About the Author and This Book:
Science editors and writers, not anthropologists, tend to author the most readable books. You get the clearest language, explanations and occasionally even literary eloquence and poetic poignancy. They usually are more objective with more balanced perspectives – as they usually don’t try to promote a particular interpretations. They understand lay reader‘s needs and been trained to write good succinct English in an entertaining fashion to hold the readers interest. Which makes them a good source for introductory books – this book is very much an introductory book.
As Science and Technology Editor for the UK’s Observer, a science columnist for the Guardian and author of several popular trade science books Robie Mckie fits the mold. This book was written to accompany a BBC mini-series and includes some of its entertainment values. That the BBC chose him to write this book for them say a great deal - he is a very talented writer. This book is one of the easiest and entertaining anthropology books I have ever read... However, the book is becoming outdated; otherwise it would be the first book I recommend to someone getting interested in the field. I still recommend it, just not to read by itself. (see “Rating and Value” below).
General Summary:
The book traces the evolution development (progressions) over time in the transition from early hominids to modern Homo sapiens (us). To paraphrase the publisher’s comments it is a well written scientific story full of paleontologist detectives whose theories and foibles add to the Story.... Plentifully adorned with photos and drawings – which seems to be a reasonable summary (especially for a publisher!). For your time and coinage, you will get a good overview of the field, exposure to some detail and a taste of the character of paleo-anthropology..
Format and Text Content:
The book generally (not rigidly) follows the time line of hominid evolution and each chapter tends to deal with the major classes of Hominids.
• Supposedly 200 pages of “meat” but with -88 equivalent pages of illustrations = 122 equivalent pages of text
• The publisher used "sidebars" – similar to introductory textbooks – to provide more general anthropological information as background to the main text. Usually they are located where pertinent to the main text, but for those who have bought the text but not yet read it – see "Finally" section below for some possible improvements.
Illustrations:
Illustrations are offered to support the text, but include too much filler and fluff. I suspect this may be because it was written to parallel the TV mini-series. Still - some are worthwhile (see "Finally" section below). They include photographs, drawings, and diagrams of hominid fossils and anatomy and their discovers, photos and maps of key fossil sites, reconstructions of hominids /early man, artifacts, charts, diagrams and maps – some out-of-date including the Time line, and artistic representations of Hominid behavior – taken with large artistic license as well as some blurry images taken from the TV series showing people dressed in hokey ape suites.
There are just under 100 graphics and about half are reasonably good the rest is filler/fluff/distraction.
Rating and Value:
I rated this a book a 4 because its dated, and because its many funky photos drag it down. It is a very well written Introductory book who otherwise should have been rated a 5..
At this time I saw used ex-library books offered for 1 cent, "Good" rated books at $0.78, "Very Good" at $3 and "New" at less than $10. Book is worth all these prices, but I personally wouldn’t buy it new because I usually write in the margins – unless the book has outstanding presentation value and I don’t feel there is a lot of value in this book beyond its writing.
If you’re new to the subject I would recommend you read it but only if you buy a more recent introductory text too, like Carl Zimmer’s Smithsonian Institute Intimate Guide to Human Origins (which is also somewhat dated and less detailed) or Chris Stringer and Peter Andrews’ The Complete World of Human Evolution. (which is more advanced than this book but up to date). If you can get all three (recommended) read Carl first, then this book and then Chris’s book. By then you will have a reasonable background to get into more advance popular trade books.
DATED but Not Entirely Out of Date:
To paraphrase Amazon.com’s review: Trying to make sense of hominid origins is a like trying to assemble a jigsaw puzzle with no idea what it should look like or even an idea how many pieces there should be,. The few pieces we do have are mostly incomplete. The connections between are often unclear. And such factors as dates and relationships are constantly shifting. And we don’t know which pieces belong to our puzzle and which belong to another (there are apparent contradictions in evidence). To make matters worst, anthropologists can’t even agree on the basics such as classification and often can’t even discuss matters in a civil and professional manner... Practically any new bit of evidence can change our idea of the overall picture, so the story of human evolution is constantly changing. Paleo-anthropology is not a field for timid
Content Summary:
General information about the fossils and the major sites of discovery and their significance to human evolution and origins. It covers major Fossil Classes up to to Homo sapiens – but missing the earliest and most recent discoveries... (Historically, discovery of Hominids proceeded from Neanderthal backwards in time – in the opposite direction of their evolution. Only the last 10 years has seen substantial infill in later specimens.) Some dates covered have been changed, so take the dates with a grain of salt.
Each species deals with its major biological traits and conjectures made about its capabilities and behavior – such as possible indicators of cannibalism and ability to use language. (A lot of this is speculation; later books have discounted some of it.
More Detailed Content - (if you want it. - If you skip this section and buy the book anyway, see the last section = "Finally":)
Book begins with Hominid tracks that appear human – made by an early but not the earliest hominid in order to discuss the earliest important evolution trait: bipedality. It then back steps to fill in the first part of “the Story and then retraces back again to Australopithecine afarensis - the Lucy species and probable makers of the tracks and their discovery. It includes a side bar called Bones of contention – about the famous nastiness and conflict in the profession but it only hint at this nastiness. This is not a profession field for the thin-skinned.
The next chapter begins by discussing species classification “splitters or lumpers.” Robin emphasizes our evolution was not linear, but more like a bush of species progressively pruned by nature. He evokes the Star Wars Bar as a working model for most of Hominids history where multiple species existed at the same time. (To me very distorted, but entertaining.) The chapter covers diversity of specifies before the evolution of species before the more clearly modern species appeared. It includes the appearance of the first stone tools and discusses the lack of knowledge on who produced them. But as Mckie says “It is clear that the intellectual gulf had indeed been crossed by our ancestors more than 2 million years ago….Man the tool make had arrived.” Pg 61. The evidence indicates that those ancestors had diversified its diet and that in turn opened up new evolutionary avenues to walk down.
