The strange case of the rickety Cossack : and other cautionary tales from human evolution

Summary: "In his new book human paleoanthropologist Ian Tattersall argues that a long tradition of "human exceptionalism" in paleoanthropology has distorted the picture of human evolution. Drawing partly on his own career-- from young scientist in awe of his elders to crotchety elder statesman-- Tattersall offers an idiosyncratic look at the competitive world of paleoanthropology, beginning with Charles Darwin 150 years ago, and continuing through the Leakey dynasty in Africa, and concluding with the latest astonishing findings in the Caucasus. With tact and humor, Tattersall concludes that we are not the perfected products of natural processes, but instead the result of substantial doses of random happenstance"-- $c Provided by publisher.

Record details

ISBN: 9781137278890
ISBN: 1137278897
Physical Description: print
xii, 244 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (pages {223]-235) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	Lemurs and the delights of fieldwork -- Humankind's place in nature -- People get a fossil record -- Neanderthals and man-apes -- The synthesis and handy man -- Evolutionary refinements -- The Gilded Age -- Meanwhile, back at the museum ... -- Turkana, the Afar, and Dmanisi -- Molecules and midgets -- Neanderthals, DNA, and creativity -- Why does it matter how we evolved?