. Definitely a library read.

a disappointing and frustrating read.......1999-03-20

Philip Lieberman tries desperatly to make this book accessible and ultimately fails. Although his knowledge is extensive and most likely fascinating under other circumstances , I found his "proof" so extremely unorganized and out of place , that I ultimately stopped caring . All 151 pages of this book were pure torture .

Origin and Evolution of Humans and Humanness

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Great compilation

Origin and Evolution of Humans and Humanness
D. Tab Rasmussen
Manufacturer: Jones & Bartlett Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Textbook Binding

Anatomy | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0867208570

Customer Reviews:

Great compilation.......2001-10-18

This is a collection of 6 articles from various anthropologists such as Lovejoy, Walker, Stringer, and Conkey. The book does a great job covering the major transitions in human evolution from Lovejoy's article on primates, sex, and Australopithecines to Walker's article on the origins of the Genus Homo and Homo erectus, an article on stone age technologies, Stringer's article on the origins of H. sapiens, Conkey's article on paleolithic art, and the final article on culture and its evolution.

This is a great book for someone who already has introductary background knowledge and presents some new theories and thinking in human evolution.

Each chapter is concluded with a list of references and a list of suggested readings. The end of the book contains a pretty extensive glossary. The inside covers also contain useful information (time line and family tree on the front and pictures of a human and chimp skeleton with labels on the back).

Book Description

Our ability to walk on two legs is not only a characteristic human trait but one of the things that made us human in the first place. Once our ancestors could walk on two legs, they began to do many of the things that apes cannot do: cross wide open spaces, manipulate complex tools, communicate with new signal systems, and light fires. Titled after the last two words of Darwin's Descent of Man and written by a leading scholar of human evolution, Lowly Origin is the first book to explain the sources and consequences of bipedalism to a broad audience. Along the way, it accounts for recent fossil discoveries that show us a still incomplete but much bushier family tree than most of us learned about in school.

Jonathan Kingdon uses the very latest findings from ecology, biogeography, and paleontology to build a new and up-to-date account of how four-legged apes became two-legged hominins. He describes what it took to get up onto two legs as well as the protracted consequences of that step--some of which led straight to modern humans and others to very different bipeds. This allows him to make sense of recently unearthed evidence suggesting that no fewer than twenty species of humans and hominins have lived and become extinct. Following the evolution of two-legged creatures from our earliest lowly forebears to the present, Kingdon concludes with future options for the last surviving biped.

A major new narrative of human evolution, Lowly Origin is the best available account of what it meant--and what it means--to walk on two feet.

Customer Reviews:

Neotenous niche thieves rule!.......2004-10-08

The next time you're tending your garden, pause a moment. Consider your position and local environment. Squatting down or on your knees, reaching around to weed or till, you are likely repeating a similar pose held by your ancient ancestors. According to Jonathan Kingdon, our African forebears started along their evolutionary path rooting about on the woodland floor seeking dinner. When conditions changed, they stood up to seek better places. The result was a questing ape that ultimately filled nearly every useful site on our planet. It will take serious research, an analytical mind and top-notch writing skills to surpass or supplant this superb study. Some artistic skills wouldn't go amiss, either.

Kingdon has produced the finest work on human evolution since Darwin's Descent of Man. His focus is our upright stance, but he examines far more than simply physiology in explaining how we expanded around the globe. The story of human evolution was upended by Raymond Dart in 1924. Before then, as Kingdon relates, it was believed pre-humans grew large, useful brains before descending from the trees. Dart's Taung Child demonstrated upright walking developed long before our mighty minds. Why this was so is a question that has plagued anthropologists for decades. Kingdon lists thirteen theories for why we stood upright - then demolishes them thoroughly. He also peels away the idea that there's a clearly traceable lineage of successive steps from early hominins to modern humans. For one thing, he reminds us, fossil location doesn't necessarily reflect points of origin.

The key word in Kingdon's title is not "how", but "why". Each species is adapted to its current environmental condition. Walking implies relocation and he posits that an East African "ground ape" likely followed rivers to their origins and beyond in the quest for resources. At some point, pre-human species became "niche thieves" - occupying or invading empty or inhabited resource areas. Vagaries of climate, the onset of disease or direct competition led to further changes in our physiology. We got better at walking, but we also learned new habits or improved on old ones. Twigs used to probe for food led to sticks for defence or attack, ending in spears for hunting. Spear casting is practiced from an early age in hunter-gatherer societies - young boys develop hunting skills through play activities.

