The Last Human: A Guide to Twenty-Two Species of Extinct Humans Summary and Reviews

The Last Human: A Guide to Twenty-Two Species of Extinct Humans
by G. J. Sawyer, Viktor Deak, Esteban Sarmiento, Richard Milner

The Last Human: A Guide to Twenty-Two Species of Extinct Humans
List Price: $45.00
Our Price: $23.79
You Save: $21.21 (47%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $23.75 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


or

Book Summary Information

Author: Esteban Sarmiento, G. J. Sawyer, Richard Milner, Viktor Deak
Introduction: Ian Tattersall
Afterword: Maeve Leakey
Foreword: Donald C. Johanson
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2007-06-28
ISBN: 0300100477
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Yale University Press

Book Reviews of The Last Human: A Guide to Twenty-Two Species of Extinct Humans

Book Review: A catalogue of cousins
Summary: 5 Stars

There's a great deal of information available to the interested seeker of human origins. What has been lacking is a good descriptive overview and logical arrangement of the fossils found. Sawyer and Deak have responded to that need with this volume. Arranged in order of the oldest to the youngest of fossil specimens, the authors summarise which parts have been uncovered. In addition, they further descriptions of the likelihood of bipedalism, the known locations with assumed roaming areas, the associated wildlife and climate information. A special feature presents the way the "man-ape" probably appeared in its natural habitat.

The oldest fossils are very fragmentary and lead more to suggestions as to how they fit in the human lineage. Some clearly were successful creatures in their own right, but likely lie in a line that died out in time. Those aged pieces need further finds to establish their place - the chief reason the authors describe the probable range they inhabited. Later, more complete, fossils offer more information. The authors begin depicting fossil pieces in a restored placement with Australopithicus afarensis, the now-famous "Lucy" revealed by Don Johanson and his team in 1973. The authors provide an almost startling image of this hominid searching the savannah for her "lost daughter" - a very human characteristic. Laetoli's preserved footprints are described with the implications for how close to modern humans A. afarensis could stride.

After "Lucy's" time, about 3.5 million years ago, hominids developed into many and varied types. Lucy's fossils were found in Ethiopia, but a million years later a new species, with robust jaws and bearing a crested cranium appeared. Paranthropus aethiopicus had nutcracker jaws and was more sturdily built than Lucy. Yet, in the same time frame, Lucy's likely direct successors also emerged. One of these may have been the first to apply tools to aid food processing. Far away in what is now South Africa, other branches of Lucy's clan may have evolved as a result of earlier forebears migrating. Within another half-million years, examples of hominids in the direct lineage to today's humans appear, only a short distance from the supposed range of Lucy's wanderings. Their descendents launched new migrations traced by finds to the east of their original homelands.

The recent find near Dmanisi in Georgia provides a look at hominid life nearly 2 million years ago. Flaked stone, likely used for meat cutting, although no bones with cut marks have yet been revealed. A contemporary of the Georgian hominid wandered yet further east, typified by the skull and thigh bone excavated by Eugene Dubois in 1891. Homo habilis has been found in other sites, demonstrating its wandering habits. The most astonishing find outside our African origins is the small hominid, H. floresienses, discovered in a cave in Indonesia.

Ultimately, of course, the sole survivor of hominid evolution, Homo sapiens, outlasted its many competitors. The last major contender alongside our species was Home neanderthalis, ranging from today's Middle East into Western Europe. The authors' coverage of this species is thorough, but not extravagant. Moving to our species, Sawyer and Deak provide a good overview of the factors used in classifying the fossils without greatly extending their coverage in comparison to the other topics. To conclude the book, they describe the techniques used in making the representative images of the various hominid species discussed in the text. The key point is how they developed the faces in the images. These stand in stark contrast to some of the historical illustrations of "early man" done earlier.

This book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in our ancestral past. Written in a straightforward manner, the authors give the available data, describing various speculations with care. They avoid dwelling on the many controversial questions that have plagued palaeoanthropology, and have no particular positions of their own to forward or defend. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Nonfiction Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Books that back evolution
Walking With Cavemen ImageWalking With Cavemen
Warner Brothers; Release date: 2003-06-17; DVD
Best price: $9.98
Price in other shops: $19.98
Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design ImageWhy Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design
by Michael Shermer
Holt Paperbacks; Published: 2007-07-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.74
Price in other shops: $14.00
Evolution Boxed Set ImageEvolution Boxed Set
Evolution; Release date: 2001-11-20; DVD
Best price: $52.49
Price in other shops: $99.95
Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea ImageEvolution: The Triumph of an Idea
by Carl Zimmer
Harper Perennial; Published: 2006-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.88
Price in other shops: $15.95
Only a Theory: Evolution and the Battle for America's Soul ImageOnly a Theory: Evolution and the Battle for America's Soul
by Kenneth R. Miller
Viking Adult; Published: 2008-06-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $1.92
Price in other shops: $25.95
What Evolution Is ImageWhat Evolution Is
by Ernst Mayr
Basic Books; Published: 2002-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.54
Price in other shops: $16.95
Science, Evolution, and Creationism ImageScience, Evolution, and Creationism
by National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine
National Academies Press; Published: 2008-01-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.33
Price in other shops: $12.95
Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters ImageEvolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters
by Donald R. Prothero
Columbia University Press; Published: 2007-10-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $21.59
Price in other shops: $29.50
Evolution vs. Creationism ImageEvolution vs. Creationism
by Eugenie C. Scott
Greenwood; Published: 2008-12-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $39.96
Price in other shops: $49.95
The Last Human: A Guide to Twenty-Two Species of Extinct Humans ImageThe Last Human: A Guide to Twenty-Two Species of Extinct Humans
by G. J. Sawyer, Viktor Deak, Esteban Sarmiento, Richard Milner
Yale University Press; Published: 2007-06-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $23.99
Price in other shops: $45.00
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters ImageEvolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters
by Donald R. Prothero
Columbia University Press; Published: 2007-10-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $21.59
Price in other shops: $29.50
Relics of Eden: The Powerful Evidence of Evolution in Human DNA ImageRelics of Eden: The Powerful Evidence of Evolution in Human DNA
by Daniel J. Fairbanks
Prometheus Books; Published: 2007-12-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.21
Price in other shops: $26.98
Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors ImageBefore the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors
by Nicholas Wade
Penguin; Published: 2007-03-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.64
Price in other shops: $16.00
From Lucy to Language: Revised, Updated, and Expanded ImageFrom Lucy to Language: Revised, Updated, and Expanded
by Donald Johanson, Blake Edgar
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2006-10-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $33.00
Price in other shops: $65.00
The First Human: The Race to Discover Our Earliest Ancestors ImageThe First Human: The Race to Discover Our Earliest Ancestors
by Ann Gibbons
Anchor; Published: 2007-04-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.51
Price in other shops: $14.95
The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language ImageThe First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language
by Christine Kenneally
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2008-05-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.99
Price in other shops: $16.00
Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body (Vintage) ImageYour Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body (Vintage)
by Neil Shubin
Vintage; Published: 2009-01-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.64
Price in other shops: $13.95
The Complete World of Human Evolution ImageThe Complete World of Human Evolution
by Chris Stringer, Peter Andrews
Thames & Hudson; Published: 2005-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $19.98
Price in other shops: $39.95
The World Without Us ImageThe World Without Us
by Alan Weisman
Picador; Published: 2008-08-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Price in other shops: $15.00
Smithsonian Intimate Guide to Human Origins ImageSmithsonian Intimate Guide to Human Origins
by Carl Zimmer
HarperCollins Publishers; Published: 2005-11-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.00
Price in other shops: $29.95