Palaeoanthropology and archaeology are fascinating, vibrant, and multi-disciplinary areas of research encompassing everything from isotopic laboratory work to down-and-dirty hands-on excavation. The discipline has grown tremendously since the time of Darwin and continues to yield new important revelations with each passing year. Recently a new variant of creationism has arisen to challenge evolution: Hindu creationism, as advanced by its most prominent proponents Michael Cremo and Richard Thompson. The Antiquity of Man explores the basic tenets that run through all fundamentalist writings. It is the only published work to provide an in-depth critique of Cremo and Thompson's work, and to examine creationism from the perspective of palaeoanthropology and archaeology: the application of genetics, our relationship with archaic hominins and chimpanzees, and the origins of modern human behavior.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Obsession, not science,
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This review is from: The Antiquity of Man: Artifactual, Fossil and Gene Records Explored (Paperback)
I'm rather disappointed in "The Antiquity of Man". I wasn't looking for an anti-creationist tract but rather a synthesis of archeological and genetic science. Instead, Brass flails wildly at the pinatas. I can nearly see the spittle sprayed on the screen in front of him as he typed the manuscript.
To be fair, when he does address the science, Brass is informative and clear.
8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Magnificently Readable Text on Modern Science!,
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This review is from: The Antiquity of Man: Artifactual, Fossil and Gene Records Explored (Paperback)
Michael Brass, an active archaeologist, examines not only how contemporary science works, and why its results are accurate, but does so in a clear, readable style which will delight those who dread struggling through another "techno-babble" book in their attempt to figure out what is genuinely scientific and what isn't. While there are many excellent books explaining why Bible-based creationism--the kind one normally encounters--is not science, "The Antiquity of Man" is the first book to examine the Hindu form of creationism advocated by Cremo & Thompson, and to clearly demonstrate why this form of creationism, while it claims to be scientific, is actually pseudoscience, not genuine science. As one would expect, given the fact that the author is an archaeologist, the book devotes more space to archaeological issues and methodology than to any other single discipline; yet Michael Brass still manages to cover, very knowledgeably--and readably!--the entire spectrum of the evolutionary sciences, from geology to genetics, and from anthropology to biology. If you look at his picture on the back cover, you'll be astounded that someone who looks so young can have such an encyclopedic fund of knowledge, and have it so securely that he can express it clearly, simply, and understandably. As you read this book, you gradually find yourself understanding the elements of the scientific method common to many different sciences. As you gain this knowledge, painlessly and even enjoyably, you gradually come to be able to recognize genuine science, and to distinguish it very clearly from beliefs which claim to be scientific but do not "do" science. This book is, admittedly, a polemic against a pseudoscientific set of beliefs and claims put forth by Cremo & Thompson in "Forbidden Archaeology" and other works. But the way Michael Brass has chosen to combat this particular set of beliefs and claims is to combat pseudoscience itself, by teaching the reader what genuine science is, and how it works. And the amazing thing is that Brass succeeds in doing precisely that. In summary, if you buy no other nonfiction book this year, buy "The Antiquity of Man", by Michael Brass. Read this book, and you'll never be the same--and you won't regret it.
7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent Example of Research,
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This review is from: The Antiquity of Man: Artifactual, Fossil and Gene Records Explored (Paperback)
Michael Brass' book, The Antiquity of Man, is a well-researched and exhaustive study of mankind's evolution. More specifically it provides clear evidence to support the current thinking and understanding of our progression up the evolutionary tree. Of particular interest is the evidence, which refutes the creationist movement that avoids the science and real answers of evolution in favor of misinterpreting geofacts into artifacts and ancient religious texts into scientific documents. This book is a "must have" for anyone interested in mankind's evolution, it does not overburden the layperson with terminology and yet maintains its scholarly focus, making it an excellent example of research and real writing skills.
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