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Following up his cosmicManifold series,Stephen Baxter peers back on a more prosaic history in the worthy yetuneven Evolution. The book is nothing less than a novelization ofhuman evolution, a mega-Michener treatment of 65 million years starringa host of smart, furry primates representing Homo sapiens'sancestry. Each stage of our ancestry is represented by a character ofprogressively increasing intelligence, empathy, and brain size, who mustsurvive predation and other perils long enough to keep thenatural-selection ball rolling. While Baxter carefully follows some widelyaccepted theories of evolution--punctuated equilibrium, for instance--healso strays from the known in postulating air whales and sentient,tool-wielding dinosaurs. And why not? There's nothing in the fossilrecord to contradict his musings about those things, or about the firstinstances of mammalian altruism and deception, which he also lets usobserve. From little Purga, a shrewlike mammal scurrying under the feetof ankylosaurs, all the way through Ultimate, the last human descendant,Baxter adds drama and a strong story arc to our past and future. But hespends too much time on details of the various prehumans' lives, whichcan become repetitive: fight, mate, die, ad infinitum. Andreaders eager for a science-fictional adventure will only findsatisfaction in the posthuman chapters at the end. Despite these flaws,Evolution grips the attention with an epoch-spanning tale of therandom changes that rule our genetic heritage. Recommended. --ThereseLittleton ... Read more

Reviews (33)

Evolution on the Beach
At over 640 pages, Evolution-by award winning author Stephen Baxter, a trained engineer with degrees from Cambridge and South-Ampton Universities-may not be exactly the sort of light reading one may think to bring to the beach this summer; however, its underling warning for the Human species may be a reminder of that other book concerning beaches.

Evolution is perhaps the most interesting novel I have come across concerning the fate of humanity if we stay on our current course. But, rather than offer the reader the usual, overblown apocalyptic Sci Fi novel, or beating us over the head with a righteous morality play, Evolution takes the scientific route toward offering a subtle but very effective message.

That message: We'd better begin to learn to cooperate as well as we compete or we Homo-Sapiens have already passed our prime.

Evolution begins 65 Million Years ago when the comet which ended the reign of the dinosaurs on Earth was as bright in the sky as the sun. Baxter shows us the "lifestyle" of some of the late Cretaceous reptiles & birds from the "point of view" of the first primates-mousy little fur balls which hid from the thunder lizards by burrowing underground in the forests. Baxter names each animal we encounter-again, as the primates would see them-to give us a sense of the primates' existence and "state of mind"-as simple as some of those early minds were. This interesting technique allows the reader to partly identify with what occurs to these creatures on their road to modernity. We experience what it means to be human by what it meant to be each of these creatures in an ever changing environment.

In essence, Evolution is a story of existence, adaptation, survival and extinction. By the time we get to what we may call modern humanity-around the time of the fall of the Roman Empire-we see how humanity's potential to become more than "just another animal fighting for survival" lies in our ability to cooperate and inhibit our more competitive, territorial and destructive natures. As humans fill the ecosystem like swarms of insects-something Baxter points out drove us away from our primate origins and into a much too complex existence-there needs to be created a new way of living, for the ways of old have depleted the earth's resources, severely altered the atmosphere, polluted the land and water, and sent to their extinction hundreds and thousands of species of animal.

Evolution does what no other such novel has done; it lets you view humanity from the inside. It lets one see from where we came, and spends most of its pages in the deep past so that one has a resonating feel for our biological history. Baxter spends very little time in the present and near future, a time when Earth finally fights back against the human "virus" and humanity collapses upon, and in spite of itself.

The concluding chapters take us 50 to 500 million years into the future to where we learn what life post-humanity might be like. Humans themselves, that is the descendents of the few survivors of the 21st Century, have de-evolved as survival becomes more important than the Big Brained lofty goals and achievements of their ancestors. Indeed, post-humanity primates live in a much healthier ecosystem.

Evolution serves two major purposes, in my opinion. One, it allows the ordinary novel reader (as opposed to readers of scientific journals or books), a chance to learn about both evolutionary theory, and what it means to be human, in a way they may never have otherwise. Also, it serves as a warning. All species live only for so long, and then become extinct; it often depends on how well they can adapt to Earth. If not for the Asteroid of 65 Million years ago, the Dinosaurs might still be around today. But mammals inherited the Earth, and in particular, one unique primate. How long can we survive? That depends on how well we adapt to Earth. So far, we have tried to make the Earth adapt to us, and we are failing miserably; we need to change our strategy.

And Baxter offers a way.

The lead character in the chapters dealing in the near future-Joan Useb-says at a conference of international scientists, that human culture, which had once been so profoundly adaptive, had become maladaptive. The solution she explains is within us already.. it is a primate solution.

(Useb) "Life isn't just about competition ... it's also about cooperation, interdependence. Our global society is becoming so highly structured that it is becoming something akin to a holan: a single composite entity. We have to learn to think of ourselves in that way. We have to build on the other half of our primate natures-the part that isn't about competition and xenophobia. Human interdependence comes from our deepest history. Now, without anybody planning it, we have engulfed the biosphere ... And we have to learn to manage it together."

Impressive but Tedious
In EVOLUTION Baxter takes the really, really long view tracing (fictionally) the human species from the first tiny mole like creature scurrying around the feet of huge dinosaurs, to the very last tiny mole like creature, a human descendant, trying to survive on a dying Earth where most living things are extinct.

This is a difficult book to review because it is both very impressive but at the same time it can be very tedious. The novel is made up of vignettes describing the life of human ancestors or descendants, from pre-sentience to sentience to post-sentience. The book is tied together by snapshots of near future humanity at the beginning of the epoch where modern humans begin to de-evolve.

The best parts of the novel are where we see pre-humans developing intelligence and self-awareness and the societies that coalesce. It is also very character driven which helps provide empathy in the otherwise merciless cycle of life. There are some really clever off-shoot chapters as well.

Overall the book is well done, if a bit tedious at times.

A 20 Star Book!
In novel form, Baxter presents here what everyone should understand, our origins, wrote in an interesting and entertaining way, in contrast to textbooks that are often wrote in a dry, academic style. Beautifully written, Baxter traces our mammalian past, beginning with a small primate Baxter named Purga, living in the time of the dinosaurs, and then on up to the present time and into the future as well. Each chapter is a story about an animal(s), and how it has evolved and interacts with others and it's environment. These stories are fascinating indeed, little glimpses into our primate past, and how evolution has shaped us into what we are now through the relentless selection process. As millions of years pass after the great extinction event caused about 65 million years ago by a great comet (most likely), each story is about an animal or groups of animals as they become more and more human.

Mammals in later times entered into group living to help ensure their survival, the corresponding social dynamics did spurr the development of larger and more complex brains, eventually giving rise to full consciousness. Baxter did a great job here, as everywhere in this novel, and his illustration of the concept of deceit as a by-product of consciousness was brilliant.

