Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors 1st Edition

by Nicholas Wade (Author)

372 ratings

Frequently bought together

+
+

Total price:

To see our price, add these items to your cart.

Some of these items ship sooner than the others.

Show details Hide details

Choose items to buy together.

by Nicholas Wade Hardcover
$15.84
In stock.
Usually ships within 3 to 4 days.
Ships from and sold by The Reading Nook - Texas.
$3.99 shipping
by Nicholas Wade Hardcover
$89.99
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Sold by oa trading co and ships from Amazon Fulfillment.
FREE Shipping
by Nicholas Wade Hardcover
$19.39
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Sold by Jorgensen2974 and ships from Amazon Fulfillment.
FREE Shipping on orders over $25.00.

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Philip Matyszak
235
Hardcover
$31.26
& Free Shipping
David Reich
1,174
Paperback
$14.74
Get it as soon as Sunday, Sep 5
FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon
Dr. Alice Roberts
567
Hardcover
$17.84
Get it as soon as Sunday, Sep 5
FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon
Jean Manco
285
Paperback
$16.95
Get it as soon as Sunday, Sep 5
FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon
Nicholas Wade
544
Paperback
$18.00
Get it as soon as Sunday, Sep 5
FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon
Chris Stringer
286
Hardcover
$20.00
& Free Shipping
Only 18 left in stock - order soon.

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Nicholas Wade
544
Paperback
$18.00
Get it as soon as Sunday, Sep 5
FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon
Steven Mithen
298
Paperback
$27.45
Get it as soon as Sunday, Sep 5
FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon
Nicholas Wade
122
Paperback
$15.78
Get it as soon as Wednesday, Sep 8
FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon
Only 7 left in stock - order soon.
David Reich
1,174
Paperback
$14.74
Get it as soon as Sunday, Sep 5
FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon
Gregory Cochran
259
Paperback
$17.99
Get it as soon as Sunday, Sep 5
FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon
Yuval Noah Harari
48,194
Paperback
$11.20
Get it as soon as Sunday, Sep 5
FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Scientists are using DNA analysis to understand our prehistory: the evolution of humans; their relation to the Neanderthals, who populated Europe and the Near East; and Homo erectus, who roamed the steppes of Asia. Most importantly, geneticists can trace the movements of a little band of human ancestors, numbering perhaps no more than 150, who crossed the Red Sea from east Africa about 50,000 years ago. Within a few thousand years, their descendents, Homo sapiens, became masters of all they surveyed, the other humanoid species having become extinct. According to New York Times science reporter Wade, this DNA analysis shows that evolution isn't restricted to the distant past: Iceland has been settled for only 1,000 years, but the inhabitants have already developed distinctive genetic traits. Wade expands his survey to cover the development of language and the domestication of man's best friend. And while "race" is often a dirty word in science, one of the book's best chapters shows how racial differences can be marked genetically and why this is important, not least for the treatment of diseases. This is highly recommended for readers interested in how DNA analysis is rewriting the history of mankind. Maps. (Apr. 24)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Genetics has been intruding on human origins research, long the domain of archaeology and paleoanthropology. Veteran science journalist Wade applies the insights of genetics to every intriguing question about the appearance and global dispersal of our species. The result is Wade's recounting of "a new narrative," which also has elements of a turf war between geneticists and their established colleagues. He efficiently explains how an evolutionary event (e.g., hairlessness) is recorded in DNA, and how rates of mutation can set boundary dates for it. For the story, Wade opens with a geneticist's estimate that modern (distinct from "archaic") Homo sapiens arose in northeast Africa 59,000 years ago, with a tiny population of only a few thousand, and was homogenous in appearance and language. Tracking the ensuing expansion and evolutionary pressures on humans, Wade covers the genetic evidence bearing on Neanderthals, race, language, social behaviors such as male-female pair bonding, and cultural practices such as religion. Wade presents the science skillfully, with detail and complexity and without compromising clarity. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1594200793
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Press; 1st edition (April 20, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781594200793
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1594200793
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.29 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.32 x 1.11 x 9.52 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #289,775 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #360 in Genetics (Books)
- #717 in Anthropology (Books)
- #805 in General Anthropology

Customer Reviews:
372 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		70%
4 star		14%
3 star		10%
2 star		4%
1 star		2%

How are ratings calculated?

