Fossil men the quest for the oldest skeleton and the origins of humankind
"A rip-roaring tale, Fossil Men is one of those rare books that can be a prism through which to view the world, exposing the fabric of the Earth and illuminating the Tree of Life." -- New York Times bestselling author Peter Nichols A behind-the-scenes account of the shocking discovery of the skeleto...
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| Format: | Audiobooks eAudiobook Downloads eAudiobook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York :
HarperAudio,
2020.
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| Edition: | Unabridged. |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Go to Downloadable Audiobook Here. |
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| Summary: | "A rip-roaring tale, Fossil Men is one of those rare books that can be a prism through which to view the world, exposing the fabric of the Earth and illuminating the Tree of Life." -- New York Times bestselling author Peter Nichols A behind-the-scenes account of the shocking discovery of the skeleton of "Ardi," a human ancestor far older than Lucy - a find that shook the world of paleoanthropology and radically altered our understanding of human evolution. In 1994, a team led by fossil-hunting legend Tim White -- "the Steve Jobs of paleoanthropology" -- uncovered the bones of a human ancestor in Ethiopia's Afar region. Radiometric dating of nearby rocks indicated the skeleton, classified as Ardipithecus ramidus, was 4.4 million years old, more than a million years older than "Lucy," then the oldest known human ancestor. The findings challenged many assumptions about human evolution -- how we started walking upright, how we evolved our nimble hands, and, most significantly, whether we were descended from an ancestor that resembled today's chimpanzee -- and repudiated a half-century of paleoanthropological orthodoxy. Fossil Men is the first full-length exploration of Ardi, the fossil men who found her, and her impact on what we know about the origins of the human species. It is a scientific detective story played out in anatomy and the natural history of the human body. Kermit Pattison brings into focus a cast of eccentric, obsessive scientists, including one of the world's greatest fossil hunters, Tim White -- an exacting and unforgiving fossil hunter whose virtuoso skills in the field were matched only by his propensity for making enemies; Gen Suwa, a Japanese savant who sometimes didn't bother going home at night to devote more hours to science; Owen Lovejoy, a onetime creationist-turned-paleoanthropologist; Berhane Asfaw, who survived imprisonment and torture to become Ethiopia's most senior paleoanthropologist and who fought for African scientists to gain equal footing in the study of human origins; and the Leakeys, for decades the most famous family in paleoanthropology. An intriguing tale of scientific discovery, obsession and rivalry that moves from the sun-baked desert of Africa and a nation caught in a brutal civil war, to modern high-tech labs and academic lecture halls, Fossil Men is popular science at its best, and a must read for fans of Jared Diamond, Richard Dawkins, and Edward O. Wilson. Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook. |
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| Item Description: | Unabridged. |
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (15 audio files) : digital |
| Playing Time: | 15:21:00 |
| Format: | Requires OverDrive Listen (file size: N/A KB) or OverDrive app (file size: 431777 KB). |
| ISBN: | 9780062660039 |
