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Masters of the Planet: The Search for Our Human Origins (MacSci) Kindle Edition
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.
- ISBN-13978-0230108752
- PublisherSt. Martin's Press
- Publication dateMarch 27, 2012
- LanguageEnglish
- File size2757 KB
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Tattersall is no slouch in the storytelling department, but his narrative emphasizes the necessarily fragmentary nature of the fossil record and the provisional nature of what we can safely conclude from it ...[His] account highlights the major advances in paleoanthropology that have been made in the last decade or two." - Natural History magazine
"An efficient survey of 7 million years of evolutionary development and two centuries of evolutionary thought ... In deft combinations of authority and caution, expertise and wit, Tattersall invites the lay reader to the party. Throughout, he remains grounded in the salient details culled from archaeology, anatomy, genetics, primatology, nutrition and social science." - The Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Asuperb overview of how our species developed (a long process) and how we grew smart enough to dominate the planet ... Keeping a critical eye on the evidence and a skeptical one on theories, Tattersall confirms his status among world anthropologists by delivering a superior popular explanation of human origins." - Kirkus Reviews starred review
"A concise history of how humans became humans ... Tattersall moves through the complex fossil records effortlessly and with a welcome sense of wonder. He also consistently conveys a deep knowledge of his subject ... Tattersall's combination of erudition and a conversational style make this is an excellent primer on human evolution." -Publishers Weekly
"This is a book I will be recommending to anyone who wants a good overview of evolution. This book puts the new discoveries in their proper sequence and perspective. It is an excellent work." - Jean Auel, author of The Clan of the Cave Bear, and the rest of Earth's Children books
"We all think we know the story: first we evolved to walk upright, then use tools, then agriculture, language, and us - - an inexorable linear progression from ape to human. But Ian Tattersall introduces us to several different human-like precursors, all alive at the same time, as recently as 50,000 years ago - just barely before the period we humans chauvinistically refer to as 'history'. So it's no longer straightforward: beasts like us emerged several times within the past hundred thousand years, some of them distinct species. Some were the first to think like we do: in symbols and abstractions; those were our forebears. But while they were alive, these multiple different humanoids may have known about each other; interacted; fought; lived together or apart; possibly even bred. It turns out that our lineage is anything but linear; Tattersall demolishes the versions we were once taught, and lays out the remarkable new history of our diverse origins for the first time." - Richard Granger, author of Big Brain
"Are you ready for a 3.5 billion year stroll down the path of life's origins to the present. Ian Tattersall takes you by the hand and covers the highlights like few are capable of doing. The continuities and discontinuities reveal insights on why we humans are the masters of the planet. A must read." - Mike Gazzaniga, author of Human: The Science Behind What Makes Your Brain Unique
"This [book] is excellent ... Among other things, and very importantly, it is a very good read." - Colin Tudge, author of The Link: Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor
"For almost 40 years, Ian Tattersall has been one of our leaders in the field of human evolution. Mastersof the Planet is a stunning culmination of a career in science: a brilliant and engaging account that illuminates and inspires. Read Tattersall and you will not see yourself, let alone our entire species, in the same way again." - Neil Shubin, author of Your Inner Fish
"This is a book full of wisdom: the distillation of a lifetime's experience combined with finely honed critical faculties. Tattersall is a captivating and surefooted guide through the ranks of hominids, over several million years, in search of the origins of our uniquely symbolic mind. He ranges widely across evidence from DNA sequences and molecular forensics to skeletal morphology and ancient artifacts, never shirking the telling detail, never lacking a finely judged opinion, yet always making the science beautifully clear. The best guide to human origins that I have read." - Nick Lane, author of Life Ascending and Oxygen
"A guide for the perplexed student of human origins ... Tattersall weaves a history of palaeoanthropology into the text, showing that though fossils may provide the bulk of the evidence for human origins, few of the details are set in stone." - New Scientist
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : B0065SSA94
- Publisher : St. Martin's Press (March 27, 2012)
- Publication date : March 27, 2012
- Language : English
- File size : 2757 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 289 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #747,811 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #64 in Physical Anthropology (Kindle Store)
- #265 in Anatomy Science
- #347 in Physical Anthropology (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Ian Tattersall, a Curator Emeritus at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, is a paleoanthropologist and primate biologist of long experience. He has conducted fieldwork in places as diverse as Yemen, Vietnam, and Madagascar; and, besides being a prolific contributor to the technical literature, he has curated exhibits and written widely for the public on topics ranging from the natural history of wine, beer and spirits to the evolution of humankind and the origin of our unique human consciousness. His critically acclaimed popular books have been translated into a dozen languages, and include most recently "Understanding Race" and "Distilled: A Natural History of Spirits" (both with his colleague Rob De Salle), and "Understanding Human Evolution."