There is also human interest stories about anthropologists, Raymond Dart and Robert Bloom, the Leakeys, (later in chapter 4 he covers Eugene Dubois and the discovery of Homo erectus), All outline the historical difficulty in the field and the difficulty of getting fossils accepted, Not a profession for the timid either.
Chapter 3 bring us to the African Homo ergaster/erectus – ancestors whose bodies take on a more human appearance (tall, hairless, probably capable of sweating, efficient runners etc) and whose brain capacity makes a significant jump up along with an improvement is stone tools. In Chapter 4 he continues with Homo erectus' expansion into Asia and ends with a discussion on how a change in diet may have affected hominids. And Chapter 5 discusses the next stage of evolution with Homo heidelbergensis in Africa and then Europe and the later fossils in Spain - with their increase in more human like traits and evidence of more human like behaviors.
Chapter 6 is about the famous Neanderthal and discusses the historical bias against this species (which hasn’t totally disappeared). Neanderthals were the first species to intentionally bury their dead which might suggest the possibility of religion. There is evidence of care for the injured, elderly and frail. (not the first species to do so) they made advancements in technology and culture over their ancestors that allowed them to inhabit the colder north. But they also lived hard, violent lives – which may have been related to their focus on hunting large animals for meat. Then they suddenly disappeared, just as Cro-Magnons (modern Homo sapiens) entered their territory. Chapter ends with a brief discussion of the “bitter dispute” on why this occurred.
Next chapter talks about theories of how Homo sapien sapien evolved. The work of- Chris Stringer and others in putting forth what has been called the “Recent Out of Africa” (ROA or Out of Africa 2) since earlier migrations from Africa are known to have occurred, such as for Homo erectus. The Multiregionalist - the opposing position - is given just a minimal amount of exposure. Probably because, ROA has become the dominant theory.
DNA analysis is finally introduced in a sidebar, followed up by a discussion related to evaluating Neanderthal DNA and that for the human population. The biggest shortcoming in this book is all the recent advanced made in DNA and laboratory analysis since it came out. Among other things the books reported failure to find Neanderthal’s DNA in Homo sapien genes is out of date. More recently the Multiregional Theory has made a partial come back, with the finding of Neanderthal and two other species in Homo sapien DNA. In truth the jury is still out on this one, but most anthropologist still feel Africa has the predominant role in modern human ancestry.
The final chapter covers the explosive blossoming of Modern Homo sapiens culture and our conquest of the whole earth. Art, social structure and aspects of culture are discussed. But language – one of the most important trait/invention only gets a very brief discussion – A second major fault. There are other theories not investigated, and symbolic reasoning, potential brain alterations are also only very briefly hit upon and the book came out before the revolution in gene evolution theory.
..
A few explanations are given for Homo sapiens replacement of Homo Neanderthal – but it’s only lightly touched upon. The agricultural revolution is mentioned, but again little real discussion is made about it. The chapter pretty much ends with the final expansion into the Americas (again very briefly discussed.) and a brief mention about Jarod Diamond’s thesis on why European culture came to dominate the world.
I like the way the book concludes. In the second to last paragraph McKie says:” The common theme of this evolutionary epic in that in the face of increasing climatic uncertainty, human beings evolved more and more flexible responses.” Very succinct summing up!
The author says in the last paragraph: “The end result is a species that is now capable of searching for an explanation for its own existence on Earth. Quoting Richard Dawkins “Intelligent life on a planet comes of age when its first works out the reason for its own existence.” By that definition we have arrived.” (In effect, this is science’s “Creation Mythology” – but one that is still evolving).
Finally:
For those who have bought the text but not yet read it. The following changes in reading sequence of the sidebars are offered to make some of them more time-coherent
• Earth’s Restless Climate pg 80-81 – moved to the front. McKie rightly notes changing climate, and its subsequent effect on habitats and fauna drove human evolution. It deserves a more prominent place at the front of the book, highlighting this engine of early hominid evolution. Read it first
• (Last) Common Ancestor (pg 20) – about Miocene ape should have been near the front.
• Pg 54-55 The Piltdown hoax is a floater, should have proceeded A. africanus and Robert Dart (pg 40) because it was a factor in anthropology’s rejection as Africa as the site of early Hominid origins.
• Move Masters of Stone found there (128-129 ) up to pg 58-59
• Fire Power (pg 160-161) move up at least to 128-129 (now accepted as least as early as 800 MYA)
The following 50 illustrations I found worthwhile and suggest you pay particular attention to those with asterisks (which indicate exceptional quality).
• Photographs of fossils (27*,34,42,58, 60,74, 82, 128,136,149)
• Drawings, and diagrams of hominid fossils and anatomy (pg 19*,21,86-87*,88, 109*,111*)
• Some Key fossil sites photos (52, 62, 64-65, 95,153 )
• Some Key fossil sites maps (63, 77*, 159)
• Reconstructions of the fossil sites habitat (165)
• Reconstructions of hominids /early man (84*,135*, 148*, 163)
• Laetoli earliest hominid tracks (13-15*)
• Artifacts (57, 65, 104,126,127, 158,178, 179, 192-193,194, 195,196,197,198,208)
• Charts and maps (80-81, 83,101,105-106-107,164,202-203,204-205) – some out of date
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