Principles of Human Evolution: A Core Textbook

I'm not an anthropology major and i had to re-read sections to fully understand. I needed this book for a class and this book is a lot of information. I talked to some people who didn't like the fact that key terms and concepts aren't highlighted (which didn't really bother me) although some of the theories and concepts are drawn or illustrated in the pages. Overall, I like this book but it's definitely geared towards anthropology majors.

This sets out to be an introductory text on human evolution and succeeds quite nicely in reaching that goal. The presentation as would be expected with such a complex subject is dense. Illustrations are profuse but are often of surprising poor quality. Lewin proceeds in an orderly manner, beginning with a discussion of "human evolution in perspective," which is really well done as Lewin explains that there really is no agreement among experts about the course of human evolution and that theories are constantly evolving as new discoveries are made. The text goes on to consider the background to human evolution, humans as animals, hominine beginnings, hominine adaptation, the migration of humanoids out of Africa, the originas of modern humans, the human milieu (which is particularly interesting) and finally more recent migrations. Lewin is a gifted writer. Although he covers a lot of territory, ranging from dating methods to how digs are accomplished to competing theories of language development, his discourse is always direct and onpoint. For an academic, his writing is surprisingly clear. In a way, I feel sorry for students who have to absorb all the information Lewin presents in the course of a semester. I would hope they keep this book and later read it a more leisurely pace. Lewin deserves the attention as he tells a fascinating story in a fascinating way. Jerry

Well-written for a freshman physical anthropology course, complete with numerous illustrations and charts. Roger Lewin explains in concise and easily-understandable language not only the field of paleoanthropology, but basic evolutionary theory, dating techniques, and paleoprimatology. The book presents multiple views on any debated issue, which should encourage open-mindedness and objectivity among students. However, "Principles of Human Evolution" afforded inadequate coverage to the earliest hominids, instead devoting the whole first half of the text to non-paleoanthropological background information. While this may be useful to beginners, readers who already possess the necessary background will feel inclined to skip ahead. There is also a lack of much anatomical detail, with which the text might have been much more informative and appealing to more advanced anthro readers. Overall, a good book, but there is still room for improvement.

I enjoyed this book, which is essentially a general text on modern anthropology. It discusses not only the physical evidence for human evolution, it also outlines for the student the history and current status of controversies within the field. The latter includes such topics as the "lumping" and "splitting" of species, the "out of Africa" verses the "multi-regional" theories of modern human origins, the Neanderthal controversey, and the evolution of consciousness as the true measure of what it means to be "human." The book would make a good text for an introductory college level course to physical anthropology but might also interest the high school level student.