At least one other reviewer speculated as to what message Stephen Baxter is trying to get across to us. One reviewer wrote that perhaps the message is that if we don't master spaceflight and get off this planet we will de-evolve into lower life forms. Well, mabe, but even though I am a supporter of our space program I think perhaps not. I believe the primary message is to dramaticize the 'fact' of evolution to the general public with a well written and informative novel, teaching the fundamentals in an entertaining way, a refreshing breath of rational thought. Indeed, in our world there are many influences pulling us this way and that, the vast majority are not worthy or rational, Baxter seems to me to be trying to counter this. We live in a society where the vast majority of people are incapable of true independent thought, lead around by our so-called 'leaders' who themselves are largely incapable of independent thought, as they were put in power by the ignorant masses in the first place. The recent movie FAHRENHEIT 9-11 is a great expose' on this. In my own community there are even people who believe that the Earth is only about 6000 years old and that the extinction of the dinosaurs was aided from hunting by humans!!! I know this sounds harsh, and it is, I believe Baxter's primary message in this novel is to get through to at least a few people with the truth about our past, that our time is but a snapshot in a vast era of billions of years, and that, if you believe Baxter to the fullest, we are just animals, however intelligent, imbedded in an ecosystem as we always have been. Baxter also covers the emergence of 'belief' systems due to evolutionary advantage, and our propensity for them, well done here also.

Sometimes, after finishing a book, I am left with a feeling that I wasted my time having read it. You will not have that feeling after reading this book. This book would make a great movie, if anyone would dare to, in the conservative age in which we live.

Engaging
The subtle thing about this book is that it will make you think differently about widely held beliefs regarding our origins. In addition to being a great SF romp, it is also something that turns introspective at times and makes you reevaluate many long-accepted theories about where we came from and how we got there.

Baxter is in top form in this one. It is occassionally uneven, but, then again, that is true of all of his books. It doesn't detract at all from the book as a whole.

I especially loved the notion of tool-wielding dinosaurs. That was quite a hoot. There are numerous examples of similar creates in the book.

The Ultimate was also a source of great introspection for me. Is this where we're going? Read the book and judge for yourself.

Evolution is a warning set deep in the layers of a story...
Stephen Baxter gives us a epic tale, to show mankind where it came from and where it might be going. Starting over 65 million years ago he paints us a picture of our evolution, making sure to detail each and ever major point along the pathway where earlier primates had to make a choice. As he follows our DNA, from tiny primates, to tree-climbing apes, to tool making hominids and finally to early man, he shows us what problems we faced, how we solved them and how that shaped our body and mind.

By doing so he also shows, with no forgiveness or pity, just how dangerous and ruthless we could be, even before we invented atomic bombs and machine guns. Soon we're are in the year 2031 and people realize that we need to change. NOW, not in a couple years, not in a few decades, but RIGHT NOW.
After 2031 humans continue to evlove, along side fast breeding rats, jumping rabbits, flexible pigs, hungry goats, some developing new ways of life or returning to old designs that have tested true over the millions of years. But all the animals and plants are fighting for their rightful place on the aging Earth. The latter part of the book is in fact very much like a mixture of Dougal Dixon's two books, "Man After Man" and "After Man", where complex relationships form between the new animals and plants, sometimes more complex than just the simple predator and prey relationships. Even mankind splits up into different forms, some which work better than others.
The book is based on rock hard science, with fantastic ideas of the author's own mixed in. It is sometimes funny, sometimes tragic and always imaginative.
Yet it is also a warning. We might already be too late to change ANYTHING. ... Read more

Book Description

This timely reference/text integrates the principles of soil microbiology with novel insights into the physiology and activity of soil microbiota obtained by using the latest modern molecular analyses--investigating relationships between microbial communities, community structures, and function. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Phytohormones in Soils: Microbial Production and Function
I have read and studied dozens of books on this subject.This is likely one of the most useful and PRACTICAL in this subject.The subject covered here is the next important step in modern agriculture!A new, more productive and sustainable system of food production is not possible without a general understanding and application of these concepts.I was so impressed that I took the time to contact Dr Frankenberger just to meet the man who had such insight into this subject.I was fortunate enough to also meet Dr Arshad at the same time.If you are a 21st century agronomist or sincere student of soil and plant fertility, you are missing something big here. ... Read more

Book Description

Everyone wonders what tomorrow holds, but what will the real future look like? Not decades or even hundreds of years from now, but thousands or millions of years into the future.Will our species change radically?Or will we become builders of the next dominant intelligence on Earth- the machine?

These and other seemingly fantastic scenarios are the very possible realities explored in Peter Ward's Future Evolution, a penetrating look at what might come next in the history of the planet.Looking to the past forclues about the future, Ward describes how the main catalyst for evolutionary change has historically been mass extinction.While many scientist direly predict that humanity will eventually create such a situation, Ward argues that one is already well underway--the extinction of large mammals--and that a new Age of Humanity is coming that will radically revise the diversity of life on Earth.Finally, Ward examines the question of human extinction and reaches the startling conclusion that the likeliest scenario is not our imminent demise but long term survival--perhaps reaching as far as the death of the Sun!

Full of Alexis Rockman's breathtaking color images of what animals, plants and other organisms might look like thousands and millions of years from now, Future Evolution takes readers on an incredible journey through time from the deep past into the far future.
... Read more

Reviews (12)

Put Away Your Shades, The Future May Not Be That Bright
Danger awaits those who declare the existence of patterns based on paltry data, but I feel like living dangerously. I think I have discovered a relationship between the study of mollusks and the writing of great nonfiction on evolution. Exhibit A: Stephen J. Gould studies gastropods [snails for the layperson, or, as we called them in college, ghastly-pods] and writes books on evolution from the highest peak of the adaptive landscape of evolution writers. Exhibit B: Peter Ward studies living and fossil shelled cephalopods [relatives of squids and octopi] and writes books on evolution that have a mother-of-pearl beauty and a filling of tasty meat. Future Evolution is not the book that I'd recommend to first time Ward readers; in my opinion, first timers should start with Time Machines [1998] or Rivers in Time [2000, an updated version of The End Of Evolution (1994)]. But readers of books on evolution should make it a point to put Future Evolution [and Rare Earth (2000, co-written with D. Brownlee)] on their reading list.

Future Evolution is a beautiful book visually, making the hardback a must and worth the price. Paintings by Alexis Rockman compliment and illuminate the text by Ward. Future Evolution is a thought provoking book. Even though the book is grounded in our extensive knowledge of evolution and mass extinctions, any book about the future must extrapolate from the data of the past and this is dangerous in the historical sciences. Future Evolution is not a cheery book. Folks who want to hear that humans will save the Earth from themselves [or that humans will go extinct and leave the Earth to continue happily without us] wiil probably not be supportive of many of Ward's conclusions. For readers who want to THINK about evolution, Future Evolution is a must.

I highly recommend Future Evolution to any reader of good books on science and especially to people interested in evolution, mass extinctions, conservation, and the future of life on the Earth.

The best book of its kind
In this very readable and very enlightening book, paleontologist Peter Ward explores the possibilities of evolution in the near and far future. At the start, Ward first takes us into the past to see how mass extinctions have affected species diversity and the processes of evolution. He then brings us into the present and argues that the human-caused mass extinction may now be in its final phases, rather than just beginning.

Taking a cue from H.G. Wells's _The Time Machine_, the best parts of this book concern the future. Will there evolve a new species diversity with more big mammals, for example? Highly unlikely, says Dr. Ward, because there will simply not be the room for them to develop. More likely, the "pests" and "weeds" of our modern world--rodents, dandelions, cockroaches, crows, etc.--will form the leading front in the next wave of evolution.

And what of humanity? Will we stay as we are, or will we develop into new species as a result of genetic engineering or space colonization? Or will we merge with (or be replaced by) intelligent machines? Or might we simply just go extinct ourselves? Dr. Ward provides an excellent examination of these questions, and comes to some rather surprising conclusions.

