Animals and Evolution Books

"Parasite Rex" is great science writing. For readers familiar with evolutionary and ecological theories, they will meet these theories in a new guise. For readers not familiar, Zimmer has a talent for explaining complex ideas in a very simple fashion. In only one case did I detect a minor oversimplification: there is more to generating novel antibodies than shuffling genes. My only complaint about style is that Zimmer sometimes tries to make the reader horrified at what parasite does to prey, and when the prey is a lower order animal like a caterpillar, I am doubtful that having its insides eaten is as horrible as it sounds. I say this as a person who only eats free range meat. As regards content, fewer case histories of individual parasites would suffice to illustrate the ideas, and for me at least, make for an even more interesting book.

I was very surprised to learn of the strong environmental component to such autoimmune diseases as Crohn's: while once thought to be characteristic of a few ethnic groups, e.g. Jewish, it has become much more common in other groups as sanitation has improved, and the immune system has fewer parasites to fight off. Zimmer suggests parasites play a critical role in ecological balance, and points to some compelling case histories. Parasites are often able to control behavior of their hosts, and thus are a potentially important source of new behavioral drugs.

I bought this book quite a long time ago and forgot to review it until now...I am a parasitologist and this is one of my favorites. Zimmer is funny and engaging and scientifically accurate--I HAVE GOT TO READ THIS AGAIN SOON.

Another excellently-written work from Carl Zimmer. This book will give you a bad case of the creepy-crawlies in parts. It will also completely change your outlook on the nature of life, because you will learn that parasites are not really the gross, "devolved" hangers-on that most think of them as, but rather a vibrant, important part of the web of life...

... that is sometimes really disgusting.

Still, an outstanding book, one that give parasitology a much-improved face. Written in Zimmer's usual clear, very readable style.

Luckily I had already learned about some of these parasites before reading this book because the narrative made a lot more sense than if I hadn't. I could have used more pictures or drawings to help me visualize the parasite life cycles.

I really enjoyed the new perspectives given about parasites--how they fit into the ecology of an area, what determines their sexual versus asexual reproduction, how they evolve along with the host, how multiple parasites exist for every species, etc. Fascinating. I would have liked to hear more about bacterial parasites (viruses?). Also, do parasites have parasites?

I don't know why, but I find parasites interesting. However, I wasn't exactly looking for a book on this particular subject; rather I merely stumbled upon it. When I go to the book store I typically peruse my favorite sections, one of which is science. On the shelf I came across the title "Parasite Rex"... so I picked it up "King Parasite...huh." Then I made the mistake of reading the back of the book and found out what it was about. I had to buy this book immediately!

I'm always reading, so I had to finish up a couple other books before I could start reading this one, so I waited patiently in eager anticipation. I'll usually read two or three books at a time, and when I finally got freed up, I started this book. I didn't read another book until I finished this. It is one of the most engrossing scientific books I have in my collection. Carl Zimmer is actually a phenomenal writer. I'm not a scientist, but I enjoy reading about it and it's written in a manner just about anyone should be able to understand. It's like a science report that flows, but doesn't sound overly scientific, yet it's still science!

Parasite Rex doesn't just deal with one specific parasite, like the title might suggest, rather it's a veritable tour of the parasitic world. The reader finds themselves enthralled with each creature. It really changes your perspective on the world as a whole, realizing that the major importance of sex is so that we can vary up our genetic code to better defend against such parasites. It also makes you realize that for all intents and purposes the fetuses of mammals would also be parasites as well because they force the mother to change her chemical reactions to support the fetus. Also the mother treats the fetus initially as a threat to her system. I personally found all this very fascinating and made me realize that perhaps Agent Smith in the Matrix, when he assessed the human race as a virus, probably should have identified them as a parasite.

The book is also terrifying in some regards because there are parts where it explains where parasites go wrong. Parasites are essentially programmed to thrive in specific locations in your body (or some other creatures). So a parasite that gets lodged in your brain, but it's supposed to be in your stomach could end up killing the host. Or screw up which species it attaches itself to. From what I gathered, the parasites main focus isn't to kill the host, but to feed off of the host's life, so when a parasite is in the wrong spot it executes its program, but it ends up having terrifying affects on the host.

In the end this was a phenomenal read and I can't recommend this enough. In fact I will probably read this a second time because when I read it the first time through I read it pretty quickly. One other thing this book made me not want to do is visit any location that's in the central area of the earth, such as the Amazon. Considering there have been 2,500 different parasites identified in one small location. Carl Zimmer is seriously the kind of writer we need in science to help transfer complex knowledge to the lay population.

Chapter 3 is as good nature writing as I have ever read; it is not to be missed even if you do not read the rest of the book. The last chapter is nicely written, and a good summary of the author's views.

Most of the book is very uneven. Much of it reads like a Ph.D. thesis. It is often repetitive and unnecessarily hard to follow. At the same time, it is easy to reach false conclusions, and the authors try to be very careful, relaxing only when providing their more general speculative theses, such as that social requirements are the impetus for primate cognitive evolution, and that social concepts provide the basis for language and even grammar (for another view, see Jerome A. Feldman's "From Molecule to Metaphor"). The point they make about animal's much greater capacity for understanding language vs. producing language is well substantiated in the book, and it is a good way to think about much animal behavior such as that of dog.

Even readers like myself, who have read previous books about animal cognitive abilities and also child development (animals are frequently compared to young children of various ages), will learn things if they wade through all the book's pages. The authors point out that humans have different cognitive systems, so that people who are blind due to problems in the cortex, may be able to see even if they cannot consciously report on what they have seen, as proved by experiments. Well it turns out that the well known experiments showing the age at which children are first aware that others may have different beliefs than theirs, so that others may not know where something has been moved while the children were watching and they were not, is not the whole story. At younger ages, using different, evolutionary older cognitive systems, there is some awareness of other's beliefs, even if not conscious.

For whatever reason, the authors maintain a view that chimpanzees are not cognitively superior to monkeys, except for tool use. They do not even have as a reference any books by Franz de Waal, one of the leading authorities on chimpanzee mental abilities, and director of the "Center for the Advanced Study of Ape and Human Evolution". A good book by him is "Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals." There is also a terrible "typo". On p. 40, it is stated that infanticide accounted for "at least 53% of all infant deaths". On p. 57 it is stated that "53% of all infants born during our study" died as a result of infanticide. The latter is a much stronger statement, since if 200 infants were born, 100 died, and 53 were victims of infanticide, the first statement would be true, but the 2nd would not.

This is a scholarly book which is simultaneously entirely suitable for the general reader. None of Baboons, psychology, or metaphysics are my fields but I was utterly fascinated by the authors' research and their contribution to the concept of the social mind as important in the evolution of the human species. READ THIS!

This is a work of scientific rigor and intuitive leaps. It clearly describes the social order of baboon society and draws fascinating inferences about the possibility of baboon cognition. The parallels to the evolution of cognition in early hominids are inescapable.

