A Pocket History of Human Evolution: How We Became Sapiens

Written by Silvana Condemi and Francois Savatier

Narrated by Christa Lewis

Why aren't we more like other apes? How did we win the evolutionary race? Find out how "wise" Homo sapiens really are.

Prehistory has never been more exciting: New discoveries are overturning long-held theories left and right. Stone tools in Australia date back 65,000 years-a time when, we once thought, the first Sapiens had barely left Africa. DNA sequencing has unearthed a new hominid group-the Denisovans-and confirmed that crossbreeding with them (and Neanderthals) made Homo sapiens who we are today.

A Pocket History of Human Evolution brings us up-to-date on the exploits of all our ancient relatives. Paleoanthropologist Silvana Condemi and science journalist François Savatier consider what accelerated our evolution: Was it tools, our "large" brains, language, empathy, or something else entirely? And why are we the sole survivors among many early bipedal humans? Their conclusions reveal the various ways ancient humans live on today-from gossip as modern "grooming" to our gendered division of labor-and what the future might hold for our strange and unique species.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Oct 29, 2019
• ISBN: 9781515944027

Reviews for A Pocket History of Human Evolution

[Digvijaya Upadhyay · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A very good summarized information about human evolution, our history! Thanks to the author and the narrator.

[Noel Eastwood · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent book, well narrated and written. Recommended for those who want a quick review with everything laid out nicely for you.

[mina000005 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the best audio books I have read to learn about human history supported with anecdotes and science

[rivkat_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Short overview of our branch of the evolutionary tree, about how and when things like upright walking, throwing strength, language, and brain size developed and then influenced further developments.

[liscarey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is, as it says on the cover, a pocket history of human evolution. It's clear, concise, informative, covers enough detail to be useful--including some interesting material I hadn't caught up with previously.The authors are a paleoanthropologist (Condemi), and a science journalist (Savatier), and this is an excellent, accessible overview of what we know about our ancestors. How did our lineage emerge from the many closely related bipedal species to become the only surviving member of genus homo? The only fully bipedal ape? A species able to adapt to every continent (including, marginally, Antarctica), and make major alterations to the planet?You may gain a new appreciation of the human foot. I was fascinated by the information that human populations were interacting and interbreeding across most of Africa, not just East Africa, fairly early in Sapiens development, expanding out of Africa as well as descendants of earlier out-migrants migrating back to Africa, and possibly at some point cross-breeding with Homo erectus.Humans apparently will mate with anything that looks about right.There's also a strong emphasis on the importance of cultural evolution, with language and the sharing of new inventions and ideas playing a large role in our rise to unlikely dominance.It's informative, fascinating, and enjoyable. Recommended.I bought this audiobook.

[lostinalibrary · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A Pocket History of Human Evolution: How We Became Sapiens by Silvana Condemi and Francois Savatier is a short but very interesting and informative book about human evolution from our beginnings stepping down from the trees to the development of the state and the role war played in it. It concludes with a discussion of the effect of overpopulation on the planet and how the internet - 'a sort of global nervous system' - is changing humanity. For anyone interested in our evolution, how we became us and how we are still evolving, this is a fascinating book. It is well-written and well-researched, cogent, and most important, written in language that makes it accessible to people who have little or no knowledge of human evolution. Despite their discussion of the Anthropocene, the "human era", and the growing devastation if population continues to increase at an alarming rate, they end the book on a surprisingly optimistic note:Even though it might not seem very obvious, Sapiens remains sapiens, which is say, "wise. And we'd wager that, over time, we will become even wiser.A definite high recommendation for anyone with an interest in our story from our earliest beginnings right up to the present.Thanks to Netgalley and The Experiment for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review