I was expecting a good book, because I thoroughly enjoyed _Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe_, co-authored by Dr. Ward (along with Dr. Donald Brownlee). I am pleased to report that my expectations were surpassed. If you want to read one outstanding book on where we may be going as a species and as a major force in the biosphere, you can do no better than taking in _Future Evolution_.

Interesting, but Incomplete
Who has not wondered what the world will be like in the far future? Will humans
evolve into something new? Will rabbits evolve into giant herborives to fill the niche
left behind by the bison and elephants? Will the oceans of the future have new monsters that put the giant squid and blue whale to shame? In Future Evolutuin Peter Ward makes a series of educated guesses at what the future holds in store for life on Earth. One may agree or disagree with his conclusions, but he raised several points that can not be easily dismissed.

Ward's starts by describing the mass extinctions that ended the Permian and
Cretaceous periods and then discusses the evidence that we are currently in the middle of a mass extinction of our own devising. He points out similarities and
differences between the past and present mass extinctions and comes to the conclusion that there will be no new blooming of the tree of life in the future, as
there was after the the Permian and Cretaceous mass extinctions. He argues that
humans have fundementally altered the channels that are available to evolution
and that humans will dominate the Earth's ecology until we go extinct. This is a reasonable assumption. After all, it is very unlikely that we will ever allow a species
to evolve that represents a thread to us, such as a large predator.

Peter Ward's more contraversial assumption is that humans are immune to extinction. He argues that we have enough control over our environment that
only a planet-wide disaster such as a large asteroid impact, or wide-spread trap
vulcanism can pose a serious threat to our survival. This assumption that humans
will be around for as long as there in as Earth is the bedrock that the rest of his
predictions for the future of evolution are based upon.

Future Evolution is an interesting and thought provoking book, even if you
disagree with some of the assumptions that the authorr makes. My main reason
for only giving it a medium rating is that the book was choppy and parts of it
felt rushed. For example, I would have preferred to have been given more detail on the similarities and differences between the present and past mass extinctions.
I would also have liked to see Mr Ward explore more scenarios for the future.
All in all I recommend this book, not as a description of what the future will be
like, but as a starting point for pondering what the future may hold for the Earth
and its ecosystem.

Imaginative.
There seems to be four main topics on which professional scientists write for the general reading public: the origin of the universe category, the origin of life category, the origin of consciousness category, and the future of the planet category. Peter Ward's book Future of Evolution falls into the latter. While his book Rare Earth is much more specific and thorough with respect to origins and fates, this book is probably a little more approachable for the reader who has yet to delve into the subject. Like others of its kind, it is a cautionary tale.

The author is a colorful writer who is able to capture the concepts of scientific data in brilliant word-pictures for the non-scientist. He also brings his work and that of others into focus by reflecting on his own experiences in the field, which for those who enjoy adventure stories might well capture the imagination. One of the most poignant stories is that of the death of a close friend during a diving accident (p. 171).

Like many in the scientific community Ward is inclined to see the impacts of human activity on the planet as posing a major and irreversible threat to the continued existence of much of the biota with which we share the planet. Unlike others, however, he believes that much of the worst damage has already been done, namely the demise of the mega fauna of the glacial and post-glacial world and the introduction of domestic cultivars into the floral domain. As a paleontologist he is aware that after each major extinction event in the past, whether a broad spectrum or a narrower one, it takes almost 10 million years for the world's living community to recover. Even if our species lives the usual two million years, it will not live to see that recovery, which is a sobering fact.

While he, like one of my former professors, believes that the human species is almost extinction resistant--barring another asteroid impact like that which put "paid" to the dinosaur--he does believe that the world that our descendants inherit will be vastly different from the one bequeathed to us by our ancestors. He would look to the "weeds" of the living world for the future radiation into vacated niches, animals like rats, insects, and snakes, and plants like the dandelion. He also believes that domesticated animals may give rise to new species.

In the last chapters Ward also gives some thought to the fate of our own species, examining what he calls "unnatural selection." He discusses the apparent increase in behavior disorders in modern society, the possibility of artificial genetic modification of the species, the possibility of merging with machines, the possibility that machines will actually be our only "descendants," the possibility that we will be reduced by an asteroid impact, by nuclear war, or by catastrophic climate change.

A very imaginative book.

Blah....
I give this book two stars, because the premiss is interesting. Unfortuantly, I did not feel that this was a good book. It gave me the same feeling that Carl Sagan's books did of a man with a certain nihilistic view of life. He seems utterly convinced that humanity is going to wander down the path of what basically amounts to biological damnation. He does not take into acount that there are people all over tbe world that are struggling to save the natural world, though they are sometimes few in number. I was throughly disapointed by this book. I am a realist at the core of my being, but this book seems to have a rather cynical bent to it, though I agree with the author that we as a species will most likely not go the way of the do do and the passanger pigieon. Anyway, there are my two cents. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

The First Humans
I thought that this book was an excellent resource for people researching the roots of humankind. The only problem with it that I had was that it tended to give different facts in different parts of the book. For example, in one part it said that it was proven that Neanderthals buried their dead with ibex horns, or cave bear skulls and therefore had a religion and believed in an afterlife, but in other parts it stated that the ibex horns were just thrown in the general area of the burial and that the cave bear skulls were the result of several generations of cave bears living in the cave and dying out before the Neanderthals moved in. I thought it was a good read, but in some places controversial and confusing. If you're into prehistory and evolution, I wouldn't be without this volume. I would actually give it 4 1/2 stars.

Very precise,with a lot of colorful photographs
The book has a lot of information on the scientific research done in the escavations of ancient hominides;our ancestors and the only clue to the finding of the "missing link".The book shows the different sites of the discoveries,hominides like "homo habilis" and "astrolophitecus".A very fine book for the antrophology "conosseur" and enthusiast. ... Read more

Book Description

Population genetics occupies a central role in a number of important biological and social undertakings. It is fundamental to our understanding of evolutionary processes, of plant and animal breeding programs, and of various diseases of particular importance to mankind.

This is the first of a planned two-volume work discussing the mathematical aspects of population genetics, with an emphasis on the evolutionary theory. This first volume draws heavily from the author's classic 1979 edition, which appeared originally in Springer's Biomathematics series. It has been revised and expanded to include recent topics which follow naturally from the treatment in the earlier edition, e.g., the theory of molecular population genetics.

This book will appeal to graduate students and researchers in mathematical biology and other mathematically-trained scientists looking to enter the field of population genetics. ... Read more

Book Description

"The premier anthropologist in the country today."
–Evolutionary Anthropology on Richard Klein

"High above the western shore of Lake Naivasha, a blue pool on the parched floor of East Africa’s Great Rift Valley, sits a small rockshelter carved into the Mau Escarpment. Maasai pastoralists who once occupied this region in central Kenya called the place Enkapune Ya Muto, or ‘Twilight Cave.’ People have long sought shelter there. The cave’s sediments record important cultural changes during the past few thousand years, including the first local experiments with agriculture and with sheep and goat domestication. Buried more than three meters deep in the sand, silt, and loam at Enkapune Ya Muto, however, lie the traces of an earlier and even more significant event in human prehistory. Tens of thousands of pieces of obsidian, a jet-black volcanic glass, were long ago fashioned into finger-length knives with scalpel-sharp edges, thumbnail-sized scrapers, and other stone tools, made on the spot at an ancient workshop. But what most impressed archeologist Stanley Ambrose were nearly six hundred fragments of ostrich eggshell, including thirteen that had been fashioned into disk-shaped beads about a quarter-inch in diameter. Forty thousand years ago, a person or persons crouched near the mouth of Enkapune Ya Muto to drill holes through angular fragments of ostrich eggshell and to grind the edges of each piece until only a delicate ring remained. Many shell fragments snapped in half under pressure from the stone drill or from the edge-grinding that followed. The craftspeople discarded each broken piece and began again with a fresh fragment of shell.

