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
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Page xv
... past from people living in the present. This book could not have been written without his intellectual presence, and it is impossible not to feel humbled while taking in the view from his shoulders. One of the most compelling things ...
... past from people living in the present. This book could not have been written without his intellectual presence, and it is impossible not to feel humbled while taking in the view from his shoulders. One of the most compelling things ...
Page xvi
... past, before collective memory. In a sense, this is precisely what we are trying to do with our studies of DNA—resurrect a global songline for everyone alive today, describing how they reached their current location and what the journey ...
... past, before collective memory. In a sense, this is precisely what we are trying to do with our studies of DNA—resurrect a global songline for everyone alive today, describing how they reached their current location and what the journey ...
Page 5
... past. Diametrically opposed to the uniformitarian school were the catastrophists — led by major scholars such as Louis Agassiz, a Swiss transplant to America who founded Harvard University's Museum of Natural History. The catastrophists ...
... past. Diametrically opposed to the uniformitarian school were the catastrophists — led by major scholars such as Louis Agassiz, a Swiss transplant to America who founded Harvard University's Museum of Natural History. The catastrophists ...
Page 17
... past three decades. The small proportion of the genetic variation that distinguishes between human populations has been debated endlessly (is it higher within or between races?), but the fact remains that a small population of humans ...
... past three decades. The small proportion of the genetic variation that distinguishes between human populations has been debated endlessly (is it higher within or between races?), but the fact remains that a small population of humans ...
Page 23
... past. This is quite a leap, since it implies that by looking at the present we can say something about what happened before. In effect, it provides us with a philosophical time machine with which to travel back and dig around in a ...
... past. This is quite a leap, since it implies that by looking at the present we can say something about what happened before. In effect, it provides us with a philosophical time machine with which to travel back and dig around in a ...
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