Charles Darwin once wrote of his belief that if we would learn something very important if we could but understand the behavior of baboon.

The authors of this enthralling book are widely known for their studies of primate behavior in the Okavango in Botswana, and set out to do just that: understand how behavior baboons live and organize their lives.

Baboons live in groups of up to 150 individuals, which include a few males and eight or nine matrilineal families of females. The account of the daily life of the group reads like the script of Survivor!

There is a complicated mix of personal relationships ranging from short-term bonds for mating to long-term friendships that lead to cooperative rearing of the young. There are intrigues that may involve alliances of two or three individuals all the way up to battles that involve three or four extended families.

What this tells us is that the survival of an individual baboon and his or her family depends on an ability to predict the behavior of others and arrange to form the most advantageous relationships. So are these just reflexive behaviors, or do baboons form models of the world and their place in it? In such a fluid social environment, to what extent can they deduce the motives of other baboons?

This book sets out to discover the intelligence that underlies this social organization. In the process we learn a lot about ourselves.

The book is divided into twelve chapters:
1. The Evolution of Mind
2. The Primate Mind in Myth and Legend
3. Habitat, Infanticide, and Predation
4. Males: Competition, Infanticide, and Friendship
5. Females: Kinship, Rank, Competition, and Cooperation
6. Social Knowledge
7. The Social Intelligence Hypothesis
8. Theory of Mind
9. Self-Awareness and Consciousness
10. Communication
11. Precursors to Language
12. Baboon Metaphysics

These are followed by an appendix, references and a good Index.

The social lives of baboons are fluid and highly complex, and that reflects a complex and adaptable social intelligence. This will not surprise most people who live with animals: Many of them have quite elaborate social systems, sophisticated emotions and quite well developed concepts of social propriety and even of right and wrong.

The authors write very well indeed. They share their enthusiasm and the implications of their work.

This is a terrific book that deserves a very wide readership, not least because it helps put to bed the notion that humans are the only species with a complex social life.

Humans may be different, but we are not that different.

Highly recommended.



Richard G. Petty, MD, author of Healing, Meaning and Purpose: The Magical Power of the Emerging Laws of Life

The team of Dorothy Cheney and Robert Seyfarth has collaborated on numerous publications, including a fine book, "How Monkeys See the World." This represents an ambitious addition to their body of work. A takeoff point is a quotation from Charles Darwin's notebooks, from 1838 (Page 1): "Origin of man now proved--Metaphysic must flourish--He who understands baboon would do more toward metaphysics than Locke." The authors use the Cambridge English Dictionary to define metaphysics (Page 2): "the part of philosophy that is about understanding existence and knowledge."

The authors have been studying baboons for many years. This book summarizes much of their work and indicates the ingenious experiments that they have devised to assess baboons' thought processes and to explore if they possess something like a "theory of mind." They consider, in the process, the extent of "social intelligence" in baboons. At the outset, they propose two general points that guide their analysis of "baboon metaphysics": (1) natural selection leads to a brain for any species that are specialized for the relevant survival needs; (2) baboons have great expertise in navigating social life, since they live in relatively complex social systems.

Key chapters in this volume:

Chapter 3: The dangerous world in which baboons live is well portrayed. Predators pose a danger. Another unfortunate factor of baboon life is infanticide. If a new male enters a troop and becomes dominant, for instance, he may try to kill all young baboons. In this manner, the new male is in a position to begin reproducing very soon with female baboons who lost their infants; he is able, as a result, to increase the amount of his genetic material in the troop through siring his own infants.

Chapters 4 and 5 are critical, as they lay out the very different social worlds of male and female baboons. In either sex, dominance hierarchies are central. Males strive to attain the alpha ranking, that is, being the most dominant male in the troop. Male hierarchies are unstable, leading to considerable social stress. Females' hierarchies are more complex and more stable. Among females, their lineage is important. Each lineage has its own ranking, so one is either born into a top ranking, middle ranking, or low ranking family. Successfully managing to thrive in this social order calls for a high level of social skills.

Baboons, as Chapter 6 emphasizes, have quite good "social knowledge." The understanding of how baboon society works is based on (Pages 118-119) ". . .an innate predisposition to recognize other individuals' ranks and social relationships." Chapter 7 builds on this with a discussion of the social intelligence of baboons, with the authors emphasizing the criticality of baboons' understanding of how to navigate complex social life in a way that facilitates their survival and successful reproduction. The chapter concludes with an interesting discussion of how baboons' social intelligence differs from that of other species, as a result of the evolutionary demands on baboons.

Chapter 8 focuses on the extent to which baboons have a "theory of mind," that is, understanding of the mental states of other baboons. The authors conclude that there might be (page 197) "vague intuition about other animals' intentions," but that there is nothing like a well formed ability among these animals to understand intentions and motivations of others.

The volume concludes in Chapter 12 with a summary discussion of "baboon metaphysics" and with speculation about the relevance of their research for understanding humans. With respect to the former, they conclude that baboons demonstrate that some animals can live in complex societies with a theory of mind and without language--if their mental abilities allow for "making sense" of how to navigate their complex social world. The latter discussion notes what differences could lead to humans having a theory of mind that baboons do not possess.

All in all, a remarkable book. It has value in helping us to understand baboons in their own terms; it helps think about the position of humans in nature and why we are unique (as all species are unique); it provokes reflection on the ability to reflect on oneself and others and try to understand why we behave as we do. Nice touches abound, as illustrated by a charming reference to characters from Jane Austen's novels to make points about individual baboons' behavior.

This is an ambitious work, and there will be questions. The authors seem to overreach when exploring a theory of mind. It's almost as if they are using a human orientation to study baboons rather than focusing on baboons themselves. In some ways, I'm not sure that the theory of baboons' minds is so crucial as the authors do. The social intelligence part of the picture seems to me more important. Finally, using the philosophical term metaphysics in a baboon context may represent another reach too far.

Nonetheless, these are relatively minor points. The bottom line? A terrific book. . . .

this book is well orgnized and clear stated. It contains many concepts about evo-devo field. Also this version includes many updated information about development and evolution.
Start from very basic phenomena and go further to the molecular level. Easy to read for anyone who is interested in this field.

Excellent book. Had to get it for my Evo-Devo class, and ended up loving it. It's plastered with genetic lingo, so if you've never taken a genetics or developmental biology class, you might struggle a bit, but what do you expect with a book called DNA to Diversity? For all you debaters out there, Sean Carroll heavily sides with the cis-regulatory argument of genetic modification, so beware to all you trans people. Not only was this book a joy to read, but it's handy as well. It's about half the size of a normal textbook, so it's easy to move.

