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 xiii
... known as history, through which we can only navigate with hesitant steps, feeling our way with whispered guidance. Who were the people that came before? Where did they live? What were their lives like? In this book I will argue that the ...
... known as history, through which we can only navigate with hesitant steps, feeling our way with whispered guidance. Who were the people that came before? Where did they live? What were their lives like? In this book I will argue that the ...
Page 1
... known world at that time. If we were to assume the role of a naive modern-day Herodotus and fly an equatorial route around the world, the diversity of people and places would be astounding. Imagine for a moment being on The Diverse Ape I.
... known world at that time. If we were to assume the role of a naive modern-day Herodotus and fly an equatorial route around the world, the diversity of people and places would be astounding. Imagine for a moment being on The Diverse Ape I.
Page 2
... known as the Maldives. The people here seem quite different from those we saw in Africa, and speak yet another language. Their skin is dark, like that of the Africans, but their faces are different — nose shape, hair type and other ...
... known as the Maldives. The people here seem quite different from those we saw in Africa, and speak yet another language. Their skin is dark, like that of the Africans, but their faces are different — nose shape, hair type and other ...
Page 4
... known as 'Darwin's Bulldog'. Hooker was an accomplished botanist and assistant director of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew. When they rose at the end of Wilberforce's lecture to refute his emotional arguments, they were sounding a ...
... known as 'Darwin's Bulldog'. Hooker was an accomplished botanist and assistant director of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew. When they rose at the end of Wilberforce's lecture to refute his emotional arguments, they were sounding a ...
Page 5
... known as uniformitarianism, first formulated by Charles Lyell. Lyell believed that the forces and materials found in the world today had always behaved in essentially the same way — even in the distant past. Diametrically opposed to the ...
... known as uniformitarianism, first formulated by Charles Lyell. Lyell believed that the forces and materials found in the world today had always behaved in essentially the same way — even in the distant past. Diametrically opposed to the ...
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