The Journey of Man: A Genetic OdysseyPenguin Adult, 2003 M05 29 - 288 pages Around 60,000 years ago, a man, identical to us in all important respects, walked the soil of Africa. Every man alive today is descended from him. How did he come to be father to all of us - a real-life Adam? And why do we come in such a huge variety of sizes, shapes, types and races if we all share a single prehistoric ancestor?
In this fascinating book, Spencer Wells shows how the truth about our ancestors is hidden in our genetic code, and reveals how developments in the cutting-edge science of population genetics have made it possible not just to discover where our ancestors lived (and who they may have fought, loved, learned from and influence) but to create a family tree for the whole of humanity. |
From inside the book
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... languages . Today the hypothesis that Jones advanced - that all of the Indo- European languages trace their descent from a common ancestor – is widely accepted by linguists . In fact it is one of the few language families to have ...
... languages , as part of the creation of a national language standard . The fairytales , on the other hand , were an effort to record the folk culture of the Germans , in order to preserve and mould their national identity . Germany was ...
... languages for much longer . But in each case , a language represents the end result of many years of cultural isolation . When languages are lost , then , we lose a snapshot of one part of our history . If the Basque language went ...