"Ambrose believes that these ancient beads played a key role in the survival strategy of the craftspeople and their families. In the Kalahari Desert of Botswana, !Kung San hunter-gatherers still practice a system of gift exchange known as hxaro. Certain items, such as food, are readily shared among the !Kung but never exchanged as gifts. The most appropriate gifts for all occasions just happen to be strands of ostrich eggshell beads. The generic word for gift is synonymous with the !Kung word for sewn beadwork. Although the nomadic !Kung carry the barest minimum of personal possessions, they invest considerable time and energy in creating eggshell beads.

"No one knows whether the toolmakers at Enkapune Ya Muto or the other ancient African sites intended their ostrich eggshell beads to be social gifts. But if these beads were invested with symbolic meaning similar to that of beads among the !Kung, then Twilight Cave may record the dawning of modern human behavior."
–From The Dawn of Human Culture ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Synthesis and Theory
The Dawn of Human Culture is an excellent summary and synthesis of archeological evidence concerning the anatomical and behavioral development of that last 5 million years that led to the emergence of fully modern homo sapiens. The authors explain the theory of punctuated equilibrium and very convincingly describe the evidence and scientific analysis behind the identification of extraordinary punctuated events such as those that lead to bi-pedalism and tool making.

The strength of the book lies in its logical presentation, clarity of writing, explanation of key issues such as dating techniques and limitations, and behavioral inferences drawn from archaeological remains. Competing theories and evidence are given and, where rebutted, done so in a scholarly and positive way.

In addition to the excellent summation of archaeological and anthropological knowledge and theory to date, the authors postulate their theory, without avoiding discussion of its limitations, that modern human behavior, dated to have begun 50,000 years ago was due to a "genetic mutation that promoted the fully modern human brain". More could have been written in the final chapter to argue the theory; this is not a criticism, however, but rather a request for more from these two very accomplished authors.

I can highly recommend this book as a comprehensive and balanced summary and synthesis on the subject of human evolution.

The Dawn of Human Culture
The Dawn of Human Culture written by Richard G. Klein and Blake Edgar is a upon which human evolution relates.

This book says with reasonable certainty that humans, defined by their habit of walking bipedally, evolved about 6 million years ago from an African ape; that multiple bipedal species appeared between 6 million and 2.5 million years ago; that all these early biped remained remarkably ape-like in brain size and upper body form; that some human species, perhaps the first whose brain exceeded that of an ape in size, invented stone flaking about 2.5 million years ago; that the earliest stone tools makers used their tools to add animal flesh and marrow to a mainly vegetarian diet.

Recent advances in our understanding of human evolution owe as much to methods of dating as they do to new fossil and archeological discoveries. This book describes the principal dating methods in the text, since the descriptions are scattered, fossils and artifacts provide the hard evidence for human evolution and culture.

This book explores the evolution of man into the being and culture that exists today from the fossil record. From the earliest beginings in Africa to the rest of the world man has made his impression felt throughout the world. There is comparative anatomy throughout the book as it is easily readable and the prose well-wriiten and understandable.

For a book on early human existance, this is a good book to start with as it all of the known species variations of man are in this book. Brain case volume and bone structures are very much in evidence while reading this book are explored.

A jerky epic
The sweep of human evolution has received much attention in recent years. This book is among the more sweeping efforts aspiring to reveal who we are. Fossils of our ancestors are being revealed at an increasing rate. From these scattered bones and teeth [and a few artefacts], a more complete picture of our evolutionary path is emerging. The evidence from the bones is being complemented by genetic studies filling in the details of human migration over the planet. If nothing else has been derived from these multi-disciplinary studies, our ancient origins in Africa is now undisputed, say the authors.

There's another element almost hidden away by the growing amount of evidence. What kind of path did hominid species follow in becoming human? That question forms the basis of Klein and Edgar's "bold new theory" clamouring from the cover. They contend the fossil and genetic evidence displays human evolution as a series of long, slack stretches of development, both physical and mental, interrupted by bursts of innovation in body and brain. Each burst, building on what had gone on before, seems to them a form of the "great leap forward". They contend the evidence in bones, especially skulls, indicates spurts of brain encephalisation. This means not only larger brains, but more elaborate ones - capable of complex thoughts, foresight, enhanced communication skills and symbolism - in short, culture. Although the bones and skulls are geographically scattered and the art and artefacts few and far between, the authors contend they have drawn the path of human development clearly and conclusively. Human evolution followed a path of long stretches of equilibrium, punctuated by episodes of rapid change.

"Punctuated"? "Equilibrium"? The authors concede early in the book that this isn't an original idea with them. It's derived from the attention-seeking proposal of Stephen Gould and Niles Eldredge a generation ago. "Punk eek" keeps struggling for survival and the road of human evolution is its sole remaining support. There's a delicious irony in this, given Steve Gould's ambivalent attitude toward human evolution. Ostrich eggshell beads are intriguing, but far less important than how we developed hunting strategies. Rock tools and stick weapons are features we share with our chimpanzee relatives - a notion "punk eekers find distasteful.

Klein's bringing Blake Edgar's writing talents to this book was inspired thinking. What Edgar granted to Don Johanson in clarity he has duplicated here. Combining his prose skills with Klein's wealth of illustrative material and wide knowledge of the discipline has produced a cogent, readable text. Unfortunately, Edgar's campaign strategy of inserting Gould into the scenario is less compelling. The theory is thus neither "bold" nor "new". How significant it is in describing the human condition awaits more evidence than is currently available. Given that so much of it rests on brain development, real data is unlikely to be forthcoming. However, it's worth waiting for. Pass the time delving into the wealth of information in this book. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Very plausible synthesis
Klein tells the six million-year-old story of human evolution from a "splitter's" perspective. Accordingly, H. habilis is distinguished from rudolphensis, and the Asian H. erectus from the African ergaster and the European antecessor. Neandertals are accorded some humanity, but are treated as a separate species. They evidently lacked the inferred genetic mutation for modern speech that supposedly arose some 50 kya. While Klein avoids any mention of the earlier evidence for speech, and argues away inconvenient dates, he offers a coherent synthesis of all the recent data.