We have about 25,000 genes. Some of these are "tool kit" genes that we share with all other animals. They evolved well before the Cambrian explosion over 540 million years ago from a bilaterally symmetrical common ancestor. Almost exact counterparts are found in apes and mice, and close counterparts in arthropods and worms. Next to most genes is a stretch of so-called "junk DNA" that does not code for genes. These DNA segments contain from three to twenty (or more) switches that collectively turn that gene on or off. The switches are activated or repressed by the differing concentration gradients of the protein products of other genes produced by neighboring cells. By virtue of the servo-feedback loops creating unique combinations of the protein products of tool kit genes, cells of the early embryo create a geographical map of their future body.

An escalating orchestra of domino effects builds complexity, each new development affecting the others. The tool kit genes and the other core genes that control biochemical function from bacteria to man are resistant to mutation. Novelty and speciation comes from the infinite variety of changes that come from the readily mutable genetic switches - allowing for changes in a segment without mortally wounding the rest of the animal. Not a single biologist 40 years ago would have predicted these discoveries.

The exciting developments of evo-devo have sent jolts of electricity through the evolutionary community. Nothing basic has been overturned; much has been enhanced. For example: It used to be thought that eyes had evolved independently many, many times - after all, the lumps of light sensitivity in primitive wormlike creatures, the compound eyes of insects, and the eyes of mammals have more differences than commonalities. As it turns out, the making of each eye-like organ is directed by a PAX6 tool kit gene. Not only that, if the PAX6 gene from the mouse is artificially introduced into the genetic material destined for the leg of the fly, an eye will form on the fly leg...and it's not a mouse eye - it's a fly eye. The mouse PAX6 gene switches - influenced by chemical gradients from adjacent tissue in the fly embryo - cause the gene to produce a fly eye! Astounding!

Tool kit genes (and other genes) are frequently named after the anomaly that doesn't develop when that gene is absent. The TINMAN gene controls development of the heart and circulatory system from butterflies to badgers - named after the Wizard of Oz character who had no heart. The wealth of information presented in this book will surprise, educate, and entertain the reader - and evo-devo researchers have just scratched the surface. New graduates in biology are surging into this explosive and previously neglected science.

There are three other books that I know of that cover these captivating discoveries of the last 30 years:

"Coming to Life," by Christiane Nusslein-Volhard. This fine book, written by a Nobel Prize winner for her meticulous ground-breaking work on fruit flies emphasizes the concentration gradients, which are indeed central to the story.

"The Plausibility of Life," by Kirschner and Gerhart. These authors are so excited about the new findings, they think it deserves a name - facilitated variation - and of course, they thought of the name. It is an excellent book with more basic sciences than the book under review, emphasizing how evo-devo facilitates novelty through an enhanced Baldwin Effect.

"Endless Forms Most Beautiful," also by Sean B. Carroll, written more for the college graduate who has taken a little biology.

I have studied them all. For the general public, "Endless Forms Most Beautiful" is the best. For those more familiar with molecular biochemistry and genetics, "DNA to Diversity" contains much more specific information - although anyone who would like one book would like the other.

"From DNA to Diversity" is a superbly written book -essential reading for the advanced reader who wishes to keep up with the stunning advances that have occurred in evolutionary knowledge during the past thirty years.

High School, College, Grad School? This book is at the grad school level. Carroll has also written Endless Forms Most Beautiful at the college level and The Making of the Fittest at the high school level. (You can check on "Read all my reviews" to read more about these.)

My own background is this: My formal education in biology consisted of an introductory course in college 40-odd years ago. Since then I've read a lot and in the last two years I've had a very strong interest in molecular and evolutionary biology. (For more info, click on my name, above. My Profile also has a link to my Listmania list of evolution books. Note that you don't have to be a grad student to read this book.)

I read From DNA to Diversity first and it was too much for me. I then read Endless Forms. That was pretty understandable, so I went back to Diversity and found it reasonable clear. I have since read it a third time and I am very fond of it.

Of the thousands of genes involved in the early development of animals, this book concentrates on a few, along with the proteins with which they interact and the various body parts they affect. Special attention is paid to the Hox genes and their insect homologues. Because these have large-scale effects in development, changes in them and in their regulation have profound effects on evolution. I especially enjoyed the section where Carroll combined many bits of information to show us the basic features that must have been present in the first bilaterally symmetric animal, that tiny but promising ancestor of us all. This is one of the bonuses we get for making the extra effort to read the grad-level book.

I find the text very clear and the overall organization - starting with the workings of the major toolkit genes, proceeding through descriptions of how those genes direct the overall shaping of the animal, and on to general considerations of evolution -- proceeds nicely.

[2 June 2007: This was one of the first reviews I wrote and I have added bits as my skills have improved. It got to be a bit patchy, so I have just finished a mafor revision.]

In a sense, Carroll has written the same book three times. "The making of the Fittest" is a work for the general reader explaining how our knowledge of genetics and embryonic development impacts and expands our knowledge of evolutionary biology (and vice-versa). His most famous book, "Endless Forms Most Beautiful," is aimed at college upperclassmen, and deal in more detail with the science of "Evo-Devo," evolutionary development. "From DNA to Diversity" covers much the same ground, but does so in a more technical and sophisticated manner. It appears aimed at graduate students and upper-division zoology majors. Presumably Carroll's next step it to write a graduate-level textbook. Toward the ent, "From DNA" reads like one.

It is a marvellous book, and like a text, it requires and rewards re-reading. Unlike a text, however, it virtually demands to be read in order; not only do the latter chapters build on the earlier ones, but the degree of difficulty in the presentation increases dramatically as the pages turn. As befits a book which assumes a sophisticated readership, there are fewer "detours" into polemics supporting green politics or mocking creationist theory. The photograpsh and the charts are terrific -- full color, clear, and as easy to read and interpret as the difficult subject matter will allow.

Because of the nature of the book, the discussion is less "thesis-bound" than Carrroll's other writings. Rather, he begins with a history of animal life, brings in detail about how embryonic development and genetic control of that process produces the diversity upon which natural selection can act, and weaves the two themes together to demonstrate how the process of forming animal bodies interacts with the changing environment to produce the multiplicity of animal forms we see today. And, Carroll goes on to show, the process is endless and at once aleatory and highly constrained.

I recall an episode of the old "Twilight Zone" series where a British World War One fighter pilot flies through a time warp and lands on an American Air Force base, circa 1960. He talks to one of the airman, and says, "We had no idea how advanced you are." The reader of Carroll's book is likely to have the same thoughts about the field of evo-devo. In Thirty years, these people have gone from the discovery of the nature of the DNA molecule to the brink of an ability to create life a test-tube. I had no idea they had advanced so far so fast.

I'm the type of person who rarely reads books for fun. Most of what I read is for my work or on rare occasions I'll grab a book at the airport if I have a long flight. Half the time I'll get bored with it and won't finish it. I'm not even sure how this book ended up on my shelf but I grabbed it about a week ago when I had to go to the hospital and wait for my mother who was having an operation. I literally had a hard time putting it down. Of course it's not fiction but in some ways it reads like fiction in that it tells a story. At times it presents itself as a murder mystery; "What killed the dinosaurs?". Even though the outcome is given away by the title, it's still a fascinating story.

