As interesting as it was I had to work really hard to keep my attention on it. ( )

I tried to listen to this multiple times, but never really got into it. Since Wade wrote his COVID essay, though, he is a more interesting person, so I decided to give the book another go. Continued to have trouble, now I'm reading it at the same time as I'm listening to it, and it makes much more sense. Unfortunately, the writing is uninspired, so, while the subject is interesting, it ends up being a bit of a slog. The plan is to return refreshed later.

High 4.

One nice thing about journalists who write science books? The books are generally well-written. (I'm looking at you, [a:Chris Stringer|103433|Chris Stringer|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-09ae6e5eb554f8a5ab0515c05488ea34.png], who's [b:The Origin of Our Species|11731574|The Origin of Our Species|Chris Stringer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1333753409s/11731574.jpg|17086110] I read before this.)

Another nice thing is that, not being scientists, they have less of a horse in the race, so they tend to write more purely to inform and are willing to discuss some of the less accepted theories. Mr. Wade does a great job on both fronts.

The first half and change of this book discusses human evolution and what happened when geneticists entered the fray. The application of genetics to the field has been revolutionary to say the least. The revolution is not limited to the biological side of things either. The techniques of genetics are being applied to the origins and evolution of language as well.

In many cases the results butt up against long-held positions in the field. The results are predictable: some embrace the new, others dig their heels in and cling to the old. Wade does a good job of discussing this in both the biological realm and the linguistic. This, in particular the development of language and modernity occupy the next quarter or so of the book.

In the last quarter he moves past the dawn to address the issues of our continuing evolution and applications of techniques developed to historical situations: genetic studies of disease in isolated or insular populations - e.g. Icelanders and Jews - and the progeny of Genghis Kahn and Thomas Jefferson. This is definitely fascinating stuff, but I think would be better off in a separate book where it could be covered more fully. ( )

Absolutely fascinating book about the dawn of man. The book traces the travels of the human race after groups of them left the great rift Valley of Africa. ( )

Nicholas Wade discusses how the growing science of genetics expands and deepens our understanding of human evolution, our relationship to our closest relatives, and how we became the species we are--and what we might become in the future.

There's a lot of ground to cover, and this is a survey, not a textbook. It's very well-referenced, but in some cases he's relying on cutting edge research that, inevitably, will not all hold up. He also ventures into some touchy areas that not all readers will be comfortable or happy with. Nevertheless, it's an excellent, informative, and thought-provoking book that is well worth reading.
One of the topics covered here is the often-surprising path of human migration and expansion out of Africa. Just one major human lineage, L3, left Africa, and it's from that lineage that all the sub-lineages that populate the rest of the globe are descended. Human migration went eastward and along the coastlines, to India, southeast Asia, and Australia before going northward and westward. He repeatedly emphasizes that dates derived from genetic mutation rates are approximate and need to be evaluated in conjunction with archaeological evidence. That said, he gives us a fascinating picture of how archaeological, linguistic, and genetic evidence interact to give us a much fuller, richer, more complete picture of human evolution.

Among the conventional assumptions overturned by the growing body of evidence is the notion of early human hunter-gatherer bands as peaceful people, living in harmony with other humans they encountered, with war as an invention of sedentary societies after the invention of agriculture. In fact the evidence points the other way: hunter-gatherer bands, even today, are very violent societies, frequently raiding their neighbors and as much as 30% of the population dying by violence. Our nearest relatives, the common chimpanzees, are even more violent, not only raiding other troops and killing any member of another troop found alone, but also handling most internal disputes including leadership disputes by violence. Permanent settlements, with higher population density and less ability to move away from neighboring individuals or groups you didn't get along with, required an increase in human sociability, and willingness and ability to cooperate even with unrelated individuals, in order to work. And the archaeological evidence shows that agriculture came after that point, a result rather than a cause.

Humans have been domesticating each other, along with domesticating other species, and the typical experience of violence in settled, developed societies is much, much less and decreasing compared to "more natural" hunter-gatherer societies. The human ability to cooperate with unrelated strangers, routinely and on a large scale, is simply unknown in other species. Some readers will be disturbed by that argument. Others will be disturbed by the case that Wade makes that one of our evolved mechanisms for making this cooperation possible is religion.

I'm not going to go on, touching on every issue Wade discusses. This is an excellent, highly readable book, laying out all we've learned about our past in recent years, due to the advance of genetics. Because he does rely on research that, in 2006, was very new and cutting-edge, some of what he says will prove to be wrong--but there's still a lot to learn here, and well worth your time.

Highly recommended.

I borrowed this book from a friend. ( )