The Journey of Man: A Genetic OdysseyRandom House Publishing Group, 2012 M10 31 - 240 pages Around 60,000 years ago, a man—genetically identical to us—lived in Africa. Every person alive today is descended from him. How did this real-life Adam wind up as the father of us all? What happened to the descendants of other men who lived at the same time? And why, if modern humans share a single prehistoric ancestor, do we come in so many sizes, shapes, and races? Examining the hidden secrets of human evolution in our genetic code, Spencer Wells reveals how developments in the revolutionary science of population genetics have made it possible to create a family tree for the whole of humanity. Replete with marvelous anecdotes and remarkable information, from the truth about the real Adam and Eve to the way differing racial types emerged, The Journey of Man is an enthralling, epic tour through the history and development of early humankind. |
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Page xv
... actually seeing and handling implements that were last touched by human hands hundreds or thousands of years ago. Often the sense is so great that a feeling of déjfz uu comes over you, and it seems as though you have somehow been ...
... actually seeing and handling implements that were last touched by human hands hundreds or thousands of years ago. Often the sense is so great that a feeling of déjfz uu comes over you, and it seems as though you have somehow been ...
Page xvi
... actually live today, because our knowledge of genetic history is inferred from the blood of people living in the present—it is their living genomes that give us our clues. Every one of us is carrying his or her personal history book ...
... actually live today, because our knowledge of genetic history is inferred from the blood of people living in the present—it is their living genomes that give us our clues. Every one of us is carrying his or her personal history book ...
Page 7
... actually travelling with three Fuegians taken to London five years earlier by Captain FitzRoy. Colourfully named Fuegia Basket, Jemmy Button and York Minster by their kidnappers, their real names were Yok— cushlu, Orundellico and El ...
... actually travelling with three Fuegians taken to London five years earlier by Captain FitzRoy. Colourfully named Fuegia Basket, Jemmy Button and York Minster by their kidnappers, their real names were Yok— cushlu, Orundellico and El ...
Page 9
... actually separate, inherently unequal entities made it easier to justify the brutal oppression practised in the United States. The theory that human races are distinct entities, created separately, is known as polygeny - from the Greek ...
... actually separate, inherently unequal entities made it easier to justify the brutal oppression practised in the United States. The theory that human races are distinct entities, created separately, is known as polygeny - from the Greek ...
Page 11
... actually coined the phrase 'survival of the fittest', and he used it to justify the social divisions inherent in late-nineteenth-century Britain in a series of widely read books and essays. If divisions within society could be explained ...
... actually coined the phrase 'survival of the fittest', and he used it to justify the social divisions inherent in late-nineteenth-century Britain in a series of widely read books and essays. If divisions within society could be explained ...
Contents
1 | |
4Coasting Away | 61 |
Leaps and Bounds 8 | 81 |
Blood from a Stone 8The Importance of Culture 6 | 184 |
Acknowledgements | 197 |
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Common terms and phrases
actually Adam Africa agriculture analysis ancient animals anthropologists apes appear archaeological Asian Australia Cavalli-Sforza cent central Asia China chromosomes clan classification climate coastal colleagues common ancestor continent culture Darwin defined descendants developed difficult earliest early human east Asia Eurasian Europe Europeans evidence evolution evolutionary expansion favour field find first frequency genes genetic data genetic diversity genetic variation geneticists genome hominid Homo erectus human genetic human migration human populations hunter-gatherers hunting ice age impala India Indo-European Indo-European languages infer ingredients journey known languages leap lifestyle linguistic living marker Middle East Middle Eastern migration mitochondrial DNA modern humans molecules mtDNA mutations Native Americans Neanderthals Neolithic northern nucleotide origin past perhaps polymorphisms population genetics recent region route sample scientific Siberia significant simply soup recipes south-east Asia southern species spoken spread steppe suggests thousands trace unique Upper Palaeolithic western Y-chromosome lineages