January- March 2020 - Prehistory

Human prehistory is the period between the use of the first stone tools c. 3.3 million years ago by hominids and the invention of writing systems. Also prehistory does not necessarily mean that humans need to be present: the Age of Dinosaurs and the Rise of the Mammals are still part of prehistory. Some of this is controversial, but if you think it fits, it fits!

Some book suggestions:

The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel (and the rest of the series)
Dance of the Tiger by Bjorn Jurten
Raptor Red by Robert Bakker
First North American series by Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear
Daughter of Kura by Debra Austin

See this tag: https://www.librarything.com/tag/prehistory

The wiki page for the quarterly theme reads is here: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/Reading_Through_Time_Quarterly_Theme_Rea...

I have Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors and The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life. Would those work for this theme?

I bought a book for 10 cents are a garage sale, The First Dog, it's short, but it's the right time period, so I always read from my shelf when I can! P.S. I have read the first two books in the North American Series by Kathleen O'Neill Gear and Michael Gear and they were fabulous!

I already had The Clan of the Cave Bear in mind for this as it has been on my reading list for ages.

But I also thought of some Australian books that I would like to check out.
Deep Time Dreaming and Archaeology of the Dreamtime.

I'd recommend either of these for this challenge:

Fire-Hunter by Jim Kjelgaard

Daughter of the Red Deer by Joan Wolf

I have read and enjoyed the first three in "The People of ..." series by Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear. Maybe I'll look for one I've not yet read...

>3 Tess_W: That is an awesome, BB! I was actually planning on skipping the timelines this year but thank you so much for suggesting a shorter book. I found the ebook version online and think I can read it free of charge.

Does Guns Germs and Steel qualify? I guess it probably does, though I think the later chapters turn to later centuries.

I've also got William Golding's The Inheritors for a reread. Haven't read it in decades.

And I was just thinking, do ancient epics qualify? I've got Mahabharata: A Modern Retelling by Carole Satyamurti that I've just barely started. It's a "modern retelling" but really more an abridged translation in blank verse. Highly recommended by Philip Pullman. I've also got a coffee table illustrated (very much abridged) edition of Mahabharata.

There is a new book published this year about the wife of Noah Naamah I might look at that although all of you have enticed me to start the North American People of... Series. I also saw Bits of Sky which is described as supernatural historical fiction taking place in pre-historic Arizona. Maybe?

I am hoping to read the second book in the Northlands trilogy that I started in 2019. Bronze Summer is set in northern Europe during the Bronze Age.

>9 beebeereads: There is a Biblical time frame which comes next....you might want to save the Noah for that!

>11 Tess_W: Thanks! As you can see not too much knowledge of these early eras. For some reason these time periods never grabbed my interest. I am trying to correct that!

>3 Tess_W: I found a book by that title on Amazon for about $1. I'm not sure it's the one you're referencing, it appears to be a recent release. Author is Adam Cassell.

>13 fuzzi: That is the one!

**bump**

>1 majkia: I did ask whether either of the books I posted in >2 Familyhistorian: would work for the theme. Has anyone read either of them?

I haven't read either but they both look like they would work to me.

Completely forgot this one Gift of Stones. Its been a while since I read it, but remember loving it (along with several other books by him) Definitely belongs on the list

>17 majkia: Thanks, The Ancestors one is huge and I trying to talk myself into reading it since it's a quarterly challenge and I should read it sometime since it sits on my shelves. It's by Richard Dawkins.

Another good one is Daughter of Kura: A Novelby Debra Austin. It's about a prehistoric matriarchal society in Africa (I think!) where a young girl is thrown out of a tribe and her resultant quest for survival.

Not sure this fits, but someone gifted me a copy of Ghost Wall. I will report back.

Time Travel books would work here too : The Many-Colored Land by Julian May or Bones of the Earth by Michael Swanwick. Or many of the Jodi Taylor books too.

Oh loved Julian May, think that book was part of a series.Yeah, that would work Mmmm, Jurassic Park?

I’m going to give Daughter of the Red Deer a try. Thanks, fuzzi. Some