Ian Tattersall is the Curator of Human Evolution at the American
Museum of Natural History in New York, and this concise but
penetrating new book is a fresh investigation of our evolutionary
origins - and what the future has in store for the human race.
Widely regarded as one of the rare eminent scientists who can write
elegantly, Tattersall here takes up some of the most controversial
questions in evolutionary history in a pithy collection of essays.
He stresses that living creatures, including humans, are not finely
engineered organisms with every component perfectly adapted to
their function. We are, in fact, jury-rigged, improvised beings,
owing as much to chance as to adaptation. In highly accessible
prose, we are taken around the world and into the distant past;
Tattersall shows us what the science of human evolution is about
and what it is up against - from the lack of evidence to the
pressures of religious fundamentalism, so ready to deny science.
The key questions of our origins - and our evolutionary future -
are examined in this fascinating book, full of delightful stories,
scientific wisdom, and even humour. Our appetite for insights into
what makes us tick remains unabated, and this collection of essays
by one of the world's foremost anthropologists goes a long way
towards satisfying it. (Kirkus UK)
Widely regarded as one of the rare eminent scientists who is also a
graceful writer, Ian Tattersall here takes up some of the most
controversial questions in evolutionary history in this superb
collection of essays. Tattersall stresses that living creatures,
including humans, are not finely engineered organisms with every
component perfectly adapted to their function. We are - on the
contrary - jury-rigged, improvised beings, owing as much to chance
as to adaptation. And this is true of all living creatures. Leading
the reader around the world and into the far reaches of the past,
Tattersall shows us what the science of human evolution is about
and what it is up against - from the sparsity of evidence to the
pressures of religious fundamentalism. The fundamental questions of
our origins - and our evolutionary future - find new life in this
extraordinary book, full of delightful stories, scientific wisdom,
and fresh insight
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