A review by seullywillikers
Atlas of a Lost World: Travels in Ice Age America by Sarah Gilman, Craig Childs

adventurous emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

Wow, this has been a wonderful reading experience. Part travelogue/memoir, part scientific paper, part thought experiment, this author explains the evidence showing early humans' movement into and across the Americas, but to explain it like that sells it short. Using elegant prose the author expresses his imaginings, what did these early humans see, hear, smell, and feel? What motivated them? But, even that doesn't explain the book. The author creates a nostalgia (I'm not sure if that's the right word, but I can't think of anything else right now) for understanding our past and builds up a responsibility toward the future. He evokes connections for all people to the peoples of the past, the human ancestor. He imagines himself standing in the past, he constantly thinks about what and what may have stood where he is standing, and who and what will stand there after. He thinks about time and the links between everything, honoring the journeys of all those who have come before.

One of the things that really struck me was the author pointing out how inherently colonialist the English language is, and that to discuss the early humans' expansion into America is to automatically use colonialist language that is harmful to Native Americans.

You can tell the author has a deep love for nature, and ultimately for humanity. 10/10 I recommend this book.