The Time Before History [Paperback]

For example, he seemed to deliberately misrepresent (or misunderstand) the parallel evolution theory of human origins, so that he could re-present it in more convincing terms as his own original idea.

All in all, the fact checking seems weak, (eg, a change of 6 degrees centigrade is equivalent to a change of 36 degress farenheight !?!? Obviously someone with a pocket calculator mindlessly punched numbers into the temperature formula to get that one) and the lack of references for some of his assertions leaves me wondering about their accuracy. This is a real shame, because a few of his ideas are ones I had not encountered before (for example, exposed rock faces having a major effect on the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and hence having a major impact on global climate), but I reluctantly have to say that I'm not sure he is a reliable source.

If you read the book discription on the back cover, it gives the impression that the book would cover human and hominoid development from about 5 million years ago until recent history i.e. 10,000 years ago.

There are some good parts in this book. I particularly liked how he gave an overview on how evolution works. He explained things well and I was able to follow pretty easily despite being a complete novice regarding the specifics on the theory. I also liked the section on human evolution and how he explained the possible causes and effects of the spread of Homo sapiens. His discussion on the overkill hypothesis was top notch.

However, this book is not without its flaws. One major flaw for me was the fact that the main topic only takes up about half of the book. There is a long chapter on mammal development, and at times he just simply lists creatures haphazardly. It would've been nice to have a chart to identify the possible ancestors of animals that are alive today.

A glossary would have been nice as well. I got tired of trying to find the first time he mentioned poikilothermic animals just to name an example. Yeah I know, I could've written down the definition, but is it too much to ask an author to do what most other authors do? A bibliography would've been wonderful too. There didn't seem to be that many references in the text, and I would've liked to see others sources for further reading.

The final problem for me was the fact that the book wasn't really about what the description on the back cover says. For example, the first chapter is a detailed description on how the climate and atmosphere works on earth with a warning about excess CFC's and the depleting ozone. Next he describes the different types of mammals and proceeds to seemingly describe every one that lived in the past and present. There are so many names and descriptions that they kind of all blend together. There is a chart, but it isn't detailed enough for you to really follow the author. Finally, the last chapter is a plea for humanity to be careful and not kill off any more animal species.

Now before people start assuming that I am anti-conservationist let me clarify. I love animals as much [messed] up. However, reading about those topics is not why I bought this book. I bought it to read about the devlopment of Homo sapiens in the past, not a "save the ozone and don't kill the animals" plea, which really took up about a third of the book.

To summarize: If you're looking for a strict account on human evolution then I wouldn't buy this book. There is too many other topics that the author focuses on and really doesn't give that subject the just amount of pages in this book.

Tudge though is at his best when describing the various types of early humans and protohumans -from the various types of Australopithecines to Homo sapiens - and how they evolved, how they lived, and in some cases, how they spread. Useful are his discussion of ecomorphs and how the generalized ecomorphs of primates favored the development of bipedal, tool-using, intelligent protohumans, and his coverage of the diet of australopithecines and early humans and how this affected our evolution, as well as what we know of these beings. Tudge also provides a lot of interesting theories and information regarding the spread of not only Homo sapiens into the world but Homo erectus before him; also theories as to what happened to the Neanderthals and if they were a seperate species or not are detailed as well.

The Tudge book is not perfect though. I think he spends too much time on background prior to discussions of early man. Though interesting, they take up a sizeable section of the book. Some of the asides in the chapter on extinct mammals while interesting are controversial, though he does provide citations for those interested in checking on things. Examples include his mentioning of the theory that giant ground sloths may have been arboreal, that the mastodon genus Cuvieronius may have survived in Central America until several centuries after Christ, and that the dwarf mammoth of Wrangel Island (which survived into historic times, this has been well documented) is actually pictured on a pharaoh's tomb in Egypt, according to some having been illustrated when one was presented as a gift!

Still, I wouldn't let some of these controversial statements steer potential readers away from this book. It still provides decent coverage of extinct mammals, concepts in paleontology, and a good coverage of eartly man, his development, and spread around the globe.