Product Description

In the last three years, a flood of new scientific findings - driven by revelations discovered in the human genome - has provided compelling new answers to many long-standing mysteries about our ancient ancestors. When did language emerge? How did our ancestors break out of Africa and defeat the more physically powerful Neanderthals who stood in their way? Why did we come to speak so many different languages? When did we learn to live with animals and where and when did we domesticate man's first animal companions, dogs? How did human nature change in the 35,000 years between the emergence of fully modern humans and the first settlements? In "Before the Dawn", Wade takes readers to the forefront of research in a sweeping and engrossing narrative unlike any other, the first to reveal how genetic discoveries are helping to weave together the perspectives of archaeology, palaeontology, anthropology, linguistics, and many other fields. This is popular science in the mould of Malcolm Gladwell's "Tipping Point" - a compelling synthesis of current research that will surprise and enlighten the general reader.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38498 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Review
"'Superb science writing' New Scientist 'Before the Dawn is a masterful summary of recent research in a field that may dominate the study of ancient history for many years to come' The Week 'For some time now, I have been inflicting this book on my friends. It is rich in scientific cynicism, the unsparing pragmatism of our cold and calculating genes... Wade is a robust and refreshing critic of scientific political correctness' The Washington Post"

New Scientist
'Superb science writing'

Good Book Guide
'This is science with a down-to-earth face, and very refreshing it is, too'

Customer Reviews

A Superb Book
"Before the Dawn" is a very well written survey of what genetics can teach us about the origin and evolution of the human species. Starting with the common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees 5 million years ago, Wade explores the latest theories about the development of the "hominid" line and explains why homo sapiens evolved differently from our cousins, the chimpanzees and the bonobos.

Most of the books about human origins tend to focus on paleoanthropology and related disciplines. "Before the Dawn" does a great job of synthesizing the discoveries of paleoanthropolgists with the findings of geneticists--in some cases, examination of human DNA has confirmed what paleoanthropolgists have long believed, in others it has raised new and sometimes disturbing questions.

Without becoming overly technical, Wade explains how scientists use the study of DNA to determine when signficant events occurred in human evolution--for example, when humans began to use fully modern language (about 50,000 years ago), the size of the ancestral population of modern humans (as small as 150 people), or when the ancestral population left the African continent (also around 50,000 years ago).

Some of Wade's observations may surprise and trouble many people. Creationists will not be pleased with the book's basic view that Darwin's theory of natural selection is absolutely correct and that it applies to people as well as animals. Others will be troubled by the ideas that our DNA contains evidence that our ancestors practiced cannibalism; that homo sapiens wiped out the Neanderthal and Homo ergaster populations in genocidal warfare that spanned millenia; that hunting and gathering societies are much more warlike than modern, settled ones; that our DNA suggests that humans became more sociable and less violent roughly 15,000 years ago, finally enabling human societies to settle down and begin farming; that human evolution did not stop 10,000 or 50,000 years ago as some have argued, but that it continues down to the present day and will continue into the future (either naturally or artificially); that in rare cases, unusual selection pressures have produced populations that, on average, are either more intelligent or more physcially capable in certain respects than others. Wade handles each of these delicate propositions with care, but some will be disturbed by the implications of what he is saying. (Perhaps that's why E.O. Wilson, in the blurb on the back of the book, praised Wade's "courage and balance.")

"Before the Dawn" is a superb survey of what scientists know (or think they know) about human origins in 2006. But this is a report from the cutting edge of genetics and paleoanthropology, so stay tuned for further developments. In the meantime, Wade's book is an excellent introduction to a new dawn of knowledge.

Redrawing the human image
Drawing on a wealth of resource material, Wade builds a comprehensive picture of who we are and where we come from. The "origins" question has been pretty well solved. Darwin's insight that Africa was humanity's home base has been verified in several ways. It is the issue of human traits, their origins and expression, that's in need of clarification. Wade has scoured the research to derive some interesting, and to some, highly disturbing, conclusions.

Writing to his defined audience, Wades use of Biblical metaphor touches a nerve. Its a useful technique as he opens with Genetics & Genesis. Theres no doubt in the readers mind that genetics will be the guiding theme as this book progresses. Genetics and DNA analysis have enriched our view of the past, he notes. He assures us, as well, that the processes they depict are still working to guide us into the future. He lists some of the insights these tools have given us. The clear continuity between the ape world of 5 million years ago and the human world that emerged from it opens the inventory, which includes cultural input and various social factors, why our global dispersal was so rapid, and how language impinged on our development as a species.