Customer reviews
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book engaging and informative, with a well-written narrative that provides up-to-date information about human evolution. They appreciate the author's thought-provoking and clear thinking, which is evident in the intelligent storytelling style. The content is presented in a light, entertaining manner with moments of insight and astonishment. Readers describe the writing as cogent and a good synthesis of the field.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book engaging and well-written. They say it's worth reading for curious people with a keen interest in what makes us human. The text is explained in an intelligent and fascinating way.
"...Masters of the Planet, by Ian Tattersall, is an excellent review of the subject by a lifelong student of it, and an acknowledged expert in his field...." Read more
"...Tattersall does a magnificent job of exploring and explaining the parallell paths of hominid evolution outlining how multiple hominid species..." Read more
"...rocks - there are many elements in this history which the author collates comprehensively and with clarity...." Read more
"...It was admittedly an interesting idea, albeit chilling to consider, but it seemed out of place as a conclusion to a book entitled "Masters of the..." Read more
Customers find the book informative with plenty of facts and illustrations. It provides up-to-date information on archeological findings and ties them together as well as can be done. The book expands their knowledge of early man and all the different lineages. It also provides an excellent summary of our state of knowledge about evolution and the exciting story of how we came to be.
"...agenda of this book is Tattersall’s attempt to explain the unique intelligence, and planet-wide success of our species, that evolved in Africa a few..." Read more
"...Ian provides an excellent review of the history of species classification and naming conventions and assignments, on page 94, that helps make sense..." Read more
"...does a magnificent job of exploring and explaining the parallell paths of hominid evolution outlining how multiple hominid species coexisted, and in..." Read more
"...an excellent summary of current knowledge, and explains how our understanding of evolving anatomy, behaviour and genetics has changed the science of..." Read more
Customers find the book insightful and well-written. It presents human origins in an intelligent and fascinating way. Readers appreciate the author's critical and clear thinking about human origins. The book is presented in a lively account that explains dates and dates.
"...change while technological change does not track species, symbolic reasoning, brain architecture, unique nature of our intelligence and reason for..." Read more
"...Department at the American Museum of Natural History offers an insightful and sometimes provactive look at the distant ancestors of humankind...." Read more
"...each item often fascinating in its own right, and it is presented in a lively account which explains dates and places in a logical sequence...." Read more
"...provides answers to many of my questions about human origins in an intelligent and fascinating way. Many times while reading it I had Eureka!..." Read more
Customers appreciate the author's storytelling ability. They find the story fascinating and well-told in a logical, linear manner. The content is presented in an entertaining way, not in an academic writing style.
"...He is a natural story teller, adding surprise and color. So in this sense he is very readable...." Read more
"...Many times while reading it I had Eureka! moments of insight and astonishment, kind of like that first homo sapien to use language must have felt...." Read more
"This is a fascinating story, well told in a logical, linear manner...." Read more
"The author does a brilliant job of putting together the story of the evolution of man...." Read more
Customers appreciate the book's cogent and reasoned approach. They find it a good synthesis with good substance, though some feel the writer's style is too chatty.
"...while new developments will certainly alter the story, this is a good synthesis to allow an enthusiast to follow new developments." Read more
"...Tattersall presents the current evidence and thinking in a delightfully cogent and reasoned way, not avoiding or downgrading the less acceptable..." Read more
"Good substance: the writer's style is a little too "chatty" for my taste, Illustrations are valuable additions to the text." Read more
"Loved it. A cogent and thorough review of the evolution of our species and its driving forces. Well reasoned and argue." Read more
Customers like the update. They say it's up to date and concisely condensing the field.
