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. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 18
Page 4
... favoured children — but different. Darwin's insight had changed all of that. This dyspeptic near-recluse had, with a few strokes of his pen (and some twenty years of dabbling with pigeons and barnacles), demoted humanity from divine ...
... favoured children — but different. Darwin's insight had changed all of that. This dyspeptic near-recluse had, with a few strokes of his pen (and some twenty years of dabbling with pigeons and barnacles), demoted humanity from divine ...
Page 18
... favour certain types of mutation based on what the effect might be. Rather, we are like Heath Robinson engineers, forced to make use of what we are given in the mutational lottery. The blood group variants discovered by Landsteiner ...
... favour certain types of mutation based on what the effect might be. Rather, we are like Heath Robinson engineers, forced to make use of what we are given in the mutational lottery. The blood group variants discovered by Landsteiner ...
Page 22
... favour a significant role for natural selection. Most of the polymorphisms studied by human geneticists, though, had probably arrived at their current frequencies because of drift. This opened the door to a new way of analysing the ...
... favour a significant role for natural selection. Most of the polymorphisms studied by human geneticists, though, had probably arrived at their current frequencies because of drift. This opened the door to a new way of analysing the ...
Page 23
... favour simplicity over complexity. This is particularly true when things change — like when a stone drops from a cliff to the valley below. Gravity clearly exerts itself in such a way that the stone moves directly — and rather quickly ...
... favour simplicity over complexity. This is particularly true when things change — like when a stone drops from a cliff to the valley below. Gravity clearly exerts itself in such a way that the stone moves directly — and rather quickly ...
Page 54
You have reached your viewing limit for this book.
You have reached your viewing limit for this book.
Contents
1 | |
4Coasting Away | 61 |
Leaps and Bounds 8 | 81 |
Blood from a Stone 8The Importance of Culture 6 | 184 |
Acknowledgements | 197 |
Other editions - View all
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