20 Best Books On Human Evolution (2023 Update)

Fully updated with the latest discoveries and research, amazingly realistic illustrations and detailed maps plot eight million years of human development in the context of our genetics, anatomy, behavior, environment, migrations, and culture. this unrivaled illustrated guide to human evolution brings you face-to-face with your ancient ancestors. traveling back in time almost eight million years, the book charts the development of our species, homo sapiens, from tree-dwelling primates to modern humans. evolution investigates each of our ancestors in detail and in context, from the anatomy of their bones to the environment they lived in. key fossil finds are showcased on double-page feature spreads. detailed maps show where each species has been found and plot the gradual spread of humans around the world. the book has been fully updated to include the latest discoveries and research–including the newly discovered species homo naledi–and presents the latest thinking on some of the most captivating questions in science, such as whether modern humans and neanderthals interacted with each other. written and authenticated by a team of acknowledged experts and illustrated by renowned dutch paleoartists the kennis brothers, evolution presents the story of our species with unique richness, authority, and detail.

Resistance to malaria. blue eyes. lactose tolerance. what do all of these traits have in common? every one of them has emerged in the last 10,000 years.scientists have long believed that the “great leap forward” that occurred some 40,000 to 50,000 years ago in europe marked end of significant biological evolution in humans. in this stunningly original account of our evolutionary history, top scholars gregory cochran and henry harpending reject this conventional wisdom and reveal that the human species has undergone a storm of genetic change much more recently. human evolution in fact accelerated after civilization arose, they contend, and these ongoing changes have played a pivotal role in human history. they argue that biology explains the expansion of the indo-europeans, the european conquest of the americas, and european jews' rise to intellectual prominence. in each of these cases, the key was recent genetic change: adult milk tolerance in the early indo-europeans that allowed for a new way of life, increased disease resistance among the europeans settling america, and new versions of neurological genes among european jews.ranging across subjects as diverse as human domestication, neanderthal hybridization, and iq tests, cochran and harpending's analysis demonstrates convincingly that human genetics have changed and can continue to change much more rapidly than scientists have previously believed. a provocative and fascinating new look at human evolution that turns conventional wisdom on its head, the 10,000 year explosion reveals the ongoing interplay between culture and biology in the making of the human race.

The discoveries of the last decade have brought about a completely revised understanding of human evolution due to the recent advances in genetics, palaeontology, ecology, archaeology, geography, and climate science. written by two leading authorities in the fields of physical anthropology and molecular evolution, processes in human evolution presents a reconsidered overview of hominid evolution, synthesising data and approaches from a range of inter-disciplinary fields. the authors pay particular attention to population migrations – since these are crucial in understanding the origin and dispersion of the different genera and species in each continent – and to the emergence of the lithic cultures and their impact on the evolution of cognitive capacities. processes in human evolution is intended as a primary textbook for university courses on human evolution, and may also be used as supplementary reading in advanced undergraduate and graduate courses. it is also suitable for a more general audience seeking a readable but up-to-date and inclusive treatment of human origins and evolution.

"introduction to human evolution has been developed in direct response to student feedback on the standard textbook approach to the subject matter. concise and filled with engaging images, the book makes evolution, primatology, and human variation appealing to today's learners. readers will learn about early hominins, the australopithecines, and the genus homo. the book also addresses population history and genetics, adaptation and acclimatization, and anatomically modern humans. each chapter is a balance of text, exercises, graphs, and visuals. the exercise worksheets support independent learning, and answers are provided to allow for self-assessment. introduction to human evolution is an excellent choice for courses in anthropology and biology. it is accessible to non-majors, but can also be used in introductory courses for science majors. gillian crane-kramer earned her ph.d. in archeology/biological anthropology from the university of calgary, canada. she is a professor in the department of anthropology at the state university of new york at plattsburgh. dr. crane-kramer is an osteologist who specializes in the evolution of infectious disease through time. roman harrison earned his ph.d. in archaeology at the university of calgary. dr. harrison is a lecturer in the department of sociology and anthropology at mount royal university in calgary, alberta, and a member of the canadian association for physical anthropology.

