Customer Reviews

The Human Career: Human Biological and Cultural Origins

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By far the most complete and up-to-date treatment of hominid evolution I have encountered. Covers every aspect of paleoanthropology, including climatic changes and dating techniques, in great detail and precision, but with language that even a non-scientist such as myself can understand. An outstanding reference book.

One of the definitive texts on the evolution of the hominidae. This text presents some very complex material in a very straightforward way with plenty of diagrams, charts, and maps. Many of the controversies found in the field of paleoanthropology are glossed over or skipped altogether, but this volume is still one of the best for an introduction to human evolution both biologically and culturally. A must for anthropology students especially with all the new discoveries in the past few years.

This is Klein's major work. Very comprehensive. He is a leading figure in paleoanthropology. But as new discoveries come in and new papers are published, revised editions of this book are necessary. For readers who have some idea of the subject only.

Klein and his school of thought are weakest on the period after c 40,000. They believe Neanderthals were exterminated. Accumulating evidence suggests that what he (and others) call "early moderns" in Europe all had manifest reduced Neanderthal traits. The Cro-Magnons have become an embarrassment to his otherwise erudite run through the evolutionary evidence. They were re-analysed as Neanderthaloid and redated as latecomers to Europe.

His writing on Neanderthals fails to fully credit them and the pre-Neanderthals, along with their diversity, for their many accomplishments, some of which continue down to modern times. This is essential reading for the serious student of paleoanthropology but not for the origin of modern Europeans.

Al Sundel

For the six million years before early humans evolved in a different direction from their chimpanzee cousins, there were no writings to consult about our (assuming the readers are human) evolution. This fine book fills this tremendous gap about our ancestors by examining the evidence from skeletal remains that reveal the development of human brain size, eating habits, and getting about on two legs. Klein evaluates this evidence fairly from the viewpoint of different scholars who attempt to relate this evidence to the development of human culture. The massive list of references at the back of the book cites over 2,400 books and journal articles, accompanied by a index of the pages where each reference is used in the text. If you want to know about human ancestors, and you are not too overwhelmed by details clearly and fairly presented, you'll love to wander through this book.

What's the matter with Amazon? I click on 'Look inside the cover' of the 3rd. edition - and it brings up the 2nd. edition.
And we think Star Wars technology is going to protect us.
This is a major new publication in the field of biological anthropology. Come on Amazon, give us the contents of the latest edition, not a ten-year old edition. Pull your socks up, take your fingers out, get on the road, try to run a decent railway.

about geology, anthropology and paleantology. This book gives minutely detailed information about everything from history to bones. It should really be used as a reference. There is probably no better book on the subject, it was recommended to me by an anthropologist

This work is very comprehensive but most assuredly not for the layman. It does not go much into the Upper Paleolithic as I would have preferred.