"...This is a summary book, covering most of the field and mostly up to date, concisely condensing the field's important aspects...." Read more
"Good Update on how we Developed..." Read more
"A good, up-to-date read..." Read more
"Written to be understood by the layman. Essential up-to-date ......" Read more
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2014It is amazing how little we know scientifically about the origin of our own species. Modern science has enabled us to look through telescopes across billions of light years, and has also made it possible for us to sequence the genome that carries the information necessary to run our bodies and ourselves. Modern science, however, is still struggling to create a coherent narrative about the evolution of our Homo sapien species, because our memory is personal and not historical, and because the evidence we need is quickly lost through the vicissitudes of fossilization and preservation. Masters of the Planet, by Ian Tattersall, is an excellent review of the subject by a lifelong student of it, and an acknowledged expert in his field. The strength of this book is its careful use of archeological and anthropological data. The weak point of this book is that it tries to simultaneously tell a linear chronological history of species evolution, while it also tries to explain evolutionary theory, and these two narratives both enrich and disrupt each other. Because of this interference between the two major themes, I found I appreciated this book better after the second reading.
Tattersall reminds us that there is no accepted definition of the word, “human.” His book traces the fossil discoveries of earliest hominids (bipeds) in Africa, about seven million years ago, through time, up to the point where our species, Homo sapiens, became the only human species on the planet, even though for millions of years before us, Earth always hosted multiple hominid species in co-existence. Most of this book discusses the fossil finds upon which current theories of human existence are built. Tattersall reminds us to carefully differentiate evidence from hypothesis, and not to “conjecture too much from limited observation.” Along with the historical narrative, Tattersall takes up a number of theoretical questions.
To me, the most interesting and enjoyable feature of Masters of the Planet is Tattersall’s explanation of the mechanism for human evolution. He sees environmental change as the background force that creates changing conditions, local extinctions, and genetic selection. He emphasizes that his understanding of human evolution is not based upon belief in a “single central lineage.” He describes the evolution of our species as (in phrasing based upon his own words) evolutionary ferment, a stage packed with actors, a whole range of relatives now extinct. He informs us that human evolution is a forking bush and our history of it is based upon a motley assortment of specimens. We evolved, he says, through a complex minuet among hominid species, tiny populations washed back and forth as the world changed around them. Thus, instead of looking for one or two or three ancestors, we need to understand our evolution as the final product of a dynamic, varying, situational, multi-focal set of happenstances that occurred over many millions of years, and that produced many varying human species and scenarios.
Another important agenda of this book is Tattersall’s attempt to explain the unique intelligence, and planet-wide success of our species, that evolved in Africa a few hundred thousand years ago, and unlike all other human species, which died out, we have become masters of the planet. Tattersall focuses his explanation upon human symbolic, cognitive style that enables us to manipulate information. What is the origin of this dramatic leap in our intelligence, as compared to the Neanderthals, with whom we occasionally interbred and who were strong adept hunters, who mastered fire, but totally disappeared? Of course, Tattersall cannot really answer this question, because the evolution of human intelligence has left no fossils or artifacts, and so the description he puts forward as explanation, is really just post hoc description. He tells us that our intelligence, “appeared suddenly all at once…a profound cognitive discontinuity…a disconnect.” He hypothesizes that our intelligence was not primarily developed to facilitate the search for food and shelter, but evolved through the complex social interactions of large groups, or through the use of language, that enables intangible symbols to be recombined to generate alternative versions of reality.
The best we can get is intelligent surmise. Homo sapiens emerged as a jump in evolution to a whole new level of complexity.
Tattersall ends his book with an anguished coda, describing how human intelligence, which is focused upon paying attention to highly immediate consequences, leaves us, “threatened by our own remarkable attributes.” He implies that, smart as we are, we may be too stupid to endure.
From the beginning of our species to its potential end, we are left with mystery and wonder.
Reviewed by Paul R. Fleischman, author of Wonder: When and Why the World Appears Radiant.
- Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2015If you are interested in human origins, this is a book you have to buy.
Tattersall is a widely respected expert. His 50 professional years of familiarity, fascination and insight in the field are apparent as are his critical and clear headed thinking. As Curator Emeritus at Anthropology Division of the American Museum of Natural History he understands how to make this science accessible and interesting to the public.
If you've already looked into human origins, you will find the content interesting. If not, you might get more out of it if you read an introduction book first.(Robin McKie's Dawn of Man: THE STORY OF HUMAN EVOLUTION is a good such book, and with a more balanced viewpoint). This is a summary book, covering most of the field and mostly up to date, concisely condensing the field's important aspects. The book provides a great overview to interpret future developments in the field. Someone who with a very advanced background may find it simplified - but Ian is an important person in this field and this book is full of his opinions and speculations that are worth reading if you haven't read him before. And his occasional controversial viewpoints and strong opinions should be food for thought.
