Origins Reconsidered: In Search of What Makes Us Human [Paperback]

Richard E. Leakey (Author), Roger Lewin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0385467923 | ISBN-13: 978-0385467926 | Publication Date: October 1, 1993 | Edition: 1st

Richard Leakey's personal account of his fossil hunting and landmark discoveries at Lake Turkana, his reassessment of human prehistory based on new evidence and analytic techniques, and his profound pondering of how we became "human" and what being "human" really means.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Famed paleoanthropologist Leakey relates an intellectual odyssey, describing his discoveries of human origins and his reflections on the nature of humanity. Photos.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

YA-- Leakey and Lewin discuss how conceptions of human anatomical and behavioral development have been radically altered within the last 12 years by new discoveries and research in other fields. They review the developments and assert Leakey's own hypotheses based on these discoveries. Although supporting a specific view of human evolution, they also illuminate other theories and their proponents, if mainly to argue against them. This is an engrossing book written for the layperson, fully explaining anthropological terms and theories when necessary. It's a solid introduction to current theory concerning human development.
- Hugh McAloon, R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Frederick,
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Anchor; 1st edition (October 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385467923
• ISBN-13: 978-0385467926
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #451,604 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A quest for who we are, August 14, 2000

By 

Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Origins Reconsidered: In Search of What Makes Us Human (Paperback)

If you've never read Leakey, start with this book. This well conceived and finely crafted work should grace any library. Bringing skillful research and writing skills to relating the evidence of human origins, Leakey and Lewin demonstrate why this team has been so successful. More than simply technical skills are visible here. There's a strong sense of humanity applied here to everything from flying an aircraft to preparing a specimen for appraisal. A major element in Leakey's presentation is his willingness to revise his opinions in the face of new evidence

Leakey once suffered from 'lack of credentials' in his work as an paleoanthropologist. Drawn to this work by a fascination with our past instead of by an academic background, he's shamed his critics with stunning finds, excellent logic in assessing their value, and the presentation talents shown here. The lack of academic constraints frees him to bring fossils to life in speculative scenarios no schooled scientist would dare. He does it here with plausible accounts of our ancestors possible lifestyles. The guild scientists may complain that 'there isn't enough evidence' to draw these scenes, but Leakey is careful to point to the evidence, drawing many elements together to produce these scenes. They are vivid and thought provoking in portrayal and need no more defense than that. And they are supported by fine illustrations of many aspects of paleoanthropology.

Leakey's examination of language development occupies a significant part of his discourse. These arguments are worthy of your close inspection. Verbal communication has long been viewed as the sole distinction between humans and the other animals. Leakey shows how even this feature cannot be considered a sharp demarcation. He examines the function of language over the course of human evolution, concluding that language and our oversize brains result from a continuous feedback loop.

There are few shortcomings in this book. Foremost is a lack of bibliography [yes, this remains a shortcoming even while defending Leakey's 'non-academic' background]. It would be nice to further pursue details of some of the contentious issues. Lewin's own BONES OF CONTENTION makes a fine starting point. It lacks however, any mention of Owen Lovejoy's thesis on bipedalism related in Johanson's LUCY, the most succinct depiction of human evolution in print. Leakey uses Harry Jerison as a source for brain/language interaction, but you'll look long to find Jerison's BRAIN SIZE AND THE EVOLUTION OF MIND. The lack of a reading list can be overcome with a bit of work on your part. There are many good titles available and the effort will expand your view of our origins. Start here, you will not find many other works that will touch your own humanity as closely as this one does.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book well worth considering, June 11, 2001

By 

Daniel Woodard (Merritt Island, Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Origins Reconsidered: In Search of What Makes Us Human (Paperback)

Richard Leakey introduced millions to the evolution of humanity in his first "Origins", but over the years it had inevitably become outdated. This book is less dramatic but far more complete scientifically, and is an essential read for anyone who wants to keep up with our past. Moreover, where the first book tended toward philosophical speculation, in this one he builds theory on facts; where before he focused on his own views with little discussion of other researchers, in this one he quotes them with the dilligence of a reporter. Where the first book was often gramatically infuriating, this one has the polished language and clearly stated logic that make learning complex concepts seem effortless.

Best of all, this time he takes us along on the adventure of discovery. Leakey is no closeted academic; he can find food and water as the ancient hunter-gatherers did, with no modern tools, in what looks to the untrained eye like a dry wasteland. He understands the politics of the illegal ivory trade as well as the interpretation of fossils. He was not stopped in either his explorations of human origins or his quest to save African wildlife by years of kidney failure, near-fatal pneumonia, death threats from poachers, or even the loss of his legs in a plane crash. He covers the science in full detail, yet the reader has a sense of immediacy one never gets from the academic literature. We are parties to acrimonious debate and feel the thrill of pouncing on the apparent error of a rival. We spend months in the bush, and are immersed in a lifelong search that yields, after innumerable frustrations, to the occasional astonishing discovery.

There are a few shortcomings; Leakey glosses over some of the points he made eloquently in the first book which turned out, in retrospect, to be radically incorrect. The photographs, critical to understanding the discussion, are grouped together and hard to relate to the appropriate text, and the critical diagrams of the human evolutionary tree are small and difficult to read. But overall, the theory is so cogently explained, and the narrative has such a sense of realism, that we feel we could do it ourselves, flying over the Great Rift, sifting through ancient sand and rock, pushing back the frontiers of time to discover ourselves.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting read with many thought-provoking theories, July 22, 2004

By 

sparke303 "sparke303" (San Marcos, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Origins Reconsidered: In Search of What Makes Us Human (Paperback)

Richard Leakey is one of the most well-known, and respected, fossil-hunters today. One must stop to appreciate the irony of his rebellion toward his parents, without whom he may have actually had to go to college to establish the credibility he enjoys due to his last name.

Leakey's "shots" at Donald Johanson and other scientists aside, much of the analysis presented in "Origins Reconsidered" is quite interesting. His rebuttal of the "Lovejoy hypothesis" is well-articulated and rather persuasive. But the way he barely hints at his infamous "4-million-year-old homo habilis" fossil debacle (a claim he held far longer than evidence supported it) is awfully self serving.

The driving force behind Leakey's studies is this fundamental question: "what separated members of the genus homo from the "bipedal ape" australopithecines, and what were the environmental factors that favored homo's survival and led to australopithecus' extinction?" Nearly the entire book focuses on the analysis of this question, and rather eloquently at that.

This book would be best for the student of paleoanthropology, whose reading list on the subject would extend beyond this single volume. While scientifically valid, the range of theories in the area is vast, and each developing theory carries its own controversy. Only by understanding the range of these theories can one hope to have a good idea of the bipedal-ape-to-human evolution.