This delightfully illustrated book traces our path to intelligence by fitting the pieces from all the sciences together, using everyday words even the most unscientific reader can enjoy.
How could humans pair bond when our sex urges are always 'on?' Why did our ancestors build mounds--it wasn't to communicate with extra-terrestrial beings! After 4 million years of excruciatingly slow development, how did we become smart around 12,000 years ago when we suddenly started building houses and cities, began farming, and invented writing, money and dozens of other things that make us human? The answers to these questions, plus many other curious developments, compiled from the fields of biology, genetics, nutrition, psychology and anthropology into one coherent, no gaps, no mismatches, view of ourselves. You won't want to miss this ground-breaking work that makes genetics, biology and evolution fun by using examples from today's world that seem ordinary, but in fact are extraordinary illustrations of function = shape, no matter which species moves into the niche. Even brainpower proceeds along the same well-worn grooves. Drawing from a lifetime of research in Anthropology and Archaeology plus possessing an engineer’s love of making all the data fit, the author translates the jargon into everyday language to share both how and why intelligence evolved in humans. |
|