Among the more captivating aspects of our evolutionary track is the number alternative paths we might have followed. Wade explains how ape diversity has made discernment of our lineage an onerous task. An indication of whats to follow emerges in a section on why we became naked. The loss of fur meant that exposed skin required protection from the African sun. All humanitys skin cells contain melanin, with variations determined by geographic location. The human diaspora out of Africa led to many variations in our make-up. In many ways, we became different as we wandered the face of the globe. Wade proposes that our migrations were encouraged as much by emerging cognitive skills and development of changed relations between the sexes. Another trigger may have come from an ancient gene - FOXP2. Widespread among mammals, FOXP2 underwent significant changes in our species. Its now known to be a major factor in our language skills. Language, often used as the means to reconcile differences, has also led to changes in our relationships from mates to masses of others. Disputes are subject to the use of deception and aggravation. The result, according to a cluster of researchers Wade has read or interviewed, suggests our capacity to wage war is widespread and of long history. Warfare among chimpanzees implies an inherited trait of deep lineage. The cultural influences merely exacerbate what is already in place.

After explaining how our species distributed itself around the globe, he describes the Settlement process and how it led to agriculture. We take both community and farming as a given today, but its a very recent alteration from our heritage. Perhaps of more significance is that settlements occurred in widely dispersed sites at various times. The conditions leading to farming and its subsequent changes in human behaviour also were different. What prompted us to take this step? Agriculture resulted in a change from social equality to a hierarchical structure. Leaders were needed for planning and implementation of field use, crop distribution and resource allocation, especially water. Its an interesting facet of this transformation that agriculture emerged where waters availability was dodgy. Religion, whatever its role in hunter-gatherer times, was increasingly important in stable communities. The entire human social structure changed, with new sets of values and choices becoming the norm.

In what will certainly emerge as one the most discussed segments in this book, Wade dedicates a chapter to Race. The issues are based on Wades emphasis on how much the human genome has changed in recent [at least on an evolutionary scale] times. While the physical characteristics such as skin colour are manifest, there are other, more subtle aspects of what makes groups of us different from others. Among these are those with or lacking a tolerance for lactic acid upon becoming adults. More significantly perhaps, is the discovery that certain medications work better with some groups than others. Health issues such as these are only now being addressed. Much more work is needed and research funding may be challenging some ideological fixations.

Wades synopsis of human evolution is among the top books issued on the topic in recent years. He has no axes of his own to grind, and blunts some dogmas in passing. The research he describes is wide-ranging. More importantly, much of it relates to how we deal with each other across lines of community, nation and humanity as a whole. While no book on the human track will be complete, nor perhaps of major importance for very long, this one will be worth keeping, and re-reading for some time. [stephen a. haines Ottawa, Canada]

Excellent guidance for understanding human evolution, but....
The overall content of this book is the typical example of high quality in general science book, which is aiming to enlighten general readers without declining the quality of scientific principle throughout his description. His tactical logic to persuade readers the rule of human evolution is wisely to combine vivid reports from various academic research, not only modern scientific fields based on molecular biology but also conventional studies such as anthropology and linguistics. In particular, I was very impressed by Greenberg's hypothesis regarding the origin of ancient word. He compared various simple word and found similarity in basic echoes. To Japanese, I was surprised by his debatable hypothetical analogy in original human language. I never thought that our use of " te" had similarity in sound with a proto-Indo-European root "deik" .

Anyway, this book is definitely worthwhile reading to those who wish to understand the latest study of human evolution.

But, I found something that I could not understand from the comparison between this English book and the Japanese translation. I put down these findings as below and I very much appreciate if the author could explain the reasons.
1) Only 4 figures are left in Japanese version whereas the English original version has 17 figures and diagrams. Why did this deletion happen to the Japanese version?
2) Notes that has valuable 351 references in the English version has been deleted in the Japanese version. Why?
3) Fictional pictures has been incorporated into this Japanese version, which did not exist in the English version. Why?

I think that these deletions are damaging the original book and bring about the danger of misunderstanding the core of authors intention.

My main question is whether the author permitted the publisher these deletions and "deformation" from this original content.
According to the Japanese version, " Japanese translation arranged with the author c/o Sterling Load Literistic, Inc. through The English Agency (Japan) Ltd. " Does it mean that this "translation" was implemented under the author's permission ???