The majority of the book reviews the interpretation of hominids fossils and their relationship over time. But the book also delves almost equally into a variety of related fields: genetics, biology, life style and features of living apes, skeletal morphology, prehistoric artifacts and chemical analysis. It also includes areas not usually discussed in other books: molecular forensics, language, developmental biology, brain development, psychology and more. Ian masterly interprets and weaves these disparate sources to help bridge information that is missing in the fossil record and create a fabric outlining human origins.
The book is information dense, not light summer reading. Several reviewers wrote they read the book twice and got more from it on the second read. True for me as well.
Literary Quality
Some readers state that Ian writing is easy to read while others find it "foggy" or difficult. Both viewpoints may be true. The book's value is its content and not its literary style.
Its content is presented in a light entertaining way, not in academia writing. Ian presents scientific information, which can be dry and cocooned in jargon, in natural language and an relaxed manner. He is not afraid of speculating about subjects that are not directly accessible from the fossil evidence on subjects that the lay reader will be more interested in. He is a natural story teller, adding surprise and color. So in this sense he is very readable.
But Ian's is not good at basic English exposition: paragraphs are run-ons with two or more topics. He over-qualifies, sometimes qualifies his qualifications - even digressing into equivocation. His desire to be objective (a rare trait among anthropologists) sometimes means he over vacillates. He can be disorderly, jumping around too much. Ian's earlier book was worst, his skills have improved a good deal, but there is still room to improve.
Main Concerns
Tattersall delves into what it means to be human, and how scientists have variously defined over time the criteria that indicate a species is considered to have a direct lineage to mankind. His summary is one of the best write ups I have seen on this.
His main focus is on at what really makes us different to other species - and especially the discontinuities in evolution that made us human. He is also interested in teasing out the critical qualities of our ancestors that made us the in the end the sole Hominid species and "The Masters of the Planet".
Content
I dislike spoiler reviews, giving up too much so I will mostly just mention categories of information. Besides concise reviews of the major fossils: role of genetics in understanding human evolution, non-linear human evolution, biological change is related to environmental change while technological change does not track species, symbolic reasoning, brain architecture, unique nature of our intelligence and reason for its development, language, changing definition of "Human" and the unique status of humans.
However, there are three areas I feel I should say more:
Classification/Systematics: A big problem in Paleoanthropology is a failure to agree on about this field's basics. The vacillations between categorization ("splitters" and "lumpers") and dizzying assignment of fossils to various names greatly adds to the confusion in the field for the interested lay public and amateurs. Ian provides an excellent review of the history of species classification and naming conventions and assignments, on page 94, that helps make sense of the mess that has been made. He hints at some of the remaining problems - but I would have preferred he had more explicit and given us his own opinion on those.
Sudden Change: This book is in some ways a second version of his earlier book - "Becoming Human: Evolution and Human Uniqueness", where a great deal is said about 'Punctuated Evolution' This is not mentioned in this book probably because Punctuated Evolution, as a catch phrase, has passed out of fashion among most evolutionary scientists. But the concept is still here in a section he called "Sudden Change" and mentioned briefly elsewhere, because it is obviously part of Human Evolution. Being downgraded is ironic because a recent partial explanation has been offered by mutations in regulatory genes - which Ian does go into.
Bipedality is the first "human" trait to show up in the Hominid fossils. He briefly gives the most common conjectures made for its occurrence as most Anthropology books. He also covers the most likely explanation - the expatiations of a pre-existing upright posture of certain larger tree dwelling Miocene and Pleistocene apes. This makes great sense and is an important explanation. So the real mystery is not verticality, but the progressive expatiation of this verticalness to take it to the ground and modification of the foot from a grasping one, to a more human-like one. Ian's low key writing style, it's possible to miss this point which is why I mentioned it. Other books give a stronger presentation and more detail. And I was disappointed that more is not made about the critical role increasingly committed bipedality played in guiding hominid evolution and other human traits.
Ian rightly puts expatiation rather than direct functional adaptations as the fundamental evolutionary processes in his books. Evolution involves expiating and then selectively exploiting existing mutations for new uses/advantages. And he explains that a species is a package deal - with a cluster of advantages and disadvantage in certain circumstances. The book is worth reading for these points alone.
