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 5
... 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 uniformitarian school were ...
... 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 uniformitarian school were ...
Page 6
... first-hand. He explored Brazil, witnessed the gauchos of Argentina in action on the pampas and trekked into the Andes with Chilean guides. Perhaps the most distinctive people he encountered, though, were the native 6 The Journey of Man.
... first-hand. He explored Brazil, witnessed the gauchos of Argentina in action on the pampas and trekked into the Andes with Chilean guides. Perhaps the most distinctive people he encountered, though, were the native 6 The Journey of Man.
Page 8
... first formalized in the early eighteenth century by a Swedish botanist, Carl von Linne (Latinized to Linnaeus), who took it upon himself to classify every living organism on the planet. Rather a daunting task, but Linnaeus managed to do ...
... first formalized in the early eighteenth century by a Swedish botanist, Carl von Linne (Latinized to Linnaeus), who took it upon himself to classify every living organism on the planet. Rather a daunting task, but Linnaeus managed to do ...
Page 15
... first blood group polymorphism over a century ago. Building on Landsteiner's insight, a Swiss couple named Hirszfeld began to test the blood of soldiers in Salonika during the First World War. In a 19 t9 publication, they noted ...
... first blood group polymorphism over a century ago. Building on Landsteiner's insight, a Swiss couple named Hirszfeld began to test the blood of soldiers in Salonika during the First World War. In a 19 t9 publication, they noted ...
Page 16
... first comprehensive summary of human biochemical diversity, The Distribution of the Human Blood Groups — a seminal work that became the standard text of experimental human population genetics for the next twenty years. This was the ...
... first comprehensive summary of human biochemical diversity, The Distribution of the Human Blood Groups — a seminal work that became the standard text of experimental human population genetics for the next twenty years. This was 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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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