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Review
'Seven Million Years is continuously interesting, written with style, and a pleasure to read.' (NEW SCIENTIST )
'Insightful... a really good read.' (BBC FOCUS ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
'Insightful... a really good read.' (BBC FOCUS ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
NEW SCIENTIST
'Seven Million Years is continuously interesting, written with style, and a pleasure to read.'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
High detail of early hominoid evolution,
By
This review is from: Seven Million Years: The Story of Human Evolution (Phoenix Press) (Paperback)
This book concentrates mainly on the earlier stages of human evolution, looking in considerable detail at the plethara of species in the 7-2 milion frame, and attempting to untangle the compex realtionship between them. The later elements following "out of africa II" are treated in much less detail. Personally, it is the earlier stages of process that most interests me, so this book was ideal for me.It was very up to date, with inclusion of discoveries from the last few years e.g. in flores man, chad, and kenya etc. Palmer is probably not as fluent a writer as some of his contempories, Leakey say. So this book is probably best for someone with a fairly serious interest in the topic.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Seven Million Years in 250 pages: not at all a bad job!,
By Rgh1066 "rgh1066" (Monterrey) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Seven Million Years (Hardcover)
Douglas Palmer does a good job of marshalling the vast army of theories surrounding our evolutionary origins and of explaining the scientific and palaeoanthropological discoveries supporting them in this sweeping history of human evolution.I was intrigued by Palmer's sketching the human characteristics of some of the more famous anthropologists. Inevitably one's own character colours how one goes about one's work and his description of Louis Leakey has one wondering at times whether the man was a genius or an idiot! In another chapter, Donald Johanson's introduction as "extremely ambitious" sets one wondering what kind of hatchet job may be in store for the young American. In fact, Johanson escapes with his reputation more or less intact, although the descriptions of the ill-feeling between the French and American archaeologists on the digs that eventually led to the excavation of Lucy are revealing - and, like all of us, Johanson can be made to sound ridiculous when his early claims about what his team had found are examined in the light of thirty-three years' hindsight. Telling the story of seven million years of human evolution in a little over 250 pages inevitably leaves gaps. There was almost no discussion of the exciting events surrounding the discovery of Peking Man, little depth to the analysis of cave painting, and no mention at all of the work of David Lewis Williams in this field. Likewise, the discoveries of Homo floresiensis and the recently extended timeline for both Homeo erectus and the Neanderthals must have surfaced during Palmer's writing of the book. Homo floresiensis is discussed, but Palmer must have wished he had another year or so to delay publication and consider this important find in a deeper research context. I most enjoyed the discussion boxes that deal with side issues pertinent to the text. These, for once in a book of this kind, have been thoughtfully placed at natural pauses in the text so that one doesn't get sidetracked reading them and then have to pick up what can be at times a complicated narrative. The discussions themselves are perfectly weighted; assuming that the reader can follow scientific discourse but not necessarily complex analysis involving esoteric terms. Where so many publishers seek to dumb down, I thank Palmer for that. I also appreciated the humour and warmth he brings to a subject that is often presented to the lay reader with neither. As an overview of our evolution and as a history of our attempts to understand it, this will do very well indeed. Like the subject he is discussing, this book will evolve, and I look forward to reading Palmer's update one day.
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
good,
By
This review is from: Seven Million Years: The Story of Human Evolution (Phoenix Press) (Paperback)
I was looking for something a little easier to read. The author is very comprehensive and goes into a lot of detail on the different topics. I enjoyed very much the history of the search for our past and I think with a few more better placed diagrams the book may have been more readable. If you are looking for a thorough account of the history of human evolution then this is the book for you. If however you are like me and just want a more story like account then look elsewhere.
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