The book is divided into two parts. The first part covers various theories about the cause of the death of the dinosaurs at the end of the cretaceous. The second part in some ways refutes the first part by coming to the conclusion that dinosaurs never really died at all because birds are part of the dinosaur family. I know this is still somewhat of a contentious debate among some, but the book contains some pretty convincing evidence. It's a bit technical at times but you can always get the general idea of what the author is tying to convey.

Even though this book is chiefly about dinosaurs and birds it covers a lot of stuff not directly related to the main topic but interesting never the less. For instance I did not know about the Phylogenetic system of classification before I read it. This book explains it quite well so that someone like me, who is not well versed in biology can easily understand it.

This is an extremely thorough, yet readable treatment of the subject of the evolution of birds and the non-extinction of dinosaurs. The drawings in particular are excellent illustrations of the features of the lineages. The discussion of the evidence for the different causes of the extinction event that took most of the dinosaurs is clear and thorough. This is a must-read if you are interested in these issues!

This book rocked so hard it isn't even funny!! I have loved dinosaurs ever since I was a youngster, and still find myself quite fond of those wacky beasts. This book delivers when it comes to dinos. It basically includes two parts: one concerned with the theories of dino extinction(the meteorite-impact hypothesis is given paricular attention-perhaps because one of the authors was involved in research on this hypothesis), the other with dino evolution into birds. Both are written by experts, and more than that they are experts who know how to write in an engaging and easy to understand fashion that the non-expert can understand and appreciate. The prose made the book hard to put down, and the pictures of the biological poetry we call dinosaurs are enough to bring tears to the true dinosaur lovers eyes. So if you like dinosaurs, geology, or I would even say science in general, or are just a curious soul looking for new things to learn I highly recommend this book.

The Mistaken Extinction: Dinosaur Evolution and the Origin of Birds written by Lowell Dingus and Timothy Rowe is a dinosaur book that makes a difference. This is a frank account of how we know what we know about the dinosaurs and how the work can and should be approached. There are issues surrounding a dinosaur extinction as though they are elements in a scientific detective story; following a trail of geologic and paleontologic clues toward a solution. This book show the reader the way of intelligent thinking and the conclusions that make sense.

Over the course of this book, it will become clear that the questions being raised today actually have their roots in the debates that raged within the scientific community in the nineteenth century, when Dawin's theory of evolution first burst upon the scene. This book is divided into two parts.

The Search for the Smoking Gun is part 1. The eight chapters include: The Seductive Allure of Dinosaurs, Earlier Extinction Hypotheses, Contrating Volcanic and Impact Hypotheses, Enormoud Eruptions and Disappearing Seaways, THe Fatal Impact, Direct Evidence of Catastrophe, Patterns of extinction and Survival, and Our Hazy View of Time at the K-T Boundary.

These chapters give the reader adequate background information, to take us back to the time of the murderous extinction at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundry of geological time. Here we find a theory of gradual extinction... a theory that most reseachers favor, but could this be true... there are convincing theories.

Part 2: Dead or Alive has ten chapters and it includes: Living Dinosaurs?, Dinosaurs Challenge Evolution, Dinosaurs and the Hierarchy of Life, The Evolutionary Map for Dinosaurs, Death by decree, The Road to Jurassic Park, Crossing the Boundary, Diversification and Decline, The Real Great Dinosaur Extinction, and The Third Wave.

Here we learn why most researchers now believe that birds and other dinosaurs sprung from the same ancient ancestors, all this stems from one of science's theories... evolution. This book is beautifully illustrated and has plenty of morphoroloigal drawings arising for comparitive anatomy.

I found the book to be a wealth of information easily readable and a plethora of detailed compendia on dinosaur facts. This is a book that lays out the extinction of dinosauria with great skill and clairy

I originally bought this book for a class I'm taking, coincidentally being taught by one of the authors, Timothy Rowe. Not only does this book include facts and myths about the extinction of dinosaurs, but it makes them comprehendable, and very entertaining by including recent myths such as those presented in popular movies. A total must read for dinosaur fanatics!

Why Elephants Have Big Ears covers the basics of understanding life on earth, tackling the more obvious questions such as why elephants have evolved big ears and why there are so many birds. The answers to these and other questions take the form of explaining broad patterns of evolution in the animal world.

answers many evolutionary questions and brings up topics you probably hadn't even thought to ask about. incorporates a lot of paleontological evidence and focuses on the evolution of different groups of animals, as well as on specific species. repeatedly refers back to basic laws of physics to explain various adaptations.

readable in general, although sometimes the text is a little awkward and overly detailed and the footnotes could have been better integrated.

here's a complete rundown of the topics covered:
Ch.1: covers issues with the scaling of areas to volumes, how it affects an animal's leg shape, body size, head size, hair, etc.
Ch.2: the energy costs for cold vs. warm-blood, looks more closely at issues w/ body size
Ch.3: looks at theories about the evolution of warm-bloods
Ch.4: looks at theories about whether or not dinosaurs were cold or warm-blooded
Ch.5: adaptations for animals, including in the tundra and desert
Ch.6: why there are hardly any huge cold-bloods, except in unstable, infertile areas like Australia
Ch.7: why there are hardly any large mammals in freshwater regions, although they exist on land and in the ocean. looks at the success of crocodiles.
Ch.8: why there are many species of birds in general and why there aren't many species of large birds
Ch.9: the catastrophic events that happened when there was global warming and decrease of global biodiversity in a previous era

This book is an extended essay on the continuity of evolutionary trends. In it, Lavers examines the extremes of the animal world, the very large, the very small, animals that can withstand very hot climes or very cold ones, mammals that fly and birds that run. For each of these beasts, Lavers argues that their shape and special characteristics must have been the result of adaptation to their environment or ecological niche. He investigates not only why elephants have big ears (to cool down their enormous rotund bodies in hot climates), but also why we don't have elephant-sized lizards or birds (at least these days). Throughout the book, Lavers draws on results of research in paleontology. For example, he explains the two sides of the debate about whether dinosaurs were warm blooded, and what the implications would be for giant cold-blooded lizards. I, for one, never really cultivated an interest in dinosaurs before. But after reading this book, it's much more clear to me that the animals we see around us today are just one chapter in the overall life of the planet. The book is written in an informal style, without footnotes, but key sources are identified in endnotes at the back of the book, along with a bibliography containing hundreds of references.

Chris Lavers is a paleontologist who specializes in wildlife ecology. It is from this point of view that he presents some of the ideas and controversies of current evolutionary theory along with some of the excitement of recent discoveries and understandings in a popular and nontechnical manner. His readable text is aimed precisely at the educated nonspecialist, but without a hint of any dumbing down.

