Pandora's Seed: The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization 1st Edition

by Spencer Wells (Author)

45 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-1400062157

ISBN-10: 1400062152

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In The Journey of Man, renowned geneticist and anthropologist Spencer Wells traced human evolution back to our earliest ancestors, creating a remarkable and readable map of our distant past. Now, in his thrilling new book, he examines our cultural inheritance in order to find the turning point that led us to the path we are on today, one he believes we must veer from in order to survive.

Pandora’s Seed takes us on a powerful and provocative globe-trotting tour of human history, back to a seminal event roughly ten thousand years ago, when our species made a radical shift in its way of life: We became farmers rather than hunter-gatherers, setting in motion a momentous chain of events that could not have been foreseen at the time.

Although this decision to control our own food supply is what propelled us into the modern world, Wells demonstrates—using the latest genetic and anthropological data—that such a dramatic shift in lifestyle had a downside that we’re only now beginning to recognize. Growing grain crops ultimately made humans more sedentary and unhealthy and made the planet more crowded. The expanding population and the need to apportion limited resources such as water created hierarchies and inequalities. The desire to control—and no longer cooperate with—nature altered the concept of religion, making deities fewer and more influential, foreshadowing today’s fanaticisms. The proximity of humans and animals bred diseases that metastasized over time. Freedom of movement and choice were replaced by a pressure to work that is the forebear of the anxiety and depression millions feel today. Wells offers a hopeful prescription for altering a life to which we were always ill suited, recommending that we change our priorities and self-destructive appetites before it’s too late.

A riveting and accessible scientific detective story, Pandora’s Seed is an eye-opening book for anyone fascinated by the past and concerned about the future.

Pandora's Seed: The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization

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Product Details

Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Random House; 1 edition (June 8, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1400062152
ISBN-13: 978-1400062157
Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 0.9 x 9.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #753,558 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #351 in Books > Textbooks > Social Sciences > Geography
- #531 in Books > Textbooks > Science & Mathematics > Agriculture
- #722 in Books > Textbooks > Science & Mathematics > Environmental Studies

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Customer Reviews

3.7 out of 5 stars

5 star		36%
4 star		24%
3 star		22%
2 star		11%
1 star		7%

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

103 of 106 people found the following review helpful

Interesting, but not exactly what I was expecting

By W. V. Buckley on June 28, 2010

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

I have to hand it to Spencer Wells. He's a master at explaining scientific data and making a subject that might seem dry and academic come alive. In Pandora's Seed: The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization he takes on the topic of early man's transition from hunter-gatherer to an argicultural basis 10,000 years ago during the Neolithic revolution. Using his background in population genetics, Wells makes the case that in opting for the settled lives of farmers our early ancestors set us on a path toward civilization.

Little did our ancestors know that along with farming, they were also sowing the seeds of overpopulation, disease, obesity, mental illness, climate change and even violent fundamentalism. At least according to Pandora's Seed.

I enjoyed the early chanpters of this book where Wells discussed early man. His points about farming and early urbanization are clearly made, as are his ideas that the plentiful supply of food that could be grown rather than searched for set the stage for the development of diseases like diabetes. But as he delved into other topics it seemed like his ideas were less based on science and more on conjecture. I first noticed this in his chapter on mental illness, but it carried through the rest of the book.

By the time I finished the chapters on climate change and religious fundamentalism it felt like Wells was stretching his ideas almost to the breaking point. Granted, he didn't say anything I disagree with; but it was starting to feel less like science and more like an agenda.

Wells has much of interest to say. I just wish he'd be a little more clear when he's speaking for science and when he's speaking for himself.

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52 of 56 people found the following review helpful

Did humans take a wrong turn?

By Jay C. Smith on June 27, 2010

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

The Economist magazine has suggested that if humanity has a "historian-in-chief" it is Spencer Wells, one of the foremost practitioners applying population genetics to refine our understanding of distant human history. That sets a rather high expectation for Pandora's Seed.