From an evolutionary perspective, if normal is defined as what most people have done for millions of years, then it's normal to walk and run 9-15 kilometers a day to hunt and gather fresh food which is high in fibre, low in sugar, and barely processed. it's also normal to spend much of your time nursing, napping, making stone tools, and gossiping with a small band of people. our 21st-century lifestyles, argues dan lieberman, are out of synch with our stone-age bodies.

From an evolutionary perspective, if normal is defined as what most people have done for millions of years, then it's normal to walk and run 9-15 kilometers a day to hunt and gather fresh food which is high in fibre, low in sugar, and barely processed. it's also normal to spend much of your time nursing, napping, making stone tools, and gossiping with a small band of people. our 21st-century lifestyles, argues dan lieberman, are out of synch with our stone-age bodies.

Based one of the largest studies of human mating ever undertaken, encompassing more than 10,000 people of all ages from thirty-seven cultures worldwide, the evolution of desire is the first work to present a unified theory of human mating behavior. drawing on a wide range of examples of mating behavior — from lovebugs to elephant seals, from the yanomamö tribe of venezuela to online dating apps — buss reveals what women want, what men want, and why their desires radically differ.

"have you ever wondered about human evolution?

How our collective intelligence has helped us to evolve and prosperhumans are a puzzling species. on the other hand, human groups have produced ingenious technologies, sophisticated languages, and complex institutions that have permitted us to successfully expand into a vast range of diverse environments. what has enabled us to dominate the globe, more than any other species, while remaining virtually helpless as lone individuals? this book shows that the secret of our success lies not in our innate intelligence, but in our collective brains—on the ability of human groups to socially interconnect and learn from one another over generations.drawing insights from lost european explorers, clever chimpanzees, mobile hunter-gatherers, neuroscientific findings, ancient bones, and the human genome, joseph henrich demonstrates how our collective brains have propelled our species' genetic evolution and shaped our biology. our early capacities for learning from others produced many cultural innovations, such as fire, cooking, water containers, plant knowledge, and projectile weapons, which in turn drove the expansion of our brains and altered our physiology, anatomy, and psychology in crucial ways. later on, some collective brains generated and recombined powerful concepts, such as the lever, wheel, screw, and writing, while also creating the institutions that continue to alter our motivations and perceptions. henrich shows how our genetics and biology are inextricably interwoven with cultural evolution, and how culture-gene interactions launched our species on an extraordinary evolutionary trajectory.tracking clues from our ancient past to the present, the secret of our success explores how the evolution of both our cultural and social natures produce a collective intelligence that explains both our species' immense success and the origins of human uniqueness.

This edition of the psychology of man's possible evolution includes a lecture, not previously published, in which ouspensky givers some details of the "school of the fourth way," with which he was connected, and an account of some of its fundamental principles, methods, and rules.the psychology ouspensky sets forth in this introductory lectures has existed in one form or another for thousands of years and, unlike modern psychology, studies man from the point of view of what he may become. once a man realizes how little control he has over his reactions to external circumstances and internal stimuli, he may wish to find a way to becomoe free of this mechanical way of living. ouspensky describes how a man must work simultaneously on his knowledge and his being to find inner unity and why although his development depends on his own efforts, this is very difficult to achieve without guidance from a "school."

Humanity must steer its evolution. as human knowledge moves a step ahead of darwin's theories, this book presents the emergence of human-made meta-evolution shaping our alternative futures. this novel process poses fateful challenges to humanity, which require regulation of emerging science and technology which may endanger the future of our species. however, to do so successfully, a novel 'humanity-craft' has to be developed; main ideologies and institutions need redesign; national sovereignty has to be limited; a decisive global regime becomes essential; some revaluation of widely accepted norms becomes essential; and a novel type of political leader, based on merit in addition to public support, is urgently needed. taking into account the strength of nationalism and vested interests, it may well be that only catastrophes will teach humanity to metamorphose into a novel epoch without too high transition costs. but initial steps, such as united nation reforms, are urgent in order to contain calamities and may soon become feasible. being both interdisciplinary and based on personal experience of the author, this book adds up to a novel paradigm on steering human evolution. it will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of modern history, evolution sciences, future studies, political science, philosophy of action, and science and technology. it will also be of wide appeal to the general reader anxious about the future of life on earth. comments on the corona pandemic add to the book's concrete significance.

