Origins Reconsidered

I believe Leakey has taken us on a great adventure of discovery with this book. He tries to bridge the gap between the Fossil record only to realize that there are many dead ends. I am glad I have read this book it gives you a great understanding of our ancesters.

Richard Leakey introduced millions to the evolution of humanity in his first "Origins", but over the years it had inevitably become outdated. This book is less dramatic but far more complete scientifically, and is an essential read for anyone who wants to keep up with our past. Moreover, where the first book tended toward philosophical speculation, in this one he builds theory on facts; where before he focused on his own views with little discussion of other researchers, in this one he quotes them with the dilligence of a reporter. Where the first book was often gramatically infuriating, this one has the polished language and clearly stated logic that make learning complex concepts seem effortless.Best of all, this time he takes us along on the adventure of discovery. Leakey is no closeted academic; he can find food and water as the ancient hunter-gatherers did, with no modern tools, in what looks to the untrained eye like a dry wasteland. He understands the politics of the illegal ivory trade as well as the interpretation of fossils. He was not stopped in either his explorations of human origins or his quest to save African wildlife by years of kidney failure, near-fatal pneumonia, death threats from poachers, or even the loss of his legs in a plane crash. He covers the science in full detail, yet the reader has a sense of immediacy one never gets from the academic literature. We are parties to acrimonious debate and feel the thrill of pouncing on the apparent error of a rival. We spend months in the bush, and are immersed in a lifelong search that yields, after innumerable frustrations, to the occasional astonishing discovery. There are a few shortcomings; Leakey glosses over some of the points he made eloquently in the first book which turned out, in retrospect, to be radically incorrect. The photographs, critical to understanding the discussion, are grouped together and hard to relate to the appropriate text, and the critical diagrams of the human evolutionary tree are small and difficult to read. But overall, the theory is so cogently explained, and the narrative has such a sense of realism, that we feel we could do it ourselves, flying over the Great Rift, sifting through ancient sand and rock, pushing back the frontiers of time to discover ourselves.

I found this book both enchanting and informative; not academic, but personal. This is probably the next best thing to sitting around a campfire on a dig, and listing to the shop talk about what's going on.The reconstruction of social necessities from the fossil record is excellently done. The lesson regarding (the lack of) directed-ness in evolutionary trajectory should not be missed. The human evolutionary tree has become the evolutionary bush, with mostly dead branches. One might speculate on the fate of current primate relatives given the fate of Homo Neandertalensis, Homo Heidelbergensis and Homo Erectus, all existing when Homo Sapien emerged. Additionally, the example of persistent coevolution of related anatomic or ontogenetic phenotypic expressions such as lengthening childhood, larger mature female birth canals and expanding brain size represent evolutionary puzzles with more than a touch of mystery.

This is a terrific trek through Leakey's discoveries and his philosophy. In humble and readable terms he discusses his find of the most complete skeleton of H. erectus. He then outlines the literature in several problem areas of human evolution. Why does man have language when other species do not? What caused man to evolve into intelligent beings? What is the evolutionary meaning of consciousness? For anyone interested in the mechanics of paleoanthropology - and the deeper questions this science raises, this is a great overview. A story well told and well worth understanding.

a wonderful book. writted by a person who has worked in the feild and truely knows what he is talking about. philosophical towards the end of the book, he has written a masterpiece. a must read for someone who is interested in human evolution.