Item Detail

We know prehistoric humans shaped tools and made fire. But evolutionary biologist Jonathan Kingdon thinks that our ancestors shaped us and that the human face, our racial differences, and our problematic relationship with nature are all self-made. Advance Praise for Jonathan Kingdon’s Self-Made Man "One of the most original and illuminating of books on human evolution. It gives an extraordinary feel for what it must have been like." —Professor Alison Jolly Princeton University "A marvelously researched and documented book, beautifully expressed and put together—a major achievement." —Elspeth Huxley "Every page provokes a new thought." —The Economist "Self-Made Man is the work of a man of an enlarged curiosity. It is a deeply personal, challenging, and important book." —New Scientist "Kingdon has written a stimulating and absorbing contribution to the debate about human evolution, broad in range and rich in detail." —New Statesman & Societ

About the author JONATHAN KINGDON is Professor of Zoology at Oxford University and an internationally known expert on evolution. A graduate of both Oxford and London’s Royal College of Art, Mr. Kingdon is also a professional painter and sculptor. As a research scientist in primatology and evolutionary biology at Oxford and the CSIRO Tropical Forest Research Centre in Atherton, Australia, Mr. Kingdon is a regular visitor to Africa and the Middle East. The 1980 recipient of Britain’s Stamford Raffles Medal and the 1991 recipient of the Sir Peter Kent Conservation Book Prize, Jonathan Kingdon is the author of six previous books including East African Mammals: An Atlas of Evolution in Africa, Island Africa, and Arabian Mammals: A Natural History.

Kingdon is an Oxford University zoologist and artist whose important works include East African Mammals: An Atlas of Evolution in Africa (Academic Pr., 1971). His newest book is an attempt to map out the geography and ecology of prehuman and human populations, beginning with the radiation of Homo erectus from Africa, continuing with a second wave of African migration--this time by modern humans--and ending with the differentiation of the races as populations adapted to local environments. Kingdon's arguments about the primacy of technology in food gathering and transportation can be hard to follow as he careens across ages and continents. Also frustrating is a lack of footnotes that would allow one to examine the evidence that led to his bold assertions. Still, this is a significant contribution to the current debate over the birthplace of Homo sapiens and the origin of the races. Recommended for academic and large public libraries.-- Eric Hinsdale, Trinity Univ. Lib., San Antonio # Copyright 1993 Cahners Business Information.

---

Prehistoric humans, in Oxford zoologist Kingdon's view, were preoccupied with making, fine-tuning and applying tools. In his ambitous scenario, the quest for new technologies, rather than pure Darwinian selection, played a key role in human evolution. By speculatively mapping the dispersal of modern humans out of Africa across the continents, Kingdon fleshes out the currently fashionable ``Noah's Ark model'' of evolution, which is rejected by those paleoanthropologists who support a multiple-origins model. This provocative and lively saga of human origins also contends that the four or five classic ``races'' share a highly mixed genetic past, with Africans being ``genetically the most diverse people on earth.'' Europeans, by Kingdon's reckoning, are mostly recent migrants out of Africa and the Middle East, while the Japanese are a mix of Koreans and Ainu. Kingdon calls today's environmental movement ``a major turning point in human history,'' as society seeks to put limits on technology's dangerous side effects. Illustrated. (Sept.) Copyright 1993 Cahners Business Information.