Before the Dawn
Before the Dawn : Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors Nicholas Wade,
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
ISBN: 1594200793
Edition: Hardcover; 2006-04-20
Summary:
Based on a groundbreaking synthesis of recent scientific findings, an
acclaimed New York Times science reporter tells a bold and
provocative new story of the history of our ancient ancestors and the
evolution of human nature Just in the last three years a flood of new
scientific findings-driven by revelations discovered in the human
genome-has provided compelling new answers to many long-standing
mysteries about our most ancient ancestors-the people who first
evolved in Africa and then went on to colonize the whole world.
Critically acclaimed New York Times science reporter Nicholas Wade
weaves this host of news-making findings together for the first time
into an intriguing new history of the human story before the dawn of
civilization. Sure to stimulate lively controversy, he makes the case
for novel arguments about many hotly debated issues such as the
evolution of language and race and the genetic roots of human nature,
and reveals that human evolution has continued even to today. In
wonderfully lively and lucid prose, Wade reveals the answers that
researchers have ingeniously developed to so many puzzles: When did
language emerge? When and why did we start to wear clothing? How did
our ancestors break out of Africa and defeat the more physically
powerful Neanderthals who stood in their way? Why did the different
races evolve, and why did we come to speak so many different
languages? When did we learn to live with animals and where and when
did we domesticate man's first animal companions, dogs? How did human
nature change during the thirty-five thousand years between the
emergence of fully modern humans and the first settlements? Wade
takes readers to the forefront of research in a sweeping and
engrossing narrative unlike any other, the first to reveal how
genetic discoveries are helping to weave together the perspectives of
archaeology, paleontology, anthropology, linguistics, and many other
fields. This will be the most talked about science book of the
season.
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