In the title chapter we learn that elephants pump the warm blood from the interior of their bodies to the array of tubes in their ears to dissipate excess body heat. From this consideration Lavers is led to a discussion of whether dinosaurs were warm blooded or not. The evidence he presents makes it clear to this observer that they were, but his cautious conclusion is that the case hasn't been proven quite yet. Lavers hints that the dinosaurs may have to be put in another category, perhaps somewhere between warm blooded and cold, or maybe even somewhere beyond. How about: "I'm hot-blooded, check it and see" (to reprise a rock lyric).

Lavers goes to considerable depth to demonstrate how much we can learn by combining evidence from the fossil record with what we know about the metabolism of animals and how their bodies work. Dinosaur anatomy, for example, strongly suggests a closer kinship with today's avian world than with the reptilian. Furthermore, the large size of many dinosaurs is inconsistent with cold-bloodedness. Reptiles can't get as big as a Brontosaurus because (for one thing) they would not be able to regulate their temperature. Lavers points out that all the really big animals on earth today, with the exception of the giant tortoises, Komodo dragons and some snakes--and they aren't really that big--are warm-blooded. He cites the arguments of Robert Bakker and others to conclude that T. Rex, for example, wouldn't have the metabolic power to run down prey if it were cold-blooded.

I found Lavers's discussion of the difference between non-oxygen-based metabolic reactions capable of "supercharged" bursts of short-lived energy typical of reptiles, and the sustainable aerobic reactions typical of mammals like dogs and humans very interesting. The quick bursts are those of the sprinter who is wasted after at most a few hundred yards, while the aerobic engine sustains the pace of the long distance runner. Also interesting is the material in the chapter "Life on the Edge" about how birds and mammals maintain their body temperatures in the climate extremes of the deserts and the polar regions of the earth. Lavers notes that in very cold places there are no reptiles.

In some of this I am reminded of the famous and splendid essay by J. B. S. Haldane, "On Being the Right Size," published many decades ago. Lavers presents the same kind of reasoned argument based on physiology and anatomy to demonstrate why animals are built the way they are and why it would be difficult for them to be constructed otherwise. One comes away from the reading with a sense of having learned something important and exciting, a sense of having acquired understanding, not merely a collection of facts.

Elephants can weigh up to 8 tons; their front teeth can be up to 3 meters in length and can weigh over 200 kg. And the African elephant has the largest earflaps of any animal in history. Lavers explains not only why their huge ears are the key to their curious shape but also to why rats are furry and why King Kong could never have climbed the Empire State Building. The elephant's ears, in case you are wondering, act as radiators, an important consideration if you are a lumbering giant baking under the tropical sun.
There is, Lavers's excellent book explains, method to every apparent anomaly in nature. Gazelles, for example, must be built not only to sprint but to dodge and weave as well. This is because cheetahs, which are renowned sprinters themselves, regard them as little more than mobile larders.
Dogs and wolves, on the other hand, are not great sprinters. Instead, they have great stamina and will wear down their prey by sheer perseversence and, well, doggedness. Lavers also explains such interesting things as why swans glide across the water, whereas vultures hop and ostriches cannot fly at all. He also shows how all of these different attributes go to give us the diversity of life on which we all ultimately depend.
This well written book book also explains why the furs of baby harp seals, mink, lynx, snowshoe hares and Arctic foxes are so much in demand but the pelt of a polar bear is not. Lavers also explains how the cubs of polar bears survive the harsh Arctic winter. Although polar cubs are tiny, blind and wet creatures, lacking in fur, fat and the ability to shiver, yet nature has provided the means for them to survive and become the world's biggest bear in some of the world's most inhospitable terrain. That is but one of Mother Nature's daily miracles that Lavers' book unlocks.
The Arizona based spadefoot toad provides another. It spends most of its life encased in cooling mud, emerging only when it rains to have unbridled sexual orgies, massive food binges, and to lay hosts of eggs. Once satiated and once it has ensured the regeneration of its species, it resubmerges itself in the desert's cooling mud.
The Saharan scimitar-horned oryx is a large antelope around two meters in length, which lives beneath the blazing Sahara sun. It never seeks shelter, it drinks very little water and yet it thrives by the judicious use of deep night time breathing, which generates sufficient moisture for it to live on. When the Indonesian based komodo dragon slashes its prey, its filthy fangs cause all kinds of infections, which eventually wear down the unfortunate deer or human it has ambushed. The dragon then saunters after its weakened prey and dines at its leisure.
Although hippos occasionally decapitate them by rolling them around in their mouths, crocodiles have been the undisputed king of the tropical world's freshwater systems for the last 65 million years. Because they are so perfectly adapted to their environment, the only enemy they must really fear is man, the great destroyer. Because we have introduced such ecological vandals as goats, rabbits, cats, rats and mice to fragile ecological systems like Australia and New Zealand, we have done more damage to the environment than anything else since the dinosaurs became extinct.
As well as being replete with fascinating examples such as these, Lavers' book is particularly recommended because its judicious combination of examples such as with an eminently readable style, shows how our own existence is ultimately entwined with the complex life styles of all of those other vreatures, both great and small.

The Dominant Animal is very succinct and puts
into perspective what everybody should know about Homo sapiens and "our" omnipresent, modifying
effects on the whole biosphere and every living thing in it!
Who better than Paul and Anne Ehrlich could make that point, and write it in a meaningful, non-condescending way which readers can grasp, understand, and maybe even think and act accordingly?

I was fortunate to get a copy of the Ehrlich's new book while teaching a summer course on global climate change in the United States. My job would have been much easier if the students had all had an opportunity to read "The Dominant Animal" when they entered college. It is the best summary I have ever seen of how the world works - what every Australian (and citizen of any country) should know about why human beings came to dominate the planet, and the threat that dominance now poses to our environment. The discussions of genetic and cultural evolution, processes basic to how we took over the world, are clear and compelling, and the summary of the environmental predicament completely up to date and the best I have ever seen. It's a fine read, even if it won't leave you cheered up - but at the end the Ehrlichs do show us how we might escape

How has the potent mix of evolution, environment and culture forged our past and will forge our future? Told by masterful storytellers, the book traces our historical trajectory under these influences. The stories engage and inform. Wither our perilous future? The answers lie in the stories.... a great read.

This extraordinarily intelligent and eclectic book presents a deeply engaging synthesis of the ways in which our genetic material, our technologies (both agricultural and industrial) and our forms of social organization have evolved to produce the global civilization was all inhabit. The benefits to our material lives have been nearly as incalculable as the damages to our physical environment. The promise of our inventions - most recently, our global network of communications - is increasingly threatened by the growth of our population and the unintended consequences of our technologies. The wild card lies in the collective intelligence of our newly globalized culture. "The Dominant Animal" is an eloquent recitation of the efforts and accidents that have brought us to this state. But it leaves us with an unavoidable sense of responsibility for the critical and irreversible choices that mark this turning point in the history of human cultural evolution.