Fifty thousand years ago—merely a blip in evolutionary time—our homo sapiens ancestors were competing for existence with several other human species, just as their precursors had done for millions of years. yet something about our species distinguished it from the pack, and ultimately led to its survival while the rest became extinct. just what was it that allowed homo sapiens to become masters of the planet? ian tattersall, curator emeritus at the american museum of natural history, 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, the final result emerged quickly, shocking our world and changing it forever.

One is the fundamental concern over our present-day eating habits and the consequences of our societal choices, such as obesity prevalent in some cultures and starvation in others. another is that humans have learned to feed themselves in extremely varied environments, and these adaptations, which are fundamentally different from those of our closest biological relatives, have to have had historical roots of varying depth. the third, and the reason why most paleoanthropologists are interested in this question, is that a species' trophic level and feeding adaptations can have a strong effect on body size, locomotion, "life history strategies", geographic range, habitat choice, and social behavior.diet is key to understanding the ecology and evolution of our distant ancestors and their kin, the early hominins. a study of the range of foods eaten by our progenitors underscores just how unhealthy many of our diets are today. this volume brings together authorities from disparate fields to offer new insights into the diets of our ancestors. paleontologists, archaeologists, primatologists, nutritionists and other researchers all contribute pieces to the puzzle.this volume has at its core four main sections: reconstructed diets based on hominin fossils–tooth size, shape, structure, wear, and chemistry, mandibular biomechanics archaeological evidence of subsistence–stone tools and modified bones models of early hominin diets based on the diets of living primates–both human and non-human, paleoecology, and energetics nutritional analyses and their implications for evolutionary medicinenew techniques for gleaning information from fossil teeth, bones, and stone tools, new theories stemming from studies of paleoecology, and new models coming from analogy with modern humans and other primates all contribute to our understanding. when these approaches are brought together, they offer an impressive glimpse into the lives of our distant ancestors. the contributions in this volume explore the frontiers of our knowledge in each of these disciplines as they address the knowns, the unknowns, and the unknowables of the evolution of hominin diets.

Title: the evolution of humankind. product type: categories > society, politics & philosophy > philosophy > religion

In one sense, human heads function much like those of other mammals. but, in other respects, the human head is quite unusual. unlike other animals, even our great ape cousins, our heads are short and wide, very big brained, snoutless, largely furless, and perched on a short, nearly vertical neck. this integration not only permits the head’s many units to accommodate each other as they grow and work, but also facilitates evolutionary change. lieberman shows how, when, and why the major transformations evident in the evolution of the human head occurred. the special way the head is integrated, lieberman argues, made it possible for a few developmental shifts to have had widespread effects on craniofacial growth, yet still permit the head to function exquisitely.this is the first book to explore in depth what happened in human evolution by integrating principles of development and functional morphology with the hominin fossil record. the evolution of the human head will permanently change the study of human evolution and has widespread ramifications for thinking about other branches of evolutionary biology.

Humans are a striking anomaly in the natural world. our unparalleled ability to adapt has allowed us to occupy virtually every habitat on earth using an incredible variety of tools and subsistence techniques. our societies are larger, more complex, and more cooperative than any other mammal's. in this stunning exploration of human adaptation, peter j. richerson and robert boyd argue that only a darwinian theory of cultural evolution can explain these unique characteristics. not by genes alone offers a radical interpretation of human evolution, arguing that our ecological dominance and our singular social systems stem from a psychology uniquely adapted to create complex culture. richerson and boyd illustrate here that culture is neither superorganic nor the handmaiden of the genes. rather, it is essential to human adaptation, as much a part of human biology as bipedal locomotion. drawing on work in the fields of anthropology, political science, sociology, and economics—and building their case with such fascinating examples as kayaks, corporations, clever knots, and yams that require twelve men to carry them—richerson and boyd convincingly demonstrate that culture and biology are inextricably linked, and they show us how to think about their interaction in a way that yields a richer understanding of human nature. in abandoning the nature-versus-nurture debate as fundamentally misconceived, not by genes alone is a truly original and groundbreaking theory of the role of culture in evolution and a book to be reckoned with for generations to come. “i continue to be surprised by the number of educated people (many of them biologists) who think that offering explanations for human behavior in terms of culture somehow disproves the suggestion that human behavior can be explained in darwinian evolutionary terms. o. wilson, harvard university