Wells builds on the basic evolutionary idea that when the environment changes not all of the genes suitable for the previous environment necessarily remain advantageous. The greatest disruption of this sort in the past 50,000 years, he believes, was when humans began growing their own food about 10,000 years ago, the development of agriculture. Of course, our ancestors had no idea of the long-term consequences of their choices as they began to domesticate plants and animals.

Wells emphasizes those consequences that were not so good. For instance, he argues, human health suffered. For both males and females, longevity, average height, and pelvic indices deteriorated from where they were in Paleolithic times (30,000 to 9,000 years ago) and did not recover until the nineteenth century. "Ultimately, nearly every single major disease affecting modern human populations whether bacterial, viral, parasitic, or noncommunicable has its roots in the mismatch between our biology and the world we have created since the advent of agriculture," he contends.

Wells carries the argument through to current times, although he attends little to the intervening cultural history. He would like us to be more conscious of the "transgenerational" effects of the choices we make as they pertain to, for instance, the health and ethical issues involved in genetic engineering, our impacts on global warming, probable future reliance on aquaculture, and so on.Read more ›

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29 of 31 people found the following review helpful

A New Perspective on the Historical Transition to Agriculture

By David Hillstrom on July 5, 2010

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

The enormous change brought about by the invention of agriculture is well documented. As Spencer Wells says in his book, Pandora's Seed, the transition to permanent settlements led "from villages to cities, which joined in empires with written records to pass on to future generations. What before was lost to posterity or decayed into vague myth was now written in stone." Numerous authors have dealt with this historical transition and its impact. (Probably one of the best such books is Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond.) Mr Wells however has added a significant new dimension to the analysis. Humans guided the evolution of the plants and animals that they domesticated, but there is now genetic evidence that shows that humans were in turn themselves affected by these changes. Geneticists have now discovered numerous recent mutations to the human genome which resulted from the abrupt change in our environment and our diet. The story which the author develops explains in detail both the scope of these changes and the fact that the impact of those genetic mutations and the dramatic shift in the human environment is still unfolding. He goes on to consider the potential future impact of the tools which geneticists have now developed, which could permit designer children as in the movie Gattica. Thus the initial chapters of the book are powerful and enormously important.

Mr Wells is best when he is talking about genetic science, which he knows in depth. However, he also tackles issues such as our contemporary environmental challenge, psychiatric disorders and religious fundamentalism. I found these secondary discussions interesting in terms of the questions that are raised but ultimately they remain rather shallow and simplistic.Read more ›

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Five Stars

Thank you.

Published 5 days ago by Walt concerned

Choose science...

The clarity of Spencer Wells thinking is eye opening. I'm now on my second read and it still makes pause and think about each chapter. Read more

Published 11 months ago by Amazon Customer

first half was well written and very interesting

This book was really good as long as dr wells stuck to gentics and history. The last half ventured too far from the main theme. Read more

Published 17 months ago by j g hair md

we get what we deserved.

We can't look back and say civilization has caused our modern day troubles. Wether we like it or not human species will have to move forward. Read more

Published 18 months ago by francisco dudero

Well worth the read

In Pandora's Seed Wells not only informs but also challenges. The book is well written and interesting for the non-scientist. Read more

Published 21 months ago by Bonita F. McCarson

Very nice

Very nice book. I received it as expected. No complains. I would recommend it to a friend.Good value for money.

Published 24 months ago by PANAGIOTA DIMITROPOULOU

The Unforseen Cost of Civilization

Well-written, a clear and fascinating story of mankind's advance into civilization over time, along with the costs of those advances, which wouold no have been known or understood... Read more

Published 24 months ago by W. Dunning

Assigned book for school

This book was a required reading for my Anthropology 100 class. It was light reading, and I was able to power through it easily. Read more

Published on December 11, 2013 by Ayesha D.

Just what a was after

Anyone who's grabbed by the description, you'll love the audio book. Great for busy lifestyles. Listen on the go!
Thank you

Published on October 17, 2013 by yanillapride

Seeds for thought.

I chose this title for my review because the majority of Mr. Powell's book gives one much to think about. Read more

Published on September 2, 2013 by Gayle Eastley