Richard G. Klein

This is a very creditable and thorough overview of human prehistory, and the evolution of the hominids from about 2.5 million years to about 50,000 BP. Richard G. Klein (Stanford University) covers in detail the state of affairs at the time of writing this book, now about 20 years ago. He does this based on the available archaeological material, with sometimes very technical explanations, and makes very nuanced considerations, with a summary of hypotheses and their strengths and weaknesses, and the gaps in the research. State of the art, so to speak. Only, in this sector, science continues to advance at a very fast pace: through new archaeological finds, but above all through new methodological techniques, such as genetic research. Klein does cite the first results of this genetic research, but at that time this new branch of science was only in its early stages. The fact that he states that there is little or no reason to believe that Neanderthals and Sapiens could interbreed and produce fertile offspring shows that this book is dated after all. For now, this is not the case with Klein’s boldest hypothesis, which is that the modern brain, which was capable of symbolic behavior, only emerged about 50,000 years ago, and was the result of a genetic mutation. As far as now this has not been falsified yet, but whether it is ever going to be empirically proven, is another matter. See my commentary in my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4301905983.… (meer)

This 1989 edition has been updated in 2000. I have not yet acquired the newer version, but even this is worthwhile for getting your feet wet on the subject of human evolution. Klein is a careful scholar, weighing evidence clearly and letting you know on what grounds he has come to his conclusions. He lays out evidence very well, and that alone makes this recommended reading, because whatever else you read on the subject, you have to understand the kinds of evidence that scientists use and how they come to conclusions from that evidence. Since this topic is a hot one, new discoveries are occurring all the time and older evidence is being reevaluated. Even so, I found Klein's chronicalling of the development of hominids into modern humans, very enlightening and not contradictory of newer evidence that I have read.… (meer)

Pretty dull, actually. The book purports to be a "bold new theory on what sparked the 'big bang' of human consciousness," but this bold new theory amounts to "people's brains suddenly mutated". It is full of archaeological arcana about flint chips and brow ridges, all undoubtedly necessary in establishing evolutionary timelines, but none of it relates directly to the advertised subject of the book. The actual material relating to this 'theory' could be boiled down into a couple of pages. NOT PROFOUND.… (meer)