Great Intro to Anthro but Misleading Cover
I had a hard time deciding whether to give this book four or three stars. Richard Klein is,indeed, one of the top bioanthropologists in the U.S. But the cover and flap's trumpeting of a purported new theory inside, as one other reviewer pointed out, were hardly contained in the text. Very little space is dedicated to the discussion of why they thought there was a dawn of human culture (basically, art) around 50 thousand years ago. There's some text on it in the beginning (including a discussion of Gould's puncuated equilibrium theory) and a brief revisit towards the end, but, all in all, this is a rehashing of the current state of bioanthropology, aka, human evolution. There is very little here that's new to anyone who's taken anything above Anthro. 100/Intro. to Human Ev.
Therein lies the reason many have given the book five stars and I was tempted to give it four. Klein and Edgar provide and excellent overview of the finds, including very recent discoveries such as O. tungensis in E. Africa in 2001 and K. platyops (don't have the spelling in front of me) by Leakey in 2001. One of the best aspects of this book are its excellent drawings and diagrams. The maps are great.
The most interesting aspects for experts and students of antho. will be Klein's opinions on cannibalism and whether neandertals created art. I can't agree with his conclusion on the latter. While he refutes the evidence of ochre on remains as the possible presence of rodents burrowing in the soil, I don't recall any discussion of the largely accepted belief that Neandertals had the ability for abstract thought, as evidenced by the use of ibex horns in the burial of a Neandertal boy at Teshik Tash in Uzbekistan. They fail to mention him.
All in all, a great introduction for the general audience. Too bad their book was published before the HUGE Chad find in 2002. I would recommend Klein's textbook The Human Career for more technical descriptions. The bibliography listing various journal articles is a great place for further reading. ... Read more

Book Description

When a species colonizes an area that it has not previously inhabited, it is called an "invasion", and it can result in the extinction of endemic species. The increase in numbers of humans travelling the world presents opportunities for invasions by organisms and the spread of diseases such as rabies and smallpox. Using the large amount of data from studies in pest control and epidemiology, it is possible to construct mathematical models that can predict which species will become invaders, which habitats are susceptible to invasion, and the biological impact. This book presents a clear and accessible introduction to the modeling of biological invasions. It demonstrates the latest theories and models, and includes data and examples from various case studies showing how these models can be applied to problems from deadly human diseases to the spread of weeds. ... Read more

Book Description

An assessment of the many species of humans - all but one of them now extinct - that have existed during the six-million-year-history of the hominid family

Scientists have long envisioned the human"family tree" as a straight-line progression from the apelike australopithecines to the enigmatic Homo habilis to the famous Neanderthals, culminating in us, Homo sapiens. But this model is unlike the evolutionary patterns known for all other vertebrates-patterns that typically reveal multiple branchings and extinctions. In Extinct Humans, Ian Tattersall and Jeffrey Schwartz present convincing evidence that many distinct species of humans have existed during the history of the hominid family, often simultaneously. Furthermore, these species may have contributed to one another's extinction. Who were these different human species? Which are direct ancestors to us? And, the most profound question of all, why is there only a single human species alive on Earth now? ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Absorbing account of human evolution
"Extinct Humans" is a fascinating account of human evolution, extraordinarily illustrated with crisp, powerful photographs of fossils which drive home the point that these are the remains of actual beings who have inhabited this world before us, whether they were our direct ancestors or instead "cousins" to our own line of descent.

Tattersall and Schwartz have studied not just the literature on the subject, but virtually all the fossils themselves, giving them a perhaps unmatched command of the variations in the homanid fossil record. They argue persuasively in a clear, well-organized text that modern Homo sapiens is the sole survivor of the many distinct homanid species which have existed over the past two million years, that most of the fossils which have been found represent not ancestors of our own specific line, but relatives which split off in different directions before ultimately coming to a literal dead end. Their discussion of the interaction between Neaderthals and modern humans in Europe (and possibly between Homo erectus and modern humans in southeast Asia) is especially absorbing, delving into questions of technological change, the emergence of symbolic thought, and the creation of language.

The study of human evolution has, well, evolved enormously in the 35 years I have been interested in the topic. "Extinct Humans" is, to my way of thinking, today's best summary and analysis of current knowledge.

Family of Man
This is a controversial but interesting, and usefully up to date, account of the fossil record of human origins. The format and illustrations are excellent, and the book proceeds on the issues with dispatch. One need not agree entirely to find the book espousing a clear point of view otherwise in diminuendo. The review of Dawkins, and the authors' reply can be found at the book's website, extincthumans.com. The authors viewpoint challenges the view of linear descent by pointing to the branching of the genus Homo into many species. The implication is of processes of extinction in the relations of these species. The book also brings in Schwarz's theory as expounded in his Sudden Origins. The result seems to challenge the Synthesis itself as seen in the views of such as Dobzhansky.
The viewpoint expressed is important enough to deserve direct recommendation, while at the same time one feels complelled to register a personal reaction that finds such books as category unable to produce a real theory of evolution, with this inability highlighted all the more in such a clear account. For one thing, the record suggests that while competition between the branches of man results in extinction of some of those branches this is a process that occurs after the basic evolutionary differentiation, as with modern man and the Neanderthal. In general one simply has to ask, where did we get man from at all. At the end there are some speculative suggestions about the source of an unknown major innovation, perhaps connected with language. Yet how is this possible in the time frame indicated? In any case it should be clear we do not have a theory of man's descent, the more so as Darwin's view is bypassed here. One of the last pictures in the book is of wooden flutes from ca. 30 kyr, and we must wonder indeed at the sudden great flowering of homo sapiens at the beginning of the last stage of his emergence. One has to wonder if the major core of the theory is not entirely lacking, for these cultural indications of art at the highest level are seen in history to be associated with something quite different from selectionist evolution. Finally, even if linear descent fails, it does not follow there is no directionality to evolution. These branching processes do not exclude some unknown process of discontinuous evolution leading beyond this differentiation. There is no proof of such a thing, but the evidence clearly suggests it, indeed cries out for it, and also suggests why the assumptions of current evolutionary theorists are forever struggling in contradictions.
Worth wrestling with this book, and reading Schwarz' Sudden Origins alongside.

Great book on subject plus recent finds
This is the most beautifully illustrated of the four books on paleontology I've read recently. The full-color plates really allow you to connect the comparative anatomy discussed in the text with the visible features. Tattersall and Schwartz write well and the text never gets dry or technical. Richard Klein's The Dawn of Human Culture is excellent also and has very clear explanations of high-tech dating methods such as radioisotope dating, thermoluminesence, ESR or electron spin resonance dating, and magnetic-field dating, and he's careful to discuss their strengths and weaknesses, and the technical difficulties and limitations involved in using them.

A major strength of the book is discussing the changes in paleontologists' approach to the taxonomy. An example of a major change is Homo habilis, thought to be the first true tool-using homonid. Consider what happened with one of the so-called "type fossils." Type fossils are the ones that the original definition of the species came from. The problem concerned the type fossils of Homo rudolphensis, known as ER 1470, which were quite famous. H. rudolphensis was an important hominid find with a larger cranial capacity than homo habilis, and was considered a more evolved, later species. It's mostly known from an upper jaw and palate and portion of skull. However, it was discovered that the upper jaw mates almost exactly with OH 64, an Australopithecine lower jaw from Olduvai Gorge (OH means Olduvai Homonid). If this is true, Homo rudolphensis disappears as a species and OH 64 no longer belongs in Australopithecus. As the authors point out, that was especially ironic since ER 1470, although it's still currently assigned to H. rudolphensis, was originally put in H. habilis and was the find which finally convinced scientists that there was something to define the species after all, despite the chaos that had reigned up to that time.

Their difficulties didn't stop there. Because of the enormous influence of evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr and the population geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky, whose ideas caused paleoanthropologists to think in terms of a single, evolving homonid line from Australopithecus to Homo erectus to Neanderthal to Homo sapiens, paleontologists were for many years reluctant to create new species for their finds, despite the obvious difficulty of fitting so many anatomically distinct fossils into a single species of Homo habilis. As a result, H. habilis became a virtual dumping group for various fossil finds, and only in the last decade were all the different finds reconsidered.