Paul and Anne Ehrlich's THE DOMINANT ANIMAL is not only the most sensible and up-to-date book I've read about sustainability; it's also well organized and well written, a true delight to read. As the bad news increasingly piles up -- mass extinctions on land and in the oceans, decreased availability of cheap energy, increased unemployment, floods and droughts leading to crop failures, polar ice caps melting, and famines, to mention only a few -- it becomes crucial that we quickly make informed and sensible choices. THE DOMINANT ANIMAL provides well researched and balanced pros and cons about the most important issues facing us today. I can only agree with the solutions the authors favor, from the unbridled consumption issue (my current line of work) to their analysis of nuclear energy, pp. 306-308 (pertinent to my past life as a physicist). Though the news are grim, I have great hope that if books such as this are widely read we'll be able save ourselves and our grandchildren from a very harsh future that is already encroaching on us.

This book, written by a personw ith long standing attachment and interest int he Bushmen of the Kalahari is a good summary of what they were like in the l950's and how they have (beenforced) changed and moved into today south Africa and Bostwana.

An interesting and unique group of people, the Bushmen give links to what early human life was like. Ms Thomas does do a little interpreting about violence and drinking and gender roles, but it is plausible and interesting to reflect upon.

I first heard of the Bushmen through National Geographic's Genographic Project (Spencer Wells "The Journey of Man") which found genetic evidence suggesting Bushmen are one of the oldest, if not the oldest, peoples in the world--a "genetic Adam" from which all the worlds ethnic groups can ultimately trace genetic heritage. Within the face of a Bushmen one can see all the genetic expressions of the world (Asian eyes, African nose, Indian skin, etc..) So I was delighted when this new book appeared by bushmen expert Elizabeth Marshall Thomas who, along with her brother and parents, were one of the first westerners to live with and scientifically document the Bushmen in the 1950s (when Elizabeth was a teenager). Her parents and brother went on to become famous Bushmen experts and proponents in their own careers.

Older members of the Bushmen tribe were valued and respected for their wisdom, likewise Elizabeth is passing down her knowledge and experience for later generations. The Bushman way of life she saw in the 1950s, perhaps as old as 150,000 years, no longer exists - all it took was one generation and the long unbroken chain known as "The Old Way" has disappeared. It is the same sad story told the world over from Native Americans to Tibet to Eskimos. Yet Elizabeth reveals a deeper lesson, which is the "myth" that the Bushmen ever wanted it any other way - they want the comforts of modernization, just as we would prefer not to hunt and gather food each day. Bushmen want to travel, see the world, be a part of wider humanity, and for that we can celebrate and welcome all they have to teach. This book provides that introduction.

Thomas, anthropologist and author of such diverse bestsellers as "The Hidden Life of Dogs," and two excellent pre-history novels, "Reindeer Moon" and "The Animal Wife," began her writing career with the study, "The Harmless People," based on her youthful sojourn among the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert. The Bushmen may be the only people who ever lived without war. But more on that later.

With "The Old Way," she returns to the subject of that first book - a title that has been in print since 1959. Marshall first encountered the Ju/wasi, one of the five groups of Bushmen, in 1950 when she was 18, on the first of several Kalahari trips with her parents and brother.

Her father, a founder of Raytheon, was a highly organized, take-charge sort of person, with versatile skills. Her mother, a former ballerina turned teacher, became a noted anthropologist over the course of these (and more) trips, and her brother devoted most of his life to the Bushmen.

In the 1950s the Ju/wasi maintained their ancient nomadic culture in near isolation. Except for bits of metal they obtained in trade and used for arrowheads, the Ju/wasi made everything they needed from local material. They did not farm and had no domestic animals, but obtained all their food from hunting and gathering. They were the last people on earth, says Thomas, to follow the "Old Way," a way of life that depends on knowledge handed down one-to-one from generation to generation. The Old Way depends on intimacy between habitat and humanity.

Thomas' book is not a scientific study or a memoir, but a bit of both, as well as a celebration and lament for a culture now gone. It's also a thoughtful reflection on how the Old Way shaped our species from the time we came down out of the trees and stepped on to the Savannah.

Water, says Thomas, controlled the size of human hunter-gatherer groups, and that remained true among the Ju/wasi. Rain was scarce, and water holes passed down through families. Though children were betrothed young, they did not cohabit until the girl reached menarche - about age 17 - and the average age for bearing a first child was 19.

Similarly, though no birth control was used, women bore children about four years apart and seldom had more than four. This was just what could be sustained, without starvation or overburdening the mother or group.

Alliances were complex, all going to foster the strength of the group. Survival depended on group cohesion and the force of their culture went into strengthening those bonds, subsuming, smothering, the desires of the individual.

The sharing of food, for instance, had little to do with who actually killed or gathered the food and the complex system was worked out before the gathering or hunting trip began. Periodic dances also reinforced ties and helped to dispel repressed tensions.

Repression was the usual means of maintaining harmony. Temper tantrums, even among children, were frowned upon - for one thing childish noise could attract predators. Arguments flared, of course, but were almost always settled without violence.

War, to the Ju/wasi, was unknown. Not because they were right thinking pacifists, but because they had developed the perfect weapon to make war - or murder - unthinkable.

The Ju/wasi had only one real weapon - the poisoned arrow. It was all they used to hunt (though they finished off game with a spear). The poison was invariably fatal. A man who settled an argument with a stab from an arrow couldn't take it back - but he would have days to watch his victim die. And the victim, facing certain death, would be perfectly healthy for a day or more and quite capable of wreaking revenge.

The lack of suitable weapons, and even more, the lack of any kind of shield, convince Thomas the Ju/wasi have never known war. She makes a convincing case.

By the 1980s, however, the Ju/wasi were being forced into villages. Many of those Marshall knew as children are now dead - killed in fights, often fueled with drink. Today, alcohol and violence have decimated the Ju/wasi.

While the book's conclusion is wrenching, most of it is a celebration of their intricate culture. Marshall captures the imagination with anecdotes - many from her old journals - that illustrate the matter-of-fact resourcefulness of a people who know the intricacies of all the plants and animals of their desert home.

Some of her anecdotes simply demonstrate the odd commonalities of humanity: "Although I will eventually learn enough !Kung to stumble along in the language...at this point I am at the stage where the Ju/wasi either address me in baby talk or raised voices, or both."

She describes gathering trips that take all day, but don't get going until mid-morning, baffling her own Yankee work ethic. Until she realizes the wisdom of waiting until lions and other nighttime predators are well and truly asleep.

The lion stories are horrifically thrilling. She describes a lioness coming to the edge of their small encampment and roaring threateningly: "The roar was so deep and so loud that it had no direction. It seemed to be coming from anywhere, everywhere." Yet, scary as they were, the lions never hunted or preyed upon the Bushmen.

Marshall does not try to provide answers for all her questions. Some things are "unknowable." This eloquent, passionate book does foster a sense of wonder at our own evolution. Though we've traded much of our intimacy with the earth for modern civilization, Marshall shows how many traces of the Old Way linger on in our blood.