Recommendations to the Reader
Buy the book. I say buy it instead of just read it, because it's one that you are likely going to want to underline and make notes in the margins and read several times. An improved index would increase its value as a reference book. Speaking of reference books, I would read concurrently "The First Human: A Guide to Twenty-Two Species of Extinct Humans, which goes into greater detail about fossils and their status and provides reconstructions lacking in this book. But this book provides the interpretation and context lacking in The First Human. The books nicely complement each other. Another complementary book is Ian's earlier book: Becoming Human: etc. But read this book first and that book as an addendum for additional information about processes, not species. That book is also more out of date and by reading this book first you will recognize those areas.
Problems and Suggestions to the Author.
Improving the expository quality is my strongest suggestion. It's the reason I rated the book a four instead of the five your content deserves. I am hope in later editions you find a better rewrite editor or a graduate English student to help that time around. This book, as with most books, has some errors- read danielx's review for some of them. I applaud for you discussing speculations and conjectures - it adds richness to the book but I recommend you make it more apparent when you are doing so. Your focus on what makes humans different and unique can verge on chauvinistic - although less so here than your earlier book.
The book could use many more illustrations; maps of sites and illustration or photos of fossils for every species to just mention a few areas. Since you are a curator, I know you understand the role of visual aids in understanding and learning. Treat this book as you do the Spitzer Hall of Human Origins. The index could be expanded and you might consider a glossary for the less advanced reader.
You might consider going electronic to build upon the book. It deserves a blog by you and a discussion board (which might provide you better feedback - and this is one book that should generate a lot of discussion). If you go electronic, you can add supporting information, your own commentary and notes on the book and more information about additional readings. And you could put the needed glossary and additional illustrations there, as a way to contain publishing costs. Maybe some of the illustrations could come from the Spitzer Hall as a way to promote it. And the website allows updates in the rapidly changing field. It could even become a major website on Human Origins.
Finally, despite the problems and suggestions section you deserve accolades for what you have accomplished. This is a very difficult subject area to delve into deeply and to present in a condensed format and you have produced a `masterly" piece of work.
Top reviews from other countries
- daniel sombrioReviewed in Brazil on February 22, 2021
5.0 out of 5 stars excelente
excelente
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LORENZO PINNAReviewed in Italy on April 19, 2021
5.0 out of 5 stars I primi tre miliardi di anni
Un grande paleontologo Andrew Knoll racconta, in modo chiaro e impeccabile, la storia della vita sulla Terra dalle prime forme fino all'esplosione del Cambriano, come emerge dallo studio dei fossili. E' sicuramente la parte più interessante dell'evoluzione della vita ma poiché è anche la meno spettacolare ( tre miliardi e mezzo di esseri unicellulari o quasi) non viene spesso raccontata ed è assolutamente fuori dagli schermi radar di media e stampa.
- Sudsy100Reviewed in Canada on January 29, 2019
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent tome on human evolution and who we are
This is a great book! I've lent it out 3 or 4 times, and others are as impressed as I am. You can read the details in the other reviews, but I can chime in with a "highly recommended" as well. You won't be disappointed. Fabulous read!
- A. BrazmaReviewed in the United Kingdom on August 19, 2018
5.0 out of 5 stars The best among recent book about human origins
Well written, nicely brief and well balanced in describing bones, tools, genetics and symbolic artefacts. Begins with description of a variety of different lineages of early hominids 7 million years ago (nicely summarised in a figure), the developments towards bipedalism and use of first tools, and the complexity of interpreting the findings. I particularly enjoyed reading about our more recent predecessors – H. heidelbergensis and H. neanderthalensis (who actually are not our ancestors). The modern humans took over as they developed symbolic thinking, which our predecessors lacked. I found the arguments well balanced and convincing. I found missing a good schematic map with the archaeological finds and dates, or a summary table. If the book was written in 2018, I’d like to see more genetics. This however would not warrant to subtract a star. This is a must read for everybody interested in human origins.
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ThomasagaraReviewed in Germany on April 13, 2018
4.0 out of 5 stars Our Human History
Author is well credentialed, has a easy to read writing style. I enjoyed and learned from the book.Well grounded in current thought on the subject. Do not expect a 'cutting-edge' new theory of everything.