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 6-10 of 65
Page 9
... known as polygeny - from the Greek for 'many origins'. This theory clearly contradicted the biblical story of the Garden of Eden, inhabited by a single Adam and a single Eve, and thus raised the hackles of the church. Most biologists ...
... known as polygeny - from the Greek for 'many origins'. This theory clearly contradicted the biblical story of the Garden of Eden, inhabited by a single Adam and a single Eve, and thus raised the hackles of the church. Most biologists ...
Page 11
... known as the Talmud, for instance, urged men to sell all their possessions in order to afford to marry the daughter of a scholar, so that their children would be more intelligent (scholars' daughters clearly weren't cheap dates). It was ...
... known as the Talmud, for instance, urged men to sell all their possessions in order to afford to marry the daughter of a scholar, so that their children would be more intelligent (scholars' daughters clearly weren't cheap dates). It was ...
Page 15
... known as polymorphisms, from the Greek for 'many forms' - with a simple pattern of inheritance. These could then be used to study human diversity in an effort to categorize it. Some traits like this were already known, particularly ...
... known as polymorphisms, from the Greek for 'many forms' - with a simple pattern of inheritance. These could then be used to study human diversity in an effort to categorize it. Some traits like this were already known, particularly ...
Page 18
... known as selection, in particular natural selection. This is the force that Darwin got so excited about, and it has certainly played a critical role in the evolution of Homo sapiens. Selection acts by favouring certain traits over ...
... known as selection, in particular natural selection. This is the force that Darwin got so excited about, and it has certainly played a critical role in the evolution of Homo sapiens. Selection acts by favouring certain traits over ...
Page 19
... known as genetic drift. This is a rather specialized term for something we have an innate sense of — the tendency of small samples to reflect a biased view of the population from which they are drawn. If you flip a coin r,000 times, you ...
... known as genetic drift. This is a rather specialized term for something we have an innate sense of — the tendency of small samples to reflect a biased view of the population from which they are drawn. If you flip a coin r,000 times, you ...
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