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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
informative
slow-paced
This was a well written book and an interesting foray into the study of human evolutionary biology. However, a brief internet search will reveal that its conclusions are almost certainly wrong: the aquatic ape hypothesis that Morgan popularized doesn’t hold water, because the traits it seeks to explain probably evolved at very different times and can also be explained by the much less complicated woodland/savannah hypothesis. After 50 years of research and public debate, it’s possible to call continuing support for this idea pseudoscience (though Morgan didn’t know this when she wrote it).
A thorough explanation of the inconsistencies exists here:
https://www.aquaticape.org/summary.html
Two books that might scratch the same itch, with better scientific grounding, are “The Art of Tracking” and “Lone Survivors.”
A thorough explanation of the inconsistencies exists here:
https://www.aquaticape.org/summary.html
Two books that might scratch the same itch, with better scientific grounding, are “The Art of Tracking” and “Lone Survivors.”
I love the idea of the Aqautic Ape Hypothesis, even if I don't quite buy it yet. But true or not, this is a well-written book that certainly encouraged me to think about things from a new perspective. The arguments are persuasive, at least while you're reading the book. It also reminds the reader how our bodies are a patchwork, even a bodge-job of adaptations rather than some kind of perfect end result built to a design.