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Masters of the Planet

The Search for Our Human Origins

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Masters of the Planet

By: Ian Tattersall
Narrated by: Bob Souer
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Fifty thousand years ago - merely a blip in evolutionary time - our Homo sapiens ancestors were competing for existence with several other human species, just as their precursors had done for millions of years. Yet something about our species distinguished it from the pack, and ultimately led to its survival while the rest became extinct. Just what was it that allowed Homo sapiens to become masters of the planet? Ian Tattersall, curator emeritus at the American Museum of Natural History, takes us deep into the fossil record to uncover what made humans so special. Surveying a vast field from initial bipedality to language and intelligence, Tattersall argues that Homo sapiens acquired a winning combination of traits that was not the result of long-term evolutionary refinement. Instead, the final result emerged quickly, shocking our world and changing it forever.

©2012 Ian Tattersall (P)2019 Tantor Ancient Anthropology Biological Sciences Evolution Evolution & Genetics Science Social Sciences Natural History Paleontology Ancient Humans
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Fascinating, intelligent and well-reasoned history of hominid to human evolution. Educational and enjoyable. Highly recommended to anybody with an interest in paleo anthropology.

An intelligent and well-reasoned history

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This book needs concentration and describes what is know, and equally important, what is not known about human evolution. The author has an opion as to what made humans so different and gives more weight to that while mentioning other theories. It is always more fun to get definite answers but more honest to say "possibly". This is a honest book

not afraid to say '"we don't know "

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The first half of the book is way too long, the second half, which would be more interesting a topic, and true to the books title, is rushed.

A huge amount of time is spend on our earliest ancestors. Digressions occur on the specifics of how rocks and fossils are dated etc, which don't help the overall purpose of the book. By the time discussion has moved to the Neanderthals, it has become a hurried affair. Neanderthal interbreeding with Homosapiens is brushed off with "well Ligers in South Carolina". It would be better to steelman other perspectives in paleoanthropology, and then challenge them, than to dismiss them off-hand.

Our acquisition of language, is the most fascinating topic, but only delved into in the last few chapters. The last 2 or 3 chapters read like a promising introduction to a book rather than the closing of a seminal publication. The narration speed is too fast, but that can be reduced in the player. The sentences are often long winded, something only exacerbated by the monotone narration.

Decent exploration, unbalanced

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