Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors | Nicholas Wade

Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors | Nicholas Wade | Engrossing

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Before the Dawn: R...

	Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors Nicholas Wade Penguin, 2007 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 81 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Nicholas Wade?s articles are a major reason why the science section has become the most popular, nationwide, in the New York Times. In his groundbreaking Before the Dawn, Wade reveals humanity?s origins as never before?a journey made possible only recently by genetic science, whose incredible findings have answered such questions as: What was the first human language like? How large were the first societies, and how warlike were they? When did our ancestors first leave Africa, and by what route did they leave? By eloquently solving these and numerous other mysteries, Wade offers nothing less than a uniquely complete retelling of a story that began 500 centuries ago.

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Simply the Best Survey of Human Prehistory for the Layman

This was, far and away, the best book I have ever read on the subject of our distant prehistory. I have been studying anthropology, human evolution, and earth history as a hobby for several years now. It was refreshing to read a book that successfully synthesized the findings of such diverse fields as physical anthropology, sociobiology, and genetics to piece together a coherent picture of who our earliest ancestors were, where they came from, and how they lived. Nicholas Wade does a magnificent job of sifting through the literature and presenting what we know now about who we once were. Ultimately, he shines a clear and sparkling mirror on who we have become.

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Engrossing

Wonderful a book of distinction. Relates well with Spenser Wells.
The whole National Geographics / genographic project has opened a new world of understanding.
A global revolution.
Dik in Henderson, nv

Ammo for conservatives

This is a comprehensive history (or strictly speaking prehistory) of humanity up until recent times, which is to say twenty thousand years ago. I enjoyed it and learned a lot from it.
Wade is a superb science writer. For example, on page 13 there is what he calls "a one -paragraph summary of human genetics" and he really does achieve this, quite clearly, in half a page.
Some of the biases and over-simplifications could provide ammunition for racists and male chauvinists. He is strongly in favor of evolutionary psychology, and fails to present any of the arguments against it. He also espouses Richard Klein's theory about the sudden emergence of language 50,000 years ago. Here he is "more royalist than the king." Richard Klein himself, in his books, such as "The Dawn of Human Culture," is careful to present the scientific evidence both for and against his theories.
I thought the discussion of Joseph Greenberg's theories about language was better because he gives the arguments on both sides.
He over-simplifies the complexity of linking a particular medical condition, particularly a psychiatric condition, to a particular stretch of DNA.
Perhaps for the sake of a good story, he takes seriously the fanciful genealogies linking people to figures like Genghis Kahn and Aaron. I suspect that even the original authors of these theories had their tongues in their cheeks.

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Great Book

I recommend this book for any non-anthropologist that needs a good background in the beginnings of the human race.

Very Interesting Read.

A fascinating look into human evolution. He leaves out a lot of the human interest filler and chocks his book full of facts and theories.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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