- Hardcover: 375 pages
- Publisher: Doubleday; 1st edition (Sep 1 1992)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0385412649
- ISBN-13: 978-0385412643
- Product Dimensions: 24.4 x 17.5 x 3.6 cm
- Shipping Weight: 748 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,300,612 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Famed paleoanthropologist Leakey begins this first-person odyssey with an informal account of his 1984 discovery in East Africa of the "Turkana boy," a 1.5-million-year-old Homo erectus skeleton. Teamed with science writer Lewin (with whom he wrote Origins and People of the Lake ), Leakey controversially portrays this forerunner of Homo sapiens as a meat-eating omnivore who operated from a home base and was already to some degree human in behavior. Full of tantalizing insights into human origins, this exciting inquiry suggests that morality, consciousness and emotions developed over a much longer period of our history than many scientists assume. Modern humans' language abilities are firmly rooted in the cognitive abilities of ape brains, Leakey asserts. Skeptical of the multiregional model, which holds that the first humans arose simultaneoulsy in Asia, Africa and Europe, Leakey leans toward the "Noah's Ark hypothesis," which asserts that Homo sapiens originated in a single, localized evolutionary event. In conclusion, he eloquently warns that our unruly species may be short-term tenants on earth unless we become the planet's stewards.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
YA-- Leakey and Lewin discuss how conceptions of human anatomical and behavioral development have been radically altered within the last 12 years by new discoveries and research in other fields. They review the developments and assert Leakey's own hypotheses based on these discoveries. Although supporting a specific view of human evolution, they also illuminate other theories and their proponents, if mainly to argue against them. This is an engrossing book written for the layperson, fully explaining anthropological terms and theories when necessary. It's a solid introduction to current theory concerning human development.
- Hugh McAloon, R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Frederick,
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Hugh McAloon, R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Frederick,
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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First Sentence
They had set out early, this band of six purposeful individuals, striding across rolling, grassy terrain punctuated here and there by flat-topped acacia trees. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
They had set out early, this band of six purposeful individuals, striding across rolling, grassy terrain punctuated here and there by flat-topped acacia trees. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good mea culpa,
By
This review is from: Origins Reconsidered: In Search of What Makes Us Human (Paperback)
This book had to be written by the Leakeys if for no other reason than to rescue their reputations. For years, the Leakey family - mom, pop, son - were the last word on the topic of mankind's beginnings. As such they got most of it right but missed a few things. This book does not go into detail on all the scientific fist fights that occurred between the Kenyan crew and others in the field, notably the discoverers of "Lucy". This discovery more than anything else caused a revision in our previous thinking, forcing us to step back further in time. The upswing was that the findings served notice that the Leakeys were wrong in a few respects. This nook is an attempt to "rework" the evidence presented in the original "Origins". Crammed with pictures, illustrations, charts and presented in that always entertaining style/
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good book,
By John McGinn (Broomfield, CO United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Origins Reconsidered: In Search of What Makes Us Human (Paperback)
This book covers in details the exciting discovery of Turkana boy, a nearly complete junvenile H. erectus skeleton. Although a little limited in scope (look for other books for a good overview of the current state of human evolution) it does a great job of detailing the discovery and its significance. Leakey also does a good job of trying to peer into the minds of these primitive hominids, examining their intellect, speech, compassion, etc. in the last several chapters and what makes us who we are. This book however is more of description of the discovery than anything else, as shown by the considerable amount of space dedicated to the descriptions of the area and the sequence of events leading to the discovery and excavation. Overall a good book with some good anthropology in it and also an exciting depiction of the discovery.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A book well worth considering,
By Daniel Woodard (Merritt Island, Florida, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Origins Reconsidered: In Search of What Makes Us Human (Paperback)
Richard Leakey introduced millions to the evolution of humanity in his first "Origins", but over the years it had inevitably become outdated. This book is less dramatic but far more complete scientifically, and is an essential read for anyone who wants to keep up with our past. Moreover, where the first book tended toward philosophical speculation, in this one he builds theory on facts; where before he focused on his own views with little discussion of other researchers, in this one he quotes them with the dilligence of a reporter. Where the first book was often gramatically infuriating, this one has the polished language and clearly stated logic that make learning complex concepts seem effortless.Best of all, this time he takes us along on the adventure of discovery. Leakey is no closeted academic; he can find food and water as the ancient hunter-gatherers did, with no modern tools, in what looks to the untrained eye like a dry wasteland. He understands the politics of the illegal ivory trade as well as the interpretation of fossils. He was not stopped in either his explorations of human origins or his quest to save African wildlife by years of kidney failure, near-fatal pneumonia, death threats from poachers, or even the loss of his legs in a plane crash. He covers the science in full detail, yet the reader has a sense of immediacy one never gets from the academic literature. We are parties to acrimonious debate and feel the thrill of pouncing on the apparent error of a rival. We spend months in the bush, and are immersed in a lifelong search that yields, after innumerable frustrations, to the occasional astonishing discovery. There are a few shortcomings; Leakey glosses over some of the points he made eloquently in the first book which turned out, in retrospect, to be radically incorrect. The photographs, critical to understanding the discussion, are grouped together and hard to relate to the appropriate text, and the critical diagrams of the human evolutionary tree are small and difficult to read. But overall, the theory is so cogently explained, and the narrative has such a sense of realism, that we feel we could do it ourselves, flying over the Great Rift, sifting through ancient sand and rock, pushing back the frontiers of time to discover ourselves.
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