The Human Odyssey: Four Million Years of Human Evolution (Paperback)

by Ian Tattersall (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Intended as a companion volume to the newly opened Hall of Human Biology and Evolution at the American Museum of Natural History, this book stands well alone. Opening chapters survey life's diversity, highlight human biological systems, and define the place of humankind within the animal kingdom. Upon this foundation, Tattersall--a noted anthropologist and a curator at the museum--interweaves information on fossil finds, artifacts, climate, geology, biology, and sociology to create a vivid depiction of the evolution of primates into Homo sapiens. Current mainstream opinions, alternate views, and earlier theories are explained in a well-balanced fashion. The addition of top-quality photos, maps, charts, and artist's reconstructions makes for an inviting package accessible to both young adult and lay readers. The result is similar in scope and quality to Roger Lewin's In the Age of Mankind: A Smithsonian Book of Human Evolution ( LJ 12/88). Highly recommended for general collections.
- Frank Reiser, Nassau Community Coll., Garden City, N.Y.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
This newly updated edition chronicles the history of human evolution from the simplest forms of life to the rise of modern humankind. Three and a half million years ago, two upright figures walked together across the Laetoli desert in Tanzania, their footsteps captured forever in volcanic ash. Were these remarkable footprints made by one of our earliest ancestors, and what can they tell us about the human evolutionary journey?

This is just one of the puzzles of the compelling story of human evolution explored in this volume. Based on the Hall of Human Biology and Evolution at the American Museum of Natural History—the most extensive exhibition of the subject ever designed—The Human Odyssey examines how both significant fossil finds and startling new theories have been used by scientists to trace the path of human evolution.

Here are the stories behind such famous fossil discoveries as Gigantopithecus, the "Black Skull," "Java Man," and "Lucy," and the surprising clues they reveal about the date and place of human origins. Here too are the bold theories and controversies that have influenced the field of evolution, from the idea of natural selection put forth by Charles Darwin to the new role that DNA analysis plays in fossil research.

Illustrated throughout with more than a hundred photographs, drawings, maps, and stunning artistic re-creations of early humans and their environment, The Human Odyssey is virtually a portable museum devoted to the fascinating subject of human evolution. Drawing from the latest research in both the laboratory and the field, it clearly illuminates some of the most provocative questions scientists have ever asked: Where did we come from, and how did we become what we are today?

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Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: IUniverse (August 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 059518698X
• ISBN-13: 978-0595186983
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,276,706 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Human evolution for the common man, August 11, 2004

By	Jerry Saperstein (Evanston, IL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Human Odyssey: Four Million Years of Human Evolution (Hardcover)

Ian Tattersall does a marvelous job of setting forth four million years of human evolution. He covers the disagreements among paleontologists and their colleagues, offers up competing theories and, on the whole, does a wonderful job of explaining what we think we know about human evolution.

While not overly complex, the book does require fairly intense reading. The illustrations are extremely well selected and presented. I highly recommend this for anyone with an interest in exploring human evolution.

Jerry

4 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 4 billion years of human evolution, November 28, 2002

By	Anthony M. Frasca (East Setauket, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Human Odyssey: Four Million Years of Human Evolution (Hardcover)

Since Tattersall starts his book with the formation of the first living cells, the book actually encompasses 4 billion years of evolution. Nonetheless, this is a nice entry level book for a high school student interested in learning about the basics of paleontology and paleoanthropology. The chapters are short and crisp. The illustrations are well thought out and appropriate. Tattersall also nicely ties the book into the goings on at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, a great place to see some of the exhibits about which he writes. Some of Tattersall's information is stale because advances in paleoanthroplogy are happening so quickly.
There is one rather bizarre comment in the foreword by Donald Johanson. He writes, "Like no other species that has ever lived, we control the life of all living things -- including ourselves...Extinction is forever. We must not let it happen." This is surprising coming from such an educated man. Every good student of evolution knows that every species, including Homo sapiens, is destined for extinction. To suggest that Homo sapiens can exert some control over this process is egotistical nonsense.

0 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Atheistic Superstition, January 19, 2004

By A Customer

Remember seeing all those pictures of various "hominids" lined up according to the supposed progression from apes to humans? According to Henry Gee's 2001 book, In Search of Deep Time, such scenarios are works of complete and utter narrative FICTION, unsupported by any credible understanding of the fossil record. According to Gee, all of the "hominid" fossils that have any bearing on human "evolution" can be stored in one small box. This is all of the evidence we have of human "evolution"--one small little box of fossils supposedly representing a time period of multiple millions of years. And we have more more and better fossils for "hominids" than for any other class of species, according to The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Human Evolution.

Evolution was, is, and always will be, nothing more than atheistic superstition.