After reading the super review on Amazon of this book, we ordered it for our son as a Christmas gift. He is a college senior Anthropology major. He was glad to have it and read it on the way home from FL to AZ. He said the book was very insighful and a good read.

I have all her books but two and I have been a fan for years and years. Starting with reindeer moon and then The hidden life of dogs, Tribe of Tiger, Certain Poor Shephards and everything else except Warrior Tribesman and The Harmless People which I plan to order. The books I have ordered or which were bought for me online were ordered by my best friend. I hope Elizabeth Marshall Thomas writes many more books. If I did not already have the most wonderful mother, I would wish that she was my mother. I really love her view of life, people and animals and nature. She is my favorite author of all time and I would'nt even loan her books to anyone else for fear of losing them. Keep it up EMT I'm forever your fan and I will always reread your books.

Alan Dixson has drawn together an impressive body of literature in this landmark volume. The book takes a comparative perspective, seeking a seamless review from prosimians through humans, and viewing this taxonomic diversity from a Darwinian and phylogenetic perspective. Primate sexuality is an essential starting point in this field and a must for every primatologist's library.

"It is going to be and extremely important source of information and ideas for many years. There is no other book like it for primates, and I suspect none for any other Order." Professor A.H. Harcourt, UC Davis, USA.

As far as I am aware this is the only book of its type. The sexuality of primates, including humans, is covered. From evolution to mating systems, copulatory patterns to genitalic morphology, sperm competition to hormones and behavior. There are plenty of illustrations, photographs and tables.

This is an essential reference book for primatologists, providing information from over 2000 sources and a technical depth that is clear and accessible. Highly recommended.

Dixson's book is a very good collection of the published works of others and makes a very handy reference for students of primate sexuality. The text was thorough and included a review of neuroendocrine systems in nonhuman primates, which is especially useful to anyone considering the molecular basis of sexual behavior. It is a technical, comprehensive text and is especially useful in outlining the gaps in our understanding. All in all, an excellent addition to the library of a primatologist.

"On more than 500 pages, with more than 2000 references, many tables, and hundreds of beautiful illustrations,Dixson provides a fascinating, comprehensive, up-to-date and unparalleled synthesis of our current knowledge about primate sexuality ." Andreas Paul University of Gottingen, Germany.

This book should appeal to everyone who realizes that there is more to paleontology than dinosaurs and hominids! This was one of the first books to address fossil fishes as a popular read, though it is a pleasure for professionals as well. In fact, I often found myself glancing at some of the placoderm reconstructions during the course of my dissertation. The photos and illustrations, almost as abundant as text, are the most amazing part of this book. One really begins to realize the diversity of these dinosaur antecedents and marvel at the incredibly preserved specimens that Dr. Long and his Australian peers have uncovered. The Devonian actinopterygians on pages 41-42 look like they washed up on the beach yesterday! This book should be an integral part of anyone's paleolibrary, curious readers and paleoworkers alike.

The Rise of Fishes is a well illustrated coffee table sized 223 page book that contains a goldmine of information on fossil fish. In his very balanced book, Professor John H. Long reviews the theories of fish evolution and the evidence for each view (see page 30), but most of the book is a detailed description with excellent color photographs of the many fossil fish types that have been uncovered. Long has no shortage of material to work from, as about 80% of all fossils discovered are marine. He concludes that "the transition from spineless invertebrates to the first backboned fishes is still shrouded in mystery" (page 30). One fact that amazed me is the scores of examples of well known modern fish that are found in the fossil record dated at 50 to 200 million years old. For example, the Herring from the Green River Formation that are dated at about 55 million years are unmistakably Herring and appear identical to modern Herring. This book is one of the few ever published that I know of on fossil fish. One other book is Fishes, Living and Fossil by Bashford Dean which was published in 1895, and the conclusions of this book are much the same as Long's excellent 100 year old work. I did not agree with everything Long wrote. For example, he claimed that lungs are just modified versions of the swim bladder of osteichthyan fish (page 208). The differences are not all that minor, but are major. One often neglected point Long noted was that the evolution of the hard shelled egg or amniote egg was probably the greatest single advancement in the evolution of vertebrates from fish to human (page 209).

Easy to read, containing hundreds of color illustrations, this reference nonetheless gives a detailed evolutionary history of the fishes. The reference starts with tunicates, cephalochordates and conodonts and moves on to the agnatha, sharks and the extinct acanthodians and placoderms. The emergence of the bony fish (class osteichthyes) in the late Silurian is then discussed. Major groups of this class include the ray-finned fishes (actinopterygii), the predatory lobe-finned fishes (crossopterygii) and the lungfishes (dipnoi), and each is discussed in more detail. The final chapter of the reference discusses the evolutionary transition from fish to tetrapod.

Curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Western Australian Museum in Perth, Western Australia, John A. Long is a thoughtful scholar. He writes in his introduction, "The story of fishes through time is also the story of changing continents and climates, devastating mass extinctions, and changing faunas and floras."

So begins a fascinating journey back through our planet's distant ages to begin the story of the evolution of fishes - the first creatures to have a skeleton. Armosred fishes, monster sharks, fishes with arms and fishes that breathe are all characters in this ongoing panorama of life then and now.

Some 220 vibrant color photographs plus numerous color drawings and black and white photos enhance this meticulously prepared volume.

For those with an interest in evolution, fossils or fish, The Rise of Fishes is not to be missed.

- Gail Cooke

John A. Long, a vertebrate paleontologist in Perth, is proud of the fossil record found in Austrialia. In this book he presents a manageable overview, encompassing 500 million years of fish evolution, with some interesting anecdotes about his own research. Long is a talented writer and brilliant scientific educator with a gentle, but obvious, bias towards the "land down under". The Rise of Fishes is well organized and beautifully illustrated. Photography of fossil specimens and locations is artfully presented. The chapters on lungfish development and tetrapod evolution (independent of one another) are easily understood and well documented sections. It's certainly one of the most visually compelling reference books available for the amateur fossil hunter or professional icthyologist/vertebrate paleontologist.

For those dissatisfied with the ludicrous baggage of the world's gods and religions as the origin of mankind and the source of human behaviour, Robert Ardrey is a good place to start. Though some of his conclusions are now outdated by modern research, no one has written with more poetry and skill on this topic than Ardrey. Throughout his quartet of books on human origins [African Genesis is the first of the four] Ardrey shows how mankind is less of a fallen angel and more of a risen ape; and that man truly is still only a halfway house between the ape and the human being.

After a Broadway flop American playwright Robert Ardrey [author of the play Thunder Bay and the script for the film Khartoum among others] toured East and Southern Africa in the early 1960s. This was a time when astonishing fossil discoveries were being made in the Olduvai Gorge by the Leakey family and by others showing that man had originated in Africa some 2 million years ago. Ardrey talked to the fossil-hunters, the palaeontologists and the anthropologists and learned all he could of the new discoveries and their implications for human origins and behaviour.

