Walking with Cavemen[Hardcover] John Lynch(Author),Louise Barrett(Author) Hardcover:224 pages Publisher:Headline Book Publishing; First American Edition edition (17 Mar 2003) Language:English ISBN-10:0755311779 ISBN-13:978-0755311774 Product Dimensions:28.5 x 26.1 cm
Book Description Publication Date:17 Mar 2003 This is the story of how a cocktail of extraordinary traits were combined to create us, human beings. Fusing epic science with the drama of individual lives, it is the tale of everyone on the planet today. The story starts in east Africa where apes first walked on two legs. Four million years later, half a dozen different species of human populated Africa but eventually Homo erectus was to dominate this world and be the first ape-man to colonize elsewhere. This book follows the changing lives of each species, ending with our last rival, the physically powerful Neanderthals, and suggesting that it was through pure good fortune that Homo sapiens survivied to rule the world. Our story is told as continuous narrative with feature boxes explaining the evolutionary science and the archeological finds, and easy-to-use fact boxes on each of the species.
Amazon Review For all couchbound ramblersWalking with Cavemenwill be another very welcome addition to the collection of BBC natural history spin-offs and will presumably complete the set that began withWalking with Dinosaurs. Walking with Cavemenselects eight of our 20 or so extinct human relatives beginning withAustralopithecus afarensis--small, upright, walking ape-like relatives who lived around 3.5 million years ago--and dramatises their various lifestyles. To be picky these were not cavemen but some of the earliest human relatives to move out of the protection of the trees into the more dangerous grasslands. However, there is no other simple catchall name for these ancestors--Walking with Hominidsmight not have quite the same public appeal. Nevertheless, this fascinating story of our ancestry is supported by numerous features explaining various aspects of the science behind the reconstructions. This is very necessary, for as with the dinosaur and extinct mammal stories, so much modelling and conjecture is sometimes based on fairly skimpy information. But this is pretty well state-of-the-art reconstruction and does an excellent job of bringing this otherwise somewhat neglected aspect of our deep past to light. Apart from the Neanderthals or perhaps Lucy, how many other extinct human relatives can you name? It is a pity the science is not supported by any further reading list or even appropriate Web site pointers.
Louise Barrett is an academic biological anthropologist at Liverpool University who specialises in ape behaviour. She has also authored some other very successful books of this kind such asCousins, so we get not only an authoritative text but also a very readable one. John Lynch is a well-known producer of BBC TV science films and wrote the recentWild Weatherbook. We have come to expect splendid illustrations and computer graphics from the TV programmes and their accompanying books and we get them here. In the richly illustratedWalking with Cavementhe still photos are mostly of human computers dressed to kill in amazing body suits and full facial prosthetics that must have been sheer hell to work in. Many of the images are really outstanding but in some the modelling looks less convincing. There are still some images that blend computer graphics of the odd mammoth and giant deer and there are plenty of naked bodies to satisfy naturists as well as naturalists. ReadingWalking with Cavemenin the safety of your own home is certainly the most comfortable way to relive the trials and tribulations of our ancestors' lives. Imagine being spied upon by Robert Winston all the time. --Douglas Palmer
以下为对购买帮助不大的评价