Origins

How the Earth Shaped Human History

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Origins

By: Lewis Dartnell

Narrated by: John Sackville

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Summary

Random House presents the audiobook edition of Origins by Lewis Dartnell, read by John Sackville.

When we talk about human history, we focus on great leaders, mass migration and decisive wars. But how has the Earth itself determined our destiny? How has our planet made us?

As a species we are shaped by our environment. Geological forces drove our evolution in East Africa; mountainous terrain led to the development of democracy in Greece; and today voting behaviour in the United States follows the bed of an ancient sea. The human story is the story of these forces, from plate tectonics and climate change, to atmospheric circulation and ocean currents.

How are the Himalayas linked to the orbit of the Earth, and to the formation of the British Isles? By taking us billions of years into our planet’s past, Professor Lewis Dartnell tells us the ultimate origin story. When we reach the point where history becomes science we see a vast web of connections that underwrites our modern world and helps us face the challenges of the future.

From the cultivation of the first crops to the founding of modern states, Origins reveals the Earth’s awesome impact on the shape of human civilizations.

Lewis DartnellJohn SackvillePenguin Audio

Civilization

Ecology

History

History & Philosophy

Human Geography

Nature & Ecology

Outdoors & Nature

Science

Social Sciences

World

Natural History

Thought-Provoking

War

Solar System

Africa

Ancient History

Civilization Ecology History History & Philosophy Human Geography Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Science Social Sciences World Natural History Thought-Provoking War Solar System Africa Ancient History

Critic reviews

A sweeping, brilliant overview of the history not only of our species but of the world. Whether discussing the formation of continents or the role that climate (and climate change) has had on human migration, Lewis Dartnell has a rare talent in being able to see the big picture – and explaining why it matters. (Peter Frankopan, author of THE SILK ROADS)

Origins by Lewis Dartnell stands comparison with Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens…A thrilling piece of Big History (James McConnachie)

‘Extraordinary… Origins is one of those rare books that dissolves mystery through the steady application of sublime lucidity. While reading it, I kept thinking: “Oh, that makes sense…” … Dartnell understands geology, geography, anthropology, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy and history. That’s quite an achievement, but what makes him special is the way he communicates the interconnectedness of these disciplines in a clear, logical and entertaining way…Superb. (Gerard DeGroot)

Most relevant

The theme of this book is to explain how the world has influenced and made us. And perhaps our role in changing it. I really enjoyed Hartnell’s previous book “the knowledge“ which talked about what you would need to build a society after it had been wiped out and lost all its skills. The first chapter explains how we evolved from a number of different forms, beginning with life itself and then at some point with a strain off from a path of the apes. We are less divergent in our genetic make up than some groups of chimpanzees. We can then follow the evolution and path that man has made by tracing mutations in our genetic make up. Through mitochondria (the battery power source within our cells) we can place our female linage and in the X chromosome we can trace our male lineage. We can also see that we have some Neanderthal and Denisovans make up in our DNA. What is remarkable that in the Denisovans, we were able to extract DNA that we can see in all of us who can be traced outside of Africa when all that has been found a few teeth and part of a finger. We then follow man as hunter gatherer for most of our existence to becoming growers of cereal. Just like sheep and cows we consume grass like substance. The crops that make up most of what we eat are corn, rice and maze. Modified grass in which we eat the fruit of them have modified through milling and eventually cooking. Once we had mastered growing of crops and agriculture we moved onto animals. We have moved from scavenging for food, shelter, clothes to domestication and then husbandry where we can manage energy and clothing amongst other things many times over. And evidence of this relationship can be seen and how humans have evolved to tolerate milk and deal with lactose from intolerance to being able to drink our whole life. However, this only occurs in those humans who have domesticated and managed diary management. We have also moved from eating grass like cereals to managing and eating animals that convert that grass in to meat for increased energy to man. Animals also from our early forms of transport before we discovered a whole could be used in steam and oil and petrol to move engines In cars, trains and planes.

As for the animals that have made us informed us, the author discusses horses and domesticated animals as well as camels. The story of the camel is remarkable Camels do not store water in their humps, which is in fact a store of body fat. Rather than distributing fat all over their bodies in an insulating layer, as many mammals do, camels use their humps as fat reservoirs, which provide energy while allowing the animal to remain cool. The camel is uniquely adapted to desert survival. After a week or so of trekking through an arid landscape, it can have lost almost a third of its body water with no ill effect – the animal can cope with such extreme dehydration without its blood becoming dangerously thick. The camel’s kidneys and intestines are able to produce highly concentrated urine and dung so dry it can be used to fuel a fire; it can also recapture moisture it would otherwise have breathed out, the water recondensing in its nasal passage like the drips from an air-conditioner unit. And the padded feet of the animal allow it to traverse such diverse terrain as desert sands, swamps or rock-strewn landscapes.

How the world made us looks at the elements in the periodic table and how we moved from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age to then mixing and melting properties to become copper. And yet now we have 60 pieces of element on us just in our mobile phone.

The story of how the Portuguese came to understand how the oceans moved regarding ocean currents and how winds blew in different directions were how they learnt to navigate and move across the world. I loved learning how sailors and navigators learnt how the winds blow in consistent directions and patterns and how ocean flows could make ships travel to further places easier by following its directional flow. The great empires became great empires because they learnt how to navigate following simple rules of nature that must be difficult to have learnt. But they did have time and no Internet to distract them. However, observation and diligent are wonderful things. ”In each hemisphere the atmosphere enveloping the planet is divided into three great circulation cells, like giant tubes wrapped around the world, each rolling in place and shifting north and south slightly with the seasons. These produce the major wind zones of the planet – easterly trade winds, westerlies and polar easterlies – which in turn drive the circulating ocean currents. Pretty much the entire wind pattern on Earth can therefore be explained by three simple facts: the equator is hotter than the poles, warm air rises, and the world spins.” Alongside this they collected information about the languages and the geographical features that further help them understand how to navigate so navigate around the world. Moving from Polaris in the northern skies to the Southern Cross in the southern hemisphere also helped support their ability to conquer the west. Before this is the story of how China and the Mongolian army from the steps and how Genghis Khan would overthrow even the downfall of the Roman Army is also another fascinating tale told in this book. This book can teach us how we got here and how the origins and features of the earth made us who we are. Fascinating stuff.