Evolution has been dogma for so long that many people consider it a foregone conclusion that life arose by random processes. evolution: new discoveries takes the unusual step of bringing together scientists on both sides of this cultural divide to present their findings. the reader is allowed to make up his or her mind as to which view is really supported by the evidence.with over 500 photographs from 50 museums and dinosaur digs, the book is intended for a general audience. it is the product of a 30-year investigation by the author, and the conclusions are so startling, our culture's foundations will be shaken. – discover darwin's false mechanism for evolution – find out whether whales evolved by chance – what is the mystery of the flying reptiles? – do scientists really understand the evolution of flowering plants? – what are physicists saying about the big bang?

Come face to face with our ancestors travel back 8 million years with evolution the human story and go on a fascinating journey to discover how our species has developed from tree-dwelling primates to modern humans. this is the first time that the story of evolution has been documented in such amazing visual detail thanks to the work of renowned dutch paleoartists, kennis and kennis. staggeringly realistic cgi and model reconstructions from original fossils bring us face to face with our ancestors portraying them as never before. plus, dr alice roberts shares her extensive knowledge helping answer all the big questions and more. evolution: the human story is packed with all the latest discoveries and profiles every human ancestor to date from ardipithecus ramidus to homo neanderthalensis. now available in ebook(pdf) format.

Human domination of the earth is now so complete that it is easy to forget how recently our role in the history of the planet began: the earliest apes evolved around twenty million years ago, yet homo sapiens has existed for a mere 150,000 years. in the intervening period, many species of early ape and human have lived and died out, leaving behind the fossilized remains that have helped to make the detailed picture of our evolution revealed here.this exciting, up-to-the-minute account is divided into three accessible sections. "in search of our ancestors" examines the contexts in which fossilized remains have been found and the techniques used to study them. "the fossil evidence" traces in detail the evolution of apes and humans, from proconsul to the australopithecines, and homo erectus to the neanderthals and homo sapiens. the latest fossil finds at major new sites such as dmanisi in georgia and gran dolina in spain are appraised, and new advances in genetic studies, including the extraction of dna from extinct human species, are evaluated. "interpreting the evidence" reconstructs and explains the evolution of human behavior, describing the development of tool use, the flourishing of the earliest artists, and the spread of modern humans to all corners of the world. the book is superbly illustrated with hundreds of photographs, diagrams, and specially commissioned reconstruction drawings by the artist john sibbick.

Human domination of the earth is now so complete that it is easy to forget how recently our role in the history of the planet began: the earliest apes evolved around twenty million years ago, yet homo sapiens has existed for a mere 150,000 years. in the intervening period, many species of early ape and human have lived and died out, leaving behind the fossilized remains that have helped to make the detailed picture of our evolution revealed here.this exciting, up-to-the-minute account is divided into three accessible sections. "in search of our ancestors" examines the contexts in which fossilized remains have been found and the techniques used to study them. "the fossil evidence" traces in detail the evolution of apes and humans, from proconsul to the australopithecines, and homo erectus to the neanderthals and homo sapiens. the latest fossil finds at major new sites such as dmanisi in georgia and gran dolina in spain are appraised, and new advances in genetic studies, including the extraction of dna from extinct human species, are evaluated. "interpreting the evidence" reconstructs and explains the evolution of human behavior, describing the development of tool use, the flourishing of the earliest artists, and the spread of modern humans to all corners of the world. the book is superbly illustrated with hundreds of photographs, diagrams, and specially commissioned reconstruction drawings by the artist john sibbick.