The authors include superb discussions of the fossil and cultural (tool-making) evidence for Homo heidelbergensis and Homo antecessor, considered to be the last common ancestor of the homonid line which led to H. sapiens and Neanderthal. H. heidelbergensis, they point out, also has become a convenient dumping ground for a number of fossils 300,000 to 600,000 years old which have a cranial capacity of around 1200 cc, very close to modern norms. It had robust limbs but more or less modern bodily proportions.

H. antecessor is associated with fossils as old as 789,000 years. It's associated with not so much stone tool-making, which remained relatively primitive, but with evidence at two different sites in Europe of advances for home construction. One site shows a large home constructed of planted saplings drawn together at the top, and the other shows clear evidence of a dwelling with a permanent hearth. Hence, H. antecessor is thought to have domesticated fire.

Finally, there's an introductory chapter discussing the early history of comparative fossil anatomy, including the important work of Blumenbach, who founded the science and improved on many of Linnaeus's ideas, especially the definition of the genus Homo, and our own species, Homo sapiens.

Outstanding
It's been 20 years since I read up much on the paleoanthropology, so I thought I'd get up to date and read some of the recent books on the subject. One thing I noticed right away, compared to when I was last studying the subject in college, was how our evolutionary tree was now much "bushier," compared to what we knew back then. Now it's thought that there were at least 3 or 4 different species of Australopithecines, and the same goes for Homo habilis, and H. erectus.

Besides this book, so far I've read Paul Jordan's Neanderthal, Richard Leakey's The Origins of Humankind, and Richard Klein's The Dawn of Human Culture. They're all excellent books, but Klein's and Tattersall's were both published in the last year, so they're the most recent, and include important information on the most recent finds, such as Ardipithecus ramidus, although the Sahelanthropus tchadensis discovery by the M. Brunet expedition was so recent it unfortunately doesn't appear in either book.

This book is the most beauifully illustrated of the four books I've read so far. The full-color plates of the different skulls really allow you to connect the comparative anatomy as discussed in the text with the actual features. The book has very nice, glossy paper, so the photos look great, but that also means its the most expensive book of the four. Tattersall's writing is excellent and never gets dry or technical, and the Klein book is also extremely well written. Klein's book also has very clear explanations of high-tech dating methods such as radioisotope dating, thermoluminscence, ESR or electron spin resonance dating, and so on, and he also discusses their strengths and weaknesses, and the technical problems and limitations involved in using them, which I liked.

The book also has an excellent introductory chapter in which the author discusses the early history of comparative fossil anatomy, including the important work of Blumenbach, who founded the science and revised and expanded on many of Linnaeus's notions about taxonomy, especially the definition of the genus Homo, and our species, Homo sapiens.

The Leakey book is now almost 10 years old, and although somewhat dated, it's still worth reading, as its focus is different from these two books. It's not primarily about the comparative anatomy of the different fossil finds so much as what the changes in anatomy from the pre-homonids to the homonids meant for our physiology and ultimately our life-style. Leakey uses the fossil record to show that such human characteristics as a prolonged, helpless infancy, a more active and athletic way of life, delayed sexual maturity, the development of finer tool-making, and the advent of complex social relationships and sophisticated language, all arose during the transition from the Australopithecines to the more advanced Homo habilis and Homo erectus.

Neanderthal, by Paul Jordan, is the most technical and in some ways the most difficult to read, but it's the most detailed and in-depth discussion I've seen on this important homonid and its relatives. Jordan does have some chapters on the other pre-homonid and homonid evlutionary lines, but you don't get to these until you're halfway into the book, so the main emphasis is definitely on Neanderthal and the major discoveries there. Therefore, I would recommend you read either Klein's or Tattersall's book before this one to get a better idea of all the earlier and later species before tackling this book, since it's so heavily Neanderthal-weighted.

Overall, however, all of these are excellent books, and each has its own pros and cons. My preference, and the ones I enjoyed the most, were the present volume and Klein's, partly because their recent publication allows them to discuss the most recent finds, but also I found them to be the most readable and well-written.

Hope my little comparison review of recent paleoanthropology books helps, and happy book buying and reading!

Our Very Nature -
The whole of paleoanthroplogy is mesmerizing to me. Without being a paleoanthropologist myself, I cannot offer a studied opinion of this work. I simply stand in awe at the scene which, Ian Tattersall and Jeffrey Schwartz have painted. Since this book is not a novel, I have no fear of revealing its ending... we, are the only surviving hominids! What drama of intolerance created this fate is elucidated by this mind blowing tome.

b|b ... Read more

Book Description

The only brief and affordable macro-sociology text available for undergraduates which describes how societies have changed over the past five thousand years. Shows how industrial societies, even though they have been a great success, have created a new set of recurring and unsolved problems which will serve as a major impetus for further social change.

Reviews (1)

a framework to shape quests
I've looked far and wide for a boad brush description of cultures that among other things would explain why the west is currently ascendant, something much more detailed than just saying "Industrial Revolution," yet still accessible to a generalist. I finally found it in this slim volume. Apparently targeted at college sociology course reading lists, it also serves the curious general reader quite well.

It's pleasing and intellectually satisfying to have such a broad sweep laid out so succinctly. This book avoids the pole of too much depth and erudition--hundreds and hundreds of pages of rather obscure analysis, parts of which are outdated or irrelevant. One need only browse the references in this book to see the difference between its sources and itself. Materials written by Max Weber, Talcott Parsons, Karl Marx and many many others tend to be decades old and to mix insights with errors and irrelevancies so that grasping them is difficult without a fairly thorough academic background. This book also avoids the other pole of being too superficial to be useful--simply saying Industrial Revolution as if that answered all questions.

A brief description of how very early human societies (hunter gatherer) were organized opens the book. Next it discusses agrarian societies in some depth: how did they come about? how widespread were they? how did various people live in them? what problems did they bring? Then it covers the question of why the west grew to dominate, including the historical roots of how it happened, relationship to enlightenment ideas, the economic transformation at the base of the dominance, and its consequences (empires, nationalism, the importance of commerce, etc.). Next the modern era is analyzed in some detail: industrial cycles and their effect on various states, other political movements such as Marxism and facism, and a short discussion of ecological pressures. The conclusion is a combination of an explicit description of the underlying theory, listing of a few problems that may be faced in the future, and a summing up of the approach to social change illustrated throughout the book.

Of course many of the points the book makes in its context also touch peripherally on other fields...but the book doesn't lose its focus by chasing these other threads. Here are just three examples: i) Agricultural peasants are so conservative because they instinctively understand that a single negative experiment may mean the end of their existence. ii) Marxism ruled so much of the earth then fell apart so rapidly because it over-generalized the problems of the first industrial cycle (based on textiles) to suggest solutions that were increasingly mismatched to the problems of later industrial cycles. And iii) warfare was the only realistic way to compare the strength of different agrarian cultures. ... Read more

Reviews (58)

Another noncreationist debunking of evolutionism
It's always revealing to see die-hard evolutionists respond to purely scientific exposes of Darwinism's lack of scientific foundation. The name-calling, the baseless assertions ("Transitional forms do exist! ... Molecular biology actually supports evolution! The earth is flat!"), the accusations of the author being a "closet creationist", as if that settles the matter ...

