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Masters of the Planet
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 289

Masters of the Planet

50,000 years ago – merely a blip in evolutionary time – our Homo sapiens ancestors were competing for existence with several other human species, just as their own precursors had been doing for millions of years. Yet something about our species separated it from the pack, and led to its survival while the rest became extinct. So just what was it that allowed Homo sapiens to become Masters of the Planet? Curator Emeritus at the American Museum of Natural History, Ian Tattersall takes us deep into the fossil record to uncover what made humans so special. Surveying a vast field from initial bipedality to language and intelligence, Tattersall argues that Homo sapiens acquired a winning combination of traits that was not the result of long term evolutionary refinement. Instead it emerged quickly, shocking their world and changing it forever.

Becoming Human
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 318

Becoming Human

By offering wisdom gleaned from what we now know about fossil remains, primate behavior, brain physiology, cognition, prehistoric art, and archaeology, anthropologist Ian Tattersall offers a stunning picture of where humankind evolved, how Darwin's theories have changed, and what we reliably know about other primates' use of symbols, deception, toolmaking, and cooperation.

The World from Beginnings to 4000 BCE
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 159

The World from Beginnings to 4000 BCE

To be human is to be curious. And one of the things we are most curious about is how we came to be who we are--how we evolved over millions of years to become creatures capable of inquiring into our own evolution. In this lively and readable introduction, renowned anthropologist Ian Tattersall thoroughly examines both fossil and archaeological records to trace human evolution from the earliest beginnings of our zoological family, Hominidae, through the appearance of Homo sapiens to the Agricultural Revolution. He begins with an accessible overview of evolutionary theory and then explores the major turning points in human evolution: the emergence of the genus Homo, the advantages of bipedalis...

The Fossil Trail
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 292

The Fossil Trail

In The Fossil Trail, Ian Tattersall, the head of the Anthropology Department at the American Museum of Natural History, takes us on a sweeping tour of the study of human evolution, offering a colorful history of fossil discoveries and a revealing insider's look at how these finds have been interpreted - and misinterpreted - through time. All the major figures and discoveries are here. We meet Lamarck and Cuvier and Darwin (we learn that Darwin's theory of evolution, though a bombshell, was very congenial to a Victorian ethos of progress), right up to modern theorists such as Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould.

Human Origins
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 228

Human Origins

Describes how mapping the human genome has aided paleoanthropologists in their study of ancient bones used to explore human origins, from the earliest humans--bipedal apes--up to Martin Pickford's Millennium Man.

A Natural History of Wine
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 264

A Natural History of Wine

A captivating survey of the science of wine and winemaking for anyone who has ever wondered about the magic of the fermented grape An excellent bottle of wine can be the spark that inspires a brainstorming session. Such was the case for Ian Tattersall and Rob DeSalle, scientists who frequently collaborate on book and museum exhibition projects. When the conversation turned to wine one evening, it almost inevitably led the two--one a palaeoanthropologist, the other a molecular biologist--to begin exploring the many intersections between science and wine. This book presents their fascinating, freewheeling answers to the question "What can science tell us about wine?" And vice versa. Conversati...

The Strange Case of the Rickety Cossack
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 258

The Strange Case of the Rickety Cossack

  • Type: Book
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  • Published: 2015-06-09
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  • Publisher: Macmillan

American Museum of Natural History emeritus curator Ian Tattersall recounts the surprising twists and turns in our understanding of our biological past

The Last Human
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 272

The Last Human

Creates three-dimensional scientific reconstructions for twenty-two species of extinct humans, providing information for each one on its emergence, chronology, geographic range, classification, physiology, environment, habitat, cultural achievements, coex

Extinct Humans
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 256

Extinct Humans

  • Type: Book
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  • Published: 2001-12-05
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  • Publisher: Basic Books

Scientists have long envisioned the human “family tree” as a straight-line progression from the apelike australopithecines to the enigmatic Homo habilis to the famous Neanderthals, culminating in us, Homo sapiens. But this model is unlike the evolutionary patterns known for all other vertebrates—patterns that typically reveal multiple branchings and extinctions. In Extinct Humans, Ian Tattersall and Jeffrey Schwartz present convincing evidence that many distinct species of humans have existed during the history of the hominid family, often simultaneously. Furthermore, these species may have contributed to one another's extinction. Who were these different human species? Which are direct ancestors to us? And, the most profound question of all, why is there only a single human species alive on Earth now?

Race?
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 249

Race?

Race has provided the rationale and excuse for some of the worst atrocities in human history. Yet, according to many biologists, physical anthropologists, and geneticists, there is no valid scientific justification for the concept of race. To be more precise, although there is clearly some physical basis for the variations that underlie perceptions of race, clear boundaries among “races” remain highly elusive from a purely biological standpoint. Differences among human populations that people intuitively view as “racial” are not only superficial but are also of astonishingly recent origin. In this intriguing and highly accessible book, physical anthropologist Ian Tattersall and genet...