The Book Depository The Origin of Our Species by Chris Stringer

Author: Hansen

Rating: 5

Review: There is probably no one better than Chris Stringer to write a book on our origins. His book is packed with information, scientific discoveries and theories attempting to take our knowledge further. It is a topic of increasing complexity. 50 years ago it was believed that our ancestry consisted of a number of gradually more advanced species, where species A begat species B, which begat C and culminating with the tall and elegant Cro-Magnons, essentially modern people like ourselves (since then we may have gone slightly downhill). There was a bit of uncertainty regarding the role of the Neanderthals, were they part of the chain or a sidetrack? 30 years ago saw the confrontation between the two more recent theories: "Out of Africa" or "Multi-regionalism". The former claimed that modern man essentially developed in Africa and then moved out and conquered the whole world. The latter proposed that man developed into modernity simultaneously in many regions, and some cross-breeding ensured that we stayed one species. Stringer starts out his book by describing some of the technology used by science, not the least in dating of fossils. He mentions some examples, and by then we are already in the thick of the action. The picture quickly turns very muddled. "Species" turn out to be very difficult to define and delineate, and the sequence in which they appear is not always as one would expect. More primitive individuals are found to be contemporary or even more recent than more advanced ones, and the geographic distribution only makes matters worse. Our genes, carried by our DNA in several systems, provide lots of additional information, but unfortunately it does not always make the picture more clear. Stringer steers the reader through this mess and tries to maintain a consistent picture of what might have happened. Obviously the past of humanity was in no way simple. We are dealing with a bush of species, sub-species and variants, some advanced-looking ones coming in rather early and some primitive ones staying late. And there is even evidence that the two sometimes mated when they met - not a very surprising thought given the proclivities of man - and just underlining how fuzzy the species concept is, especially over a period of time. Human development is not just a question of bigger brains and more dexterous hands. Culture has had a tremendous role to play; tools, organisation of work, spiritual beliefs, etc. Archaeologists have unearthed many fascinating items, shedding light on these aspects, but also giving rise to rampant speculation. Stringer presents a number of theories proposed by scientists, ranging from reasonably plausible to the downright silly, with rock-bottom reached on p. 137 with the hypothesis of women going on regular sex-strikes by faking menstruation with red pigments. Not a shred of evidence but Stringer keeps his tongue in cheek. The book is highly recommendable, but the reader should not expect a clear-cut story on just exactly how we came about. Because nobody knows, yet.

Author: Freya Menzies

Rating: 3

Review: Upon reading the introduction of The Origin of Our Species, I was genuinely excited to begin reading a book which is described as “comprehensive –but comprehensible”, a book promising to tackle the most frequently asked questions about evolution by the public and the media. But with one turn of the page my mood changed from enthusiastic, to quite disappointed. Comprehensive, yes. Comprehensible, not really. The Origin of Our Species lives up to the stereotypical view of any non-fiction, intellectual book. Chapter one’s evolutionary timeline was complicated and anything but chronological; it was less of a timeline and more of a mish mash of every paper, report and book written on the topic. To confuse things even more, there was a slight overdose of ambitious vocabulary. Despite a bit of a rusty start, the book goes on to improve (even though I did nearly fall asleep a few times).The different evolutionary stages of the human race are explained in great detail. I also learnt about the different methods of dating the fossils studied, for example carbon and argon dating (most of these methods involve measuring the half-life of radioactive substances). What fascinated me most about evolution is what the scientists do in order to extract every tiny piece of information from the fossils that they study; for example one scientist specialises in studying big toes. From the big toe of a skeleton, he can tell whether that evolutionary stage of the human race was intelligent enough to make and wear shoes. Factually this book comes out on top, although it’s a very difficult read and dare I say boring. In my opinion this book has so much potential to be great, the facts (once you’ve worked out what they mean) are quite amazing, but they are written a big chunk of numbers and names and dates, so you have to read each page more than once in order to find them. Truthfully, reading this book was a struggle, as it was definitely written to inform, and not to excite.