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rebel_rocketman's review against another edition
4.0
This was an excellent overview of early human history, covering everything from the evolution of the hominids until the beginnings of the agricultural "revolution", and gives some pretty fascinating insights on the relationships between humans and the various aspects of the world they encountered. The author also goes into considerable speculative depth as to what it means to truly be "human", regarding the various species within genus Homo (ancestral humans, Neanderthals, etc) as all possessing not only intelligence, but also conscience, symbolism, and higher thought, and seeks to dispel the common view that other humans were somehow "less human" than homo sapiens. While written in a somewhat "scientific" style that isn't as easily accessible as other popular science works on the subject, this book presents a unique and profoundly thought provoking insight on the development of humanity. The author, himself an archaeologist, draws on a wealth of archaeological evidence and scientific publications, and includes an impressive bibliography.
Despite thoroughly enjoying the read, I did feel vaguely unsatisfied with the way the book ended, feeling like there was no definite conclusion to everything I'd read. The subtitle ("Why Neanderthals Died Out and We Survived") is also somewhat misleading, as Neanderthals are really not the primary focus of the book at all, but rather the development of our own species and the unique ways we managed to survive while our predecessors - any and all of them - did not. However, this was still an excellent work and very much worth my time.
Despite thoroughly enjoying the read, I did feel vaguely unsatisfied with the way the book ended, feeling like there was no definite conclusion to everything I'd read. The subtitle ("Why Neanderthals Died Out and We Survived") is also somewhat misleading, as Neanderthals are really not the primary focus of the book at all, but rather the development of our own species and the unique ways we managed to survive while our predecessors - any and all of them - did not. However, this was still an excellent work and very much worth my time.
archytas's review against another edition
3.0
This book is an attempt to replicate the approach of Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel, to explain why 'Cro-Magnon' survived and Neanderthals didn't. It's an interesting idea, and I really wish it had worked better than it did.
The book is lush with climate and geographic description and explanation, and it felt close to palaeontology works (non-human) I've read in approach - assuming as a start point that evolutionary adaptation happens in response to specific environments. It was very helpful for gaining a greater understanding of the climate of prehistory.
This is a welcome change from "we evolved to hunt and gather and have teh sex". But partly, it isn't all totally convincing. This is, in part, that a core premise - that contact between Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon was limited and had no impact on our genetic development - is looking very shaky from evidence found since this book was published. Ironically, the same findings actually strengthen one of Finlayson's key contentions - that the story of modern humans' origins is more complex than just "we migrated out of Africa in a couple of waves".
One thing that drove me particularly nuts, however, was the euro-centrist approach. Despite extensive discussion of the cave art in Europe, for example, he fails to even mention Australian cave art's existence. It's hard not suspect that this is in part, because his thesis that key evolutionary progress was enabled by specific conditions in Central Asia doesn't well explain why humans are so similar across Australasia, Africa and the descendants of those who migrated out towards Europe. Finlayson tends to explain this by referring to the great opportunities posed by the "open and empty" Australian continent when the first people arrived, but that's not explained any further (nor why it was more open or empty than anywhere else). It left me wanting very badly to read a book examining the journey and genetic evidence of any peoples not part of the Europe/Central Asia/Americas wave.
Finlayson writes engagingly, and interestingly enough, comes across as very likeable. I think I would enjoy his other works on areas he is expert in, and which may not be trying so hard to work. This one just didn't entirely come off for me.
The book is lush with climate and geographic description and explanation, and it felt close to palaeontology works (non-human) I've read in approach - assuming as a start point that evolutionary adaptation happens in response to specific environments. It was very helpful for gaining a greater understanding of the climate of prehistory.
This is a welcome change from "we evolved to hunt and gather and have teh sex". But partly, it isn't all totally convincing. This is, in part, that a core premise - that contact between Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon was limited and had no impact on our genetic development - is looking very shaky from evidence found since this book was published. Ironically, the same findings actually strengthen one of Finlayson's key contentions - that the story of modern humans' origins is more complex than just "we migrated out of Africa in a couple of waves".
One thing that drove me particularly nuts, however, was the euro-centrist approach. Despite extensive discussion of the cave art in Europe, for example, he fails to even mention Australian cave art's existence. It's hard not suspect that this is in part, because his thesis that key evolutionary progress was enabled by specific conditions in Central Asia doesn't well explain why humans are so similar across Australasia, Africa and the descendants of those who migrated out towards Europe. Finlayson tends to explain this by referring to the great opportunities posed by the "open and empty" Australian continent when the first people arrived, but that's not explained any further (nor why it was more open or empty than anywhere else). It left me wanting very badly to read a book examining the journey and genetic evidence of any peoples not part of the Europe/Central Asia/Americas wave.
Finlayson writes engagingly, and interestingly enough, comes across as very likeable. I think I would enjoy his other works on areas he is expert in, and which may not be trying so hard to work. This one just didn't entirely come off for me.
unsweettea's review
3.0
This was an interesting overview of human evolution. Finlayson does not go into a lot of details about the various known species of early humans, but tends to talk about generalities and the big picture. It's a fairly short book and he covers a huge amount of prehistory, so he necessarily doesn't examine things in great depth. The thing that spoiled it for me was the author's tone when talking about other paleontologists; he's always griping that they're overusing the small amount of evidence they have to make sweeping declarations about what these species did and what they were like. Which may well be true, but he sounds so terribly stuck on himself and his theories that those parts were unpleasant to read.
zizabeph's review
1.0
I actually couldn't finish this book. I kept getting caught by the author on one page deploring other scientists' narrow sightedness in not accepting new theories, and in the next chapter explaining all the reasons why it was absolutely impossible that humans and Neanderthals interbred. granted, the strongest evidence showing Neanderthal genes in Europeans came soon after this book was published, but the signs were there in 2009. the author's ego, as well as his habit of jumping forward and backward in time so much as to lose any consistent narrative, made this book disappointingly unreadable.
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