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Andrew Wyllie

The Evolution of Mankind Told Through Our Genes

Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2017

Verified Purchase

This book describes the evolution of man based on the latest discoveries about the human genome. It talks aboout how science is able to determine how (and when) some of our genetic history was written. How the ancestors of man started in Africa and spread through the rest of the world displacing other types of humans who are no longer around. A lot of the narrative is speculative, but it is careful to label it as such. The most probable scenarios of how different regions of the world were populated are detailed and are explored in turn.

As some other reviewers have mentioned, this book does focus at several points on race, but it cautions anyone from making value judgements based on the genetic findings. The book talks about how people of various races have a higher or lower chance of contracting a particular disease or condition because of genes that might be more common to that race than to others in the world. The races of the world are part of our evolutionary history and can not be ignored just because some people may try to use it as a way to classify people as better or worse than others.

This book appears to be geared towards a person who may be a little above what would be considered a layman understanding of science, but is not so high minded that the layman would be lost in it. The author does a very good job of explaining the terminology that is being used in his narrative and of the various experts that he quotes. I would recommend this book to someone who wants to know about the most recent findings in genetics and how it is helping us understand our ancestors a little better.

31 people found this helpful

Helpful

David Lindsay

A History of Human Evolution

Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 2020

Verified Purchase

Nicholas Wade tells the story of human evolution and migration. Five million years ago the first humans split from the apes. One of the principal themes of the book is the continual evolution of humans, especially since their migration out of Africa around 50,000 years ago. He claims that genetics is changing what we know about our history. Wade argues human evolution has continued to be shaped by the different environments and lifestyles of each continent. Wade was a science reporter for the New York Times from 1981-2012. This book was published in 2006. Wade believes that Darwinian selection means that the different human populations on each continent have probably evolved differently. His views are supported by David Reich who is a geneticist at Harvard Medical School.

Just 50,000 years ago homo-sapiens shared the planet with three other types of humans -- Neanderthals, Homo erectus, and Homo floresiensis. We don't know why these others died out. It seems likely that our ancestors exterminated them. Through information obtained from DNA, Wade claims, it is possible to determine that humans lost their body hair and began to wear clothing about 70,000 years ago. Darwin believed it was because we started to find mates with less hair more attractive.

About 45,000 years ago we became modern human beings in a recognizable way. We had become very smart after we underwent a “cognitive revolution.” Our branch of humanity achieved world domination. We developed the ability to communicate with each other in ways that other animals could not. We don’t know what triggered this change, but we do know that Neanderthals and the other human species disappeared. We expanded out of Africa and colonized the world. About 40,000 years ago we reached Australia and the Americas. About 15,000 years ago Europeans abandoned hunter-gathering and started to live in communities.

Darwin had provided a convincing explanation of how life had evolved over billions of years from simple microbes to the complexity of life in the world today. Darwin believed that as a species travels through time, it continually adapts to its environment. Darwin successfully explained the small adjustments by which an organism adapts to local circumstances: changes to fur density or wing style or beak shape. Darwin explained how we evolved from apes. His classic theory was published over 150 years ago and Wade believes that Darwin is still very important in understanding human evolution.

Wade discusses the human genome. The genome is an organism's complete set of DNA, including all of its genes. Each genome contains all of the information needed to build and maintain that organism. DNA operates like a computer program and Bill Gates has described it as the most complex program ever written. The information contained is enormous. At 9.6 million characters, Marcel Proust’s "In Search of Lost Time" holds the record for the longest novel ever written. The human genome is 6 billion letters long and contains about 700 megabytes of data. Wade does not explain the origin of the genetic code or how changes to the code are made, I presume this is still a mystery.

Darwin argued that if populations are isolated from the rest of a species over many generations (and members of each isolated population breed only with one another), each population may become distinct from the original species. While many adaptations happened in parallel across human populations, Wade believes that genetic isolation has led to a degree of independent evolution. For example, Australia's aboriginal people arrived 40,000 years ago. They may have had little interaction with other humans for thousands of years, this may have led to genetic and cultural differentiation. He explains that Iceland has only been settled for 1,000 years, but he believes that the inhabitants have already developed distinctive genetic traits. Wade believes that human brains have evolved in different ways in Europe, Africa and Asia and this is supported by differences in IQ. This is a controversial claim and Wade has been accused of racism.