The retention of child-like traits is called "neoteny". Although this term is usually applied to body forms, especially facial features, it may also refer to behaviour. To Kingdon, childhood skills encouraged brain development to make us better hunters. Unfortunately, while granting us more complex reasoning ability, brain enlargement and ingenuity granted us access to a widening zone of niches without giving us insight into the impact of that exploitation. It has also led to humans setting themselves apart from the remainder of the animal kingdom. That fallacy, he urges, must be corrected, and soon if our species is to survive. We must not play with the planet any longer.

Kingdon's thorough analysis of who we are and how we arrived at today's condition is unquestionably the best available. A fine writer, his African origins are reflected in many vignette descriptions of environments and their inhabitants. In addition to his prose talents is a capacity for vivid illustration. He presents many evolutionary scenarios that include self-portraits as an element in comparative studies. This book will endure and should be required reading in any course in anthropology or sociology, let alone ecology. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Get in touch with our ancestors.......2004-01-01

I recommend this book to anyone wanting to better understand our ancestors, not as unearthed fossils, but as living creatures who roamed the earth. Kingdon uses his own illustrations to bring us face-to-face with these ancient creatures, and to show just how we arrived on the scene. I am a scientist, but not an anthropologist, and have to admit that I needed to read the book twice to really understand it. Kingdon does not hand the reader easy answers, and does not provide summaries -- but rather proposes scenarios and dynamics that played out over several million years. This book is a delight, but it requires patience and/or some rereading.

In Search of the Neanderthals: Solving the Puzzle of Human Origins

Average customer rating:

No complaints here!
Brilliant
Well done...

In Search of the Neanderthals: Solving the Puzzle of Human Origins
Christopher Stringer , and Clive Gamble
Manufacturer: Thames & Hudson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Early Civilization | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

General | Evolution | Science | Subjects | Books

The Neandertal Enigma : Solving the Mystery of Modern Human Origins
The Neanderthal's Necklace: In Search of the First Thinkers
The Last Neanderthal: The Rise, Success, and Mysterious Extinction of Our Closest Human Relatives
Extinct Humans
The Dawn of Human Culture

ASIN: 0500278075

Customer Reviews:

No complaints here!.......2005-09-22

The book was in perfect condition and the shipping was really fast.

Brilliant.......2005-07-30

Having only a cursory knowledge about human pre-history, I asked a colleague in the anthropology department for a good primer. He gave me this. It was a veritable cornicoupia of information, even as the authors sought to provide their own answers to quesitons of acadmeic controversey.

The central question Stringer and Gamble seek to answer is: are modern humans kin to Neaderthals, or are we distantly related? In answering this, readers are treated to a briefing on the ice age world of the Lower and Middle Paleolithic, the relation of Neanderthals to other early humans, the way in which Neanderthals have been understood (and seen) by science and the public, before the book really hits its stride in disucssing the archaeology of Neanderthal sites and what they tell us about these early humans.

The authors belive that modern humans are related to (rather than directly from) Neanderthals, and that by the Upper Paleolithic, were being replaced by modern humans coming out of Africa ("Out of Africa II"). The evidence in support of this is strong, although not overwhelming: mtDNA (mitochondrial DNA) as well as behavioural data are primarily used.

In all, it was a worthwhile and fascinating read, and certainly provides more depth on the specific case of Neanderthals than other books on early humans.

Well done..........2001-04-28

The authors really do a great job in doing a detailed study of Neanderthals, their lives and their world. They catalogue the fossils found, examine how we know what we know from the bones, tools and even the ash from the fires.
The only problem is that the book was published in 1993-1994 and does not take into account later DNA tests and the four-year-old child who lived five thousand years after the last of the Neanderthals SHOULD of died (found in 1999)who showed signs of interbreeding between modern humans and Neanderthals. So, while the conclusion in the book that we did not come from Neanderthals may not be correct (and still open to debate), the chapters dealing in detail with Neanderthal tools, camp sites, society, art and burial are a must for people interested in the subject...

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