Ardrey's main thesis is that mankind was born in Africa over 2 million years ago, and for most of that two million years the species' success has been largely dependant on its ability to kill. Without that underlying hard edge the species would have vanished aeons ago along with all the others that failed to survive. And only if we take that unpalatable truth about ourselves into account can modern mankind be truly understood.

The book is moving and beautifully written. If you want to understand human nature, and the possibilities for the future of the species, there is no better place to start than African Genesis.

African Genesis is a book that deals with experiments, scientific facts, and evolutionary developments. Even though its old you still have to respect all of the different information in this book. Ardrey's first explanation's are the importance of territory. He used two studies done by other Anthropologists. One with ants the other with birds. The red ant experiment was done by Eugene Maris, it was simply a little bridge that the ants wouldn't cross to leave their territory, but would cross when coming back. Eugene Maris's other works are explained in great detail in this book. His other experiments were more interesting. The bird experiment, done by Eliot Howard, explained the importance of a male establishing its territory before anything else; with birds and apes. It explains an error in Darwin's teachings of man, claiming that sexual tendencies are the first priority. Howard, in all his long career, never knew of a male bird, with territory, to lose a mate; nor a male bird without territory to gain one. Ardrey shows some of these same examples later in the book with gorillas.

Its stuff like this that makes me believe evolution over creation. Reading though the chapters the relationships of us to Australopithecus africanus or erectus is amazing. According to this book A africanus was a carnivorous smaller type of gorilla, erectus was a vegetarian and was bigger than africanus. Ardrey's Romantic fallacy deals with many animals that had true emotions and showed some examples. You see its all evolution. The last chapter is a laudatory approach to free speech. Ardrey is humble about agreeing with him or not, but not to ignore natural sciences brought to us. We are an unfinished revolution he says. He continues and then relates back to Africa's origin of man. The next book I will look for is where this one left off; for this left off at our stage. I would have liked him to continue and explain how all the different races formed if we came from Africa. But that may be too much for this book. What matters is after you read this book you have a clear understanding of Darwin's decent of man. You know that evolution is a long process and has many debates (like Ardrey's 24 paragraph debate of evidence that the use of weapons is a human legacy from the animal world). Anybody that is interested in the evolution of man and African anthropology, you'll want to start with this book.

I feel like I'm being a little generous giving this one four stars for two reason: (1) It's quite dated - So much has been learned and written, both in formal and popular science circles, since this book was first published in 1961, the arguments Ardrey puts forth are not quite as true to the mark as they once appeared to be, but more importantly (2) Ardrey's style of writing is much less suited to today's readership than it must have been 40 years ago. He ceaselessly anthropomorphosizes his animal characters far past where it's proper. This tends to detract from his overall arguments in today's more savvy readership.

Still, Ardrey had a point to make. And it's a good one. The struggle for survival in the natural world is the game our ancestors played as well, and we're here because we were good at it - better than our ancestors competing for the same niche. That's why we're here and they're not.

This book is also a starting point from which popular anthropology has its base. It was very shortly after this point in time that the Leakeys came into the public arena in a big way. So it's interesting to see where the forefront of the public view was at this point in time. There's a fairly decent summary of the work done up to that point as well. Fellows like Dart, who pioneered the field of modern physical anthropology, tend to get forgotten in the frenzy of activity that followed in the 60's and beyond. For these reasons, the book is worth getting.

Finding Ardrey's "African Genesis" may be a chore. But the Amazon book search worked for me, ...

African Genesis is a book that deals with experiments, scientific facts, and evolutionary developments. Even though its old you still have to respect all of the different information in this book. Ardrey's first explanation's are the importance of territory. He used two studies done by other Anthropologists. One with ants the other with birds. The red ant experiment was done by Eugene Maris, it was simply a little bridge that the ants wouldn't cross to leave their territory, but would cross when coming back. Eugene Maris's other works are explained in great detail in this book. His other experiments were more interesting. The bird experiment, done by Eliot Howard, explained the importance of a male establishing its territory before anything else; with birds and apes. It explains an error in Darwin's teachings of man, claiming that sexual tendencies are the first priority. Howard, in all his long career, never knew of a male bird, with territory, to lose a mate; nor a male bird without territory to gain one. Ardrey shows some of these same examples later in the book with gorillas.

Its stuff like this that makes me believe evolution over creation. Reading though the chapters the relationships of us to Australopithecus africanus or erectus is amazing. According to this book A africanus was a carnivorous smaller type of gorilla, erectus was a vegetarian and was bigger than africanus. Ardrey's Romantic fallacy deals with many animals that had true emotions and showed some examples. You see its all evolution. The last chapter is a laudatory approach to free speech. Ardrey is humble about agreeing with him or not, but not to ignore natural sciences brought to us. We are an unfinished revolution he says. He continues and then relates back to Africa's origin of man. The next book I will look for is where this one left off; for this left off at our stage. I would have liked him to continue and explain how all the different races formed if we came from Africa. But that may be too much for this book. What matters is after you read this book you have a clear understanding of Darwin's decent of man. You know that evolution is a long process and has many debates (like Ardrey's 24 paragraph debate of evidence that the use of weapons is a human legacy from the animal world). Anybody that is interested in the evolution of man and African anthropology, you'll want to start with this book.

For those dissatisfied with the ludicrous baggage of the world's gods and religions in seeking answers to questions on the origin of mankind and the source of human behaviour, Robert Ardrey is a good place to start. Though some of his conclusions are now outdated by modern research, no one has written with more poetry and skill on this topic than Ardrey. Throughout his quartet of books on human origins and behaviour [African Genesis is the first of the four] Ardrey shows how mankind is less of a fallen angel and more of a risen ape; and that man truly is still only a halfway house between the ape and the human being.

After a Broadway flop American playwright Robert Ardrey [author of the play Thunder Rock and the script for the film Khartoum among others] toured East and Southern Africa in the early 1960s. This was a time when astonishing fossil discoveries were being made in the Olduvai Gorge by the Leakey family and by others showing that humanoids had originated in Africa some 2 million years ago. Ardrey talked to the fossil-hunters, the palaeontologists and the anthropologists and learned all he could of the new discoveries and their implications for human origins and behaviour.

Ardrey's main thesis is that mankind was born in Africa over 2 million years ago, and for most of that two million years the species' success has been largely dependant on its ability to kill. Without that underlying hard edge the species would have vanished aeons ago along with all the others that failed to survive. And only if we take that unpalatable truth about ourselves into account can modern mankind be truly understood.

In this book Ardrey's hero is Australian-born palaeontologist Raymond Dart who discovered and named the first Australopithecus Africanus skull in the 1930s, and who correctly identified Africa as the first home of the human species and A. Africanus as a human ancestor in the face of ridicule and rejection by the scientific establishment for 30 years. The book is moving and beautifully written. If you want to understand human nature, and the possibilities for both the past and the future of the species, there is no better place to start than African Genesis.