Humans learned to talk to each other about 45,000 years ago. It was obviously a huge advantage to develop language skills. It is what makes us different from other species, but why are we are the only species to do so? Wade notes that humans have a language gene and chimps do not. Wade doesn’t explain why that might be. It is unclear who or what made the modifications to our genetic code. Wade references Noam Chomsky's theory of "universal grammar" – which refers to the hard-wiring of the brain that allows children to learn grammatical rules. He also notes the underlying grammatical similarities of all human languages. Why certain grammatical rules are imprinted on the brain is another mystery. There still seem to be major gaps in our knowledge about how we evolved.

8 people found this helpful

Helpful

Dan Shaffer

The Tale of Humankind

Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2020

Verified Purchase

I really like this book. It discusses how the humans first evolved and how we spread out from Africa. The book is detailed but not overly technical with comprehensive research. It answers a number such as how close humankind came to extinction and discusses the waves of migrations that occurred and explained the differences in the ethnicities. It also discussed how humans reached such far flung places as Australia and North America.

I learned so much from this book. My only criticism of this book and why Im not rating it 5 stars it that it is dated 2006. Fourteen years is a long time in fields where new discoveries are being made.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

DoctorHardric

One Amazing Journey

Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2019

Verified Purchase

I think it has been fairly common knowledge for some time now, that all modern Humans came out of Africa. What is great about this book is the new, DNA evidence, that only about 160 or so individuals made that fateful trek and we are their descendants. This book tells how the women outnumbered the men as the men were killing each other off. How "Archaic Man", the Neanderthals, were stopping early Humans from leaving Africa and how we probably do NOT have Neanderthal DNA in us, which is just as good, because they were in fact, little more than two legged animals. Neanderthals probably didn't even throw their spears....which did not change in over 100 thousand years. We, us, the descendants of that hardy group took on Archaic man and spread all over the world. Leaving the Neanderthals to go extinct. This book mentions the Human Brain upgrades that have taken place at least 3 times in the last 50,000 years. It's good reading and super interesting. Worth the money and the time it takes to read it, which if you are like me, will take only about 3 days.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Old Stuff, lots no longer valid.

Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2019

Verified Purchase

It was nice hearing the CD while riding. Recently I've been reading lots of books on civilization, DNA, etc. In many ways the contemporary study of homo sapiens is nearly a different field. This is due to new high tech contemporary tools. In addition to tools there's a plethora of new data pertaining to behavior. Rather than dig deep, as I lack time, I would suggest reviewing books on Amazon and then selecting something that readers affirm is fascinating and enjoyable.

7 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Kevin F

The start of everything ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 29, 2018

Verified Purchase

This book finally puts history into its proper perspective. It traces the descent of man and his habitation from the earliest of times in an objective and unprejudiced, clear to understand manner. Based on solid scientific research it dispels the myth of the "noble savage" and portrays us all as we really are - warts and all. It should be compulsory reading for all schoolchildren - and their teachers.

4 people found this helpful

Ross

Magnificent exploration of our origins.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 30, 2014

Verified Purchase

As someone who finds the origins and deep history of our species fascinating, and has read a number of books on the subject I have to say that I found this one the most enjoyable. As an experienced science journalist the author is more adept at explaining the an area of science that has become much better understood with genetic evidence over the last decade or so, to a general audience than most scientists.

Wade traces our origins from the time humans split from chimpanzees through the key milestones of modern human development such as coming down from the trees, developing language, spreading from Africa, settlements and agriculture and explains what would be the likely pressures that pushed humanity in those directions.

This is a great book and almost anyone interested in the subject will appreciate it.

2 people found this helpful

Luis Moreno abatí

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 15, 2018

Verified Purchase

Quite good book
Very interesting

drone

Interesting topic well covered

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 24, 2013

Verified Purchase

I find human origins fascinating, and this book covers a very broad and complex subject in understandable language. Recommended for any reader not just the specialist.

One person found this helpful

Anupa Nangla

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 4, 2018

Verified Purchase

Wanted the book for ages.