Over the past 180 years scientists have sifted through evidence that at least twenty-seven human species have evolved on planet Earth. And as you may have noticed; twenty-six of them are no longer with us; done in by their environment; predators; disease; or the unfortunate shortcomings of their DNA. What enabled us to survive when so many other human species were shown the evolutionary door? Last Ape Standing: The Seven-Million-Year Story of How and Why We Survived by acclaimed science journalist Chip Walter tells the intriguing tale of how against all odds and despite nature's brutal and capricious ways we stand here today; the only surviving humans; and the planet's most dominant species.Drawing on a wide variety of scientific disciplines; Walter reveals how a rare evolutionary phenomenon led to the uniquely long childhoods that make us so resourceful and emotionally complex. He looks at why we developed a new kind of mind and how our highly social nature has shaped our moral (and immoral) behavior. And in exploring the traits that enabled our success; he plumbs the roots of our creativity and investigates why we became self-aware in ways that no other animal is. Along the way; Last Ape Standing profiles other human species who evolved with us and who have also shaped our kind in startling ways - the Neanderthals of Europe; the "Hobbits" of Indonesia; the Denisovans of Siberia; and the recently discovered Red Deer Cave people of China; who died off just as we stood at the brink of civilizations eleven thousand years ago.Last Ape Standing is an engaging and accessible story that explores the forces that molded us into the peculiar and astonishing creature that we are.
#1348556 in Books Grove Press 2004-02-24Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.24 x .73 x 5.52l; .77 #File Name: 080214067X288 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Interesting; not fascinating.By Barbara DInteresting book. Writing is excellent but the names and the culture are hard to grasp. Georgia is an absolute mess!0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. I loved this bookBy Fred BittnerI loved this book! A fun wandering story and great little tid-bits about the local cultures that an intelligent person will find enjoyable.4 of 7 people found the following review helpful. You'll fall for Ms. Steavenson's storiesBy Andy OrrockI admire Wendell Steavenson for this effort. Tbilisi intrigued her - it was a pin on her map and the germ of her idea (go some place unique; collect some killer stories; write a compelling travelogue). Many have thoughts like that...Ms. Steavenson carried it out. She paints a balanced; compelling pastiche of life in Georgia as it struggles out of its post-Soviet torpor. The only shame is that Ms. Steavonson isn't around to cover the Rose Revolution in which Eduard Shevardnadze is displaced by Mikheil Saakashvili's United National Movement. That was 2003 and Steavenson had her work published in 2002. Missed it by that much."Stories I Stole" is like a mash-up of two other works I've read: Matthew Brzezniski's "Casino Moscow" and Tony Hawks' outstanding "Playing the Moldovans at Tennis." If you liked either of those works; you'll fall for Ms. Steavenson's stories.