If their only ammunition is misrepresentation and misinformation, what is the worth of what evolutionists believe in? (And it gets even worse with his next book, all the claims that Denton has "converted" to evolutionism.) People, on such an important matter, you should try better than that. If you have the scientific proof to answer Denton's objections, let's see it. If you can explain how the avian lung evolved, tell us. If you can explain why protein-sequence differences completely contradict Darwinism, let's hear it. Otherwise, open your minds to the new (and old) discoveries that contradict the theory. For your own sake.

Why Darwinists Bristle at Denton
Molecular biologist Michael Denton belongs to the relatively recent group of authors, including William A. Dembski, Phillip E. Johnson, Michael A. Cremo, Michael J. Behe, George Sim Johnston, and others, who have in common that they dare to question on scientific grounds essential tenets of conventional evolutionary theory. Published originally in 1986, "Evolution: A Theory in Crisis" led the way in offering detailed scientific criticisms of the standard evolutionary paradigm. In the first part of this book, Denton reviews the early history of Darwinism, showing how many scientists rejected Darwin's thesis for what they then viewed to be solid scientific reasons.

In the latter portion of his work, Denton explores many evidences he views as problematic to evolutionary theory even today, including the inconceivable complexity of the cell, the continued problem of discontinuity in the fossil record, limits of selective breeding, anomalous results from molecular biology, the gap between evident microevolution and more controversial macroevolution, and so forth. Critics respond by arguing that more recent developments such as the Human Genome Project, chaos theory, evo-devo, speciational evolution, and so forth, explain away much of Denton's claims - potentially all. Denton's defenders point out that not everything has been adequately explained, including such things as the origin of the first living cells, the early appearance of many complex types of organisms, and so forth. It is not my concern to reprise this debate, but to note Denton's major role in catalyzing it. Note that Denton does not write here as a scientific creationist, although his "Nature's Destiny" does argue for a universe that is somehow designed with life and mankind as its goal. In my own "Origin of the Human Species" (Sapientia Press, 2003), I examine many philosophical issues arising from evolutionary theory. Sound philosophy shows that, regardless of evolutionary theory's validity, God's existence and the human soul's spirituality must still be posited in order to explain adequately the very existence of the world and the uniqueness of human intellective abilities. Darwinian naturalism bristles at any critique, like Denton's, which dares to point out problem areas in standard evolution theory, since challenging evolution amounts to challenging the atheism that is so often presupposed in its standard exposition. That is why my own book does an end run of the anti-theistic, anti-Christian presuppositions inherent in Darwinism by showing the compatibility of conventional evolutionary science with the reality of a single set of human first parents as depicted in Genesis - and this without recourse to dependence on young-Earth creationism.

Given evolution theory's radically interdisciplinary character and implications, its proper analysis requires illumination, not only by the various natural sciences, but also by philosophy and even theology. Because Michael Denton lays down a central scientific framework for this discussion, "Evolution: A Theory in Crisis" (2002 edition) as well as his "Nature's Destiny" (1998 edition) belong in the library of all interested parties.

Dated
This book is outdated. Even when it first came out in 1986 it was outdated. (And the new edition does little to correct this.) I was struck as I read the book that the arguments seemed somehow to be lacking in modern information. So I took a look at the sources, copiously listed in the endnotes of each chapter. And the overwhelming number of the sources date to 60s and 70s, or even earlier. In fact, the average source date for Denton's cites was 1912! Admittedly, this includes original source dates that refer to The Origin of Species, and responding sources in the years afterward. But as one reads through the endnotes, you can't but be impressed by how even the scientific data that Denton is relying on is usually 20 years out of date- *from when this book was written*!

Why is this an issue? After all, why would having old sources make a difference, if the arguments are sound? Because it claims to be a scientific text. And it is precisely in the area of science that discovery and information change and progress so rapidly. A scientific paper written ten years ago is usually passé- unless it was groundbreaking to begin with.

This source problem is seen in a number of specific areas. When Denton wrote his work, there was no Human Genome Project- we hadn't even mapped the genetic code of a Nematode at that point! Having a complete map of the genetic code of an organism makes a big difference in understanding evolutionary theory. Chaos Theory was in its infancy, if present at all, and there was therefore no mathematical formulas to demonstrate how random events can have an underlying logical consistency allowing for progression. Or there was the old creationist argument of the problem with whale evolution, that there were no transitional fossils, and how illogical it was to claim that whales could evolve from hoofed hyena-like animals, when there were (admittedly) so many great changes that must occur in the organism. That is, until the 1990s, when we discovered every single transitional fossil in whale evolution, showing the complete progression from a land animal to the modern whale, giving us today one of the best fossil lineages in evolutionary theory.

There are other serious problems with the book. Denton makes claims that were not true even in the 80s (or 60s), such as the lack of transitional fossils in general. He seems to focus on the lack of transitional fossils between classes, and then make the claim that the there is a mystical class boundary, deny evolution occurs *within* classes, and ignore all the transitional fossils within classes. He conveniently ignores all the transitional fossils between different fish classes, reflecting his human terrestrial bias, probably lumping Petromyzone, Myxini, Chondrichthyes, and Osteichthyes as just "fish". He suggests that things are too improbable, making the argument of "irreducible complexity", that the cilia and flagella and bird's wing couldn't have evolved, citing a few sources from evolutionists to support his claim. In the process he ignores a lot of much more recent research which has found transitional forms, and discovered ways that these structures could have evolved. He makes strong arguments to imply that evolution only occurred because it satisfied the philosophical needs of the popular theories of Darwin's day and subsequently. He's probably right on that one. But he skips over how every theory ever believed is generally held true because it fulfills the philosophical ideas of the people of their day- including the belief in immediate divine creation.

I appreciate that Denton came from a scientific perspective. But his arguments don't hold up. I firmly believe in the God of the Old and New Testament. I don't believe evolution is perfect in it's theory- it's still being worked on. It's simply the best theory we've got. And in the end, Denton does nothing to change that. At the end of his book Denton refers to how, throughout human history, a theory is believed until a new, better one comes along. Precisely. This is standard scientific method. And Denton doesn't guide us to an alternative; he gives nothing to indicate a new encompassing theory that might have half the evidence to support it that evolution currently does.

If you want to read a book that explains ideas that are outdated from 15 years ago, 35 years ago, 100 years ago, and understand it as modern science, this is the book for you. Otherwise, I'd recommend Darwin's Ghost, by Steve Jones, which updates Origin of a Species, and Finding Darwin's God, by Kenneth Miller, which deals with the issues of Christian theology and evolution from an author who holds to both.

(This review refers to the 1985 hard copy.)

An excellent critique of orthodox darwinism
Michael Denton marshals a vast array of evidence against the theory of Darwinian evolution and is very convincing in the process. Denton begins by chronicling the exploits of Charles Darwin and shows how his views were formed during his expeditionary journey aboard the HMS Beagle. Then, he shows how the theory came to fruition and how it was either accepted or rejected by the scientists of Darwin's day. Finally, Denton shows how the theory itself went from a theory to an established fact within the scientific community within the span of 100 years.

Although the first half of this book is somewhat philosophical and concept heavy the information in those chapters is very enlightening and proves that there was solid reasoning in the mid 19th century for rejecting Darwin's thesis. Men like Cuiver and Agassiz disagreed with Darwin's hypothesis and pointed to the discontinuity of nature as proof that continuous evolution could not be true. Furthermore, taxonomists and those following the heir arching systems of Linnaeus perceived that nature was ordered more along the lines of archetypes and patterns and that progressive evolution was antithetical to this idea. Instead of viewing groups of animals in parent/daughter relationships, they viewed animal relationships as sister groups where each specimen of a group conformed to the characteristics of the representative archetype of the group. This is still how most taxonomists view relationships between animal groups today and it is in stark contrast to the evolutionary model.

In the latter half of the book Denton lists all of the observational and scientific evidence that argues against evolution. First, the fossil record is discontinuous and offers no evidence that animals gradually evolved from one species into another. Yes, Darwin knew these links were vital to his theory and he and his followers believed they would be discovered in time. Yet, over 120 years later no links have been found and the new fossils that have been discovered paint a picture that is even more discontinuous than the one recognized in Darwin's day. Moreover, work done with selective breeding in domestic animals has illustrated there is a limit that is reached in achieving new characteristics over time. So yes natural selection and mutation can produce new species that are slightly different from the previous one like in birds and dogs, but it cannot explain how an amphibian could become a reptile. Finally, the most convincing and damaging evidence comes from the realm of molecular biology. The comparative analysis done between animal proteins shows that some species are not more intermediate than others. In other words amphibians are just as far removed from reptiles as they are from mammals. Yet, the evolutionary paradigm argues that amphibians evolved into reptiles which evolved into mammals, so amphibians should show more similarity to reptiles than mammals. Most damaging of all the complexity and ingenuity of the cell. To believe this complex and highly organized microscopic factory could be created by random processes borders on outright absurdity if not blind faith.

The last few chapters are very interesting because Denton illustrates that the evolutionary paradigm is in the same position as the geocentric model of medieval astronomy. It's adherents maintain the status quo because an alternate theory has not been presented even though the theory itself has become a monster. It was only until the rival theory of the heliocentric solar system became scientifically more sound and explained the problems inherent in geocentrism that the model became firmly established. Likewise, the evolutionary paradigm is besieged by problems, but no rival theory has arisen to take it's place and explain the inconsistencies. Therefore, the scientific establishment will retain the theory because it's the only one that offers an explanation for the diversity of life.

On a side not, this book in no way endorses creationism. Even though the author is expressing his dissatisfaction and doubt over the evolutionary paradigm, this doesn't mean this book is a blaring endorsement for creationism. Sure, several elements of design and guidance are argued for and this book may strengthen one's faith and commitment to intelligent design, but I don't think that is the primary purpose of this book. The author's primary intent is to catalogue all the evidence against evolution and critique the theory and in this endeavor he does exceedingly well.

interesting
until recently I never thought a critique of evolution would be even mildly interesting, but denton makes very valid points. If you're interested in perhaps the best critique try the hard to get Darwinian Fairytales by David Stove. There is nothing quite like it in the debate literature. One wonders why it is so impossible to get hold of, I assume it can only be because of its heretical nature. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Jaded and slanted
"Simians, Cyborgs, and Women" sounds as if it might be interesting to discuss the connections between the three conceps upon first glance. Feel free to read the opening portions of the book. They are representative of the majority of the book. If you are well-versed in fanatical feminist theories - and, more importantly, agree wholeheartedly with them - then you will enjoy the book immensely. On the other hand, if you are expecting a healthy discussion of the basis of, rationale for, and definitions of feminist theories, look elsewhere. The book is rife with shakey feminist theories which serve as premises to even still more outrageous conclusions, without any attempt to justify the premises themselves. As a result, it ends up a house of cards, without a strong foundation, puffed up far more than it ever should. I would have been more interested in seeing a well-structured analysis of the views underlying the arguments she makes. Alas, a search for such an analysis was in vain.

Book Club 3
Rur Soc 248
3/30/03
Book Club # 3

Simians, Cyborgs, and Women written by Donna J. Haraway is a compilation of ten essays from 1978 through 1989 that focus on the idea that nature is constructed, not discovered, and truth is made, not found. Donna J. Haraway is a science historian and Professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She explains her ideas in this book through a strong feminist viewpoint.
Haraway divides her book into three sections, each section addressing different topics. The first section of the book discusses feminist struggles of developing knowledge and behavior in the social lives of monkeys and apes. The second part of the book discusses contests for the power to determine stories about nature and experience. The last part of the book discusses the cyborg embodiment and the fate of feminist concepts of gender, feminist ethics and even discusses the immune system as a biopolitical map of the chief system of difference in a postmodern world.
My opinions on this book are very one sided. I did not enjoy reading it at all. I thought that the book was very difficult to read. The book had a great deal of words in it that I have never seen before. I found myself constantly looking to a dictionary just so I could get the message behind what Haraway was trying to relay. One of the other reasons that the book was difficult to read was because it talked about many theories and ideas that I have never heard about before. This would have not been a big issue if the theories had explained more before they were used in proving Haraway's arguments. A direct example of this is when Haraway uses the theories that Zuckerman and Rowell have about reproduction. There was one part of the book that I thought was fairly interesting and that was Haraway's idea, that people in today's modern world are cyborgs because we incorporate so much technology into our lives. I thought that that idea was a very clever way to describe our highly technical world. I went into reading this book with an open mind and I left the book with an open mind. Even though I did not enjoy reading this book and I thought it was very boring after reading it I am now more aware about how different people think and their point of view and that is always a valuable thing to take away from an experience.

Simians, Cyborgs, and Women The Reinvention of Nature
Christine Kovac
Sociology 248
Book Review #3
March 26, 2003

Simians, Cyborgs, and Women The Reinvention of Nature

How did nature come about? Did it happen over night or was it a process that happened gradually over time? Donna Haraway, in a complex manner, addresses this issue in her book with a feminist perspective as she analyzes historical narratives, accounts, and stories about the creation of nature. She looks at several theories of famous theorists including Darwin's evolutionary theory, social constructionism, and Freud's body politic in order to justify her argument throughout the book.
Haraway believes and argues with insightful information that everything that exists is a form of construction in which one thing leads to the development of another and so on. She specifically targets women throughout her book when supporting her argument. For example,
"Teaching in women's studies classrooms is a historically specific activity. Such
teaching inherits, constructs, and transmits particular reading and writing practices that are politically complex. These material practices are part of the apparatus for producing what will count as 'experience' on personal and collective levels in women's movement. It is crucial to be accountable for the politics of experience in the institution of women's studies. ......Women do not find 'experience' ready to hand any more than they/we find 'nature' or the 'body' performed, always innocent and waiting outside the violations of language and culture" (Haraway, 109).

This particular situation is not an obvious feature when it comes to looking at the method of women's movement. It is the experience that women obtain which enables them to move forward in women's movement. It is constructed from one thing to the next, in which many different aspects such as experience are part of a process. It is humans that have constructed scientific evidence and then analyzed it and tested it over and over again. Haraway implicitly stresses that humans make what exists, things do not all of the sudden appear in front of us. She also talks about human bodies and how we make them, they do not pre-exist as many people believe. They are made through the process of intercourse between a man and a woman where a human organism inside a female comes to existence.
Haraway's book is ten complicated chapters full of many technical aspects about the evolution of nature through creation. While it is quite insightful, a lot of unfamiliar and technical language is used that can make the reading very frustrating. Identifying the specific argument Haraway is trying to make is not easy when digesting an incredible amount of complex information. It is a difficult book that addresses and investigates many theories critical to her argument that nature was constructed over time. If you have a lot of time on your hands, are interested in the development of nature, and are aroused by the enjoyment of intellectual challenges, I recommend this book. ... Read more

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Culture Clash in Ca