Scan barcode
liam_tha_dawg's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
More narrative than Origins. As in Origins, I like how Leakey is willing to make some speculations about what prehistoric life may have been like instead of just saying “there’s no way to be certain, so we shouldn’t try to make any guesses about how people used to live.” I also like his recounting of the evolution of prehistory as an academic field and the different conflicts throughout time. On the negative side, I disagreed with some of his arguments about evolution or maybe I just didn’t follow them correctly.
unsweettea's review
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. It's very broad, Leakey covers a lot of ground, not merely the physical remains, but he draws on other scientists' research to talk about language, consciousness, religion, art and culture. The very first chapters seem to jump around a lot; they move back and forth from discoveries to theory, needlesslessly, it seemed to me. But things settled down further in the book, and it was very well written and very interesting. He does often give an opinion on things he's not really qualified to, but it's his book, so I guess that's okay. I had read The First Word, by Christine Kenneally, which talks about some similiar ideas about language and evolution. Her book is more focused and in depth, and equally well written.
More...