Customer Reviews

Almost Adam

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This is a promising work from someone new to the Anglo-Saxon literature. Petru Popescu is Romanian, and therefore his style and language are not as polished as expected from your average American author. His Latin lyricism translates oddly at times, and his descriptions are long and detailed. Character developing is uneven, but this is a minor sin compared to other aspects you will find worthwile.

Overall, it's a good book, and shows an great interest in social studies. This twist brings new life to an idea as old as Arthur Conan Doyle's "Lost World". Give it a chance - if you want more than other (similarly-priced) brainless slam-bang, you might like it.

I found this book on a clearance rack $3!I was on vacation and wanted a distraction,so I thought it was a good deal.Little did I know what Mr.Popescu had in store for me.This book is captivating for anyone with a love of mans early history.The sheer amount of research that he put into this novel must be applauded.I look forward to wraping myself up in his next novel.

I bought this book two years ago at a "dollar store" during an ice storm which left us without electricity for two weeks. There wasn't much to do so I bought this book thinking it probably wouldn't be too great; I mean I spent three bucks on it at the dollar store. But, I hoped it would ward off the boredom. I didn't get to start reading it until a month ago and was I ever surprised. This is a great book! As the last reviewer stated, it's a great way to teach science through fiction. I had never put too much thought into how humans evolved. I have even found myself watching The Discovery Channel to find out more about the protohumans.

Mankind's Beginning in Conjecture

This is a great book because of its entertaining way of teaching about some of the more interesting aspects of paleo-anthropology and anthropology in general. The author, Petru Popescu, did an excellent job of researching his subject having consulted actual anthropologists. He obviously researched African politics and culture, as well, to make his characters believable. I also found it refreshing that many of the African characters were both positive and protagonists.

Some of the ideas about the development from primate to Homo Sapien in terms of social, physical, and emotional development were very intriguing. To give an example, I found the idea of early Neanderthals and different versions of humanity living concurrently and interbreeding to be fascinating. To think that we picked up, as modern humans, many successful traits from "evolutionary dead ends" such as the Neanderthals is really captivating.

The book itself is the story of one anthropologist, Ken Lauder, a Californian "beach bum" type hiding out from responsibility, in far off Kenya. In the course of his existence in Kenya, he makes a big discovery that could rock the anthropological world: a possible living "missing link." Ken and his friend, a local African with connection, are in the process of exploring their discovery when a civil war breaks out in Kenya and everything turns into chaos. The better part of the text explores what the field of anthropology is like (according to a fiction writer who did some research), what life in Africa is like and particularly the volatile politics of small African nations, and Ken's erstwhile existence after being abandoned in the African wild. While Ken is abandoned in the wild, he is befriended by a protohuman that Ken nicknames "Long Toes." Ken and "Long Toes" form a father/son relationship that forms the core of the book.

If no other reason, read this book for its easy way of introducing scientific ideas about the origin of Homo Sapiens and their evolution. This book is a way for people who are scared of science to find out how enjoyable science can be. Enjoy!

Review by: Maximillian Ben Hanan

This book is a page turner! It has everything: a love story, a father/son story, friendship, murder, African history, and of course it's also a story on the development of humans. It keeps you wondering what is going to happen and the character development is broad and believable. I can't put it down! Highly recommend!

If you have ever found yourself puzzling over human origins read this book. If you enjoy high paced, thrilling and well organized story lines read this book. Mr. Popescu obviously put quite a bit of research and imgination into his plot. Almost Adam, a winning combination of science and action, is without a doubt in the top ten books I've ever read.

I loved this book so much and was involved in it from start to finish. I liked the parts where they involved protohumans. It was great how Popescu interpreted real characters, such as Leakey, into his fictious novel. For anyone thinking of reading this book, I give it 5 stars and highly recommend it.

I have read this book 3 times and each time I have found it exciting and I still couldn't put it down. No incomprehensible scientific jargon here, very easy reading. Thrilling and adventurous, I loved it!

Almost Good, that's how I'd put it. The idea is great but the storyline is too personal to the authors fantasies. There ARE a few good moments. But really, attracted to a monkey? Also, some of the action sequences reflect a suspension of the laws of physics.I was disappointed because this could have been a marvelous book

Disturbingly real. A present day discovery straight out of our past.

In Petru Popescu's capable hands, a distant world unfolds before your mind's eye. Reach for it; taste, smell, and quite possibly recoil from it; but be careful, you may never be the same.

Standing face to face with the ancestors of humankind, could you remain civilized? Anthropologist Ken Lauder thought he could. But, then again, he didn't count on the pure beauty of a simpler time. A time when the first inklings of reason and sensuality broke forth onto the scene, only to be challenged by the darker primal instincts. Ken Lauder must struggle with every cubic inch of his modern intellectual mind to keep from being drawn into a world where he may never escape--alive.

Do I say more? Do I tell you that at one point I didn't want Mr. Lauder to escape, that I wanted him to stay, so that I might stay as well? Maybe in each of us there's that yearning for a time when the moment mattered, each second a new discovery--dangerous--the world young, our understanding burgeoning in tune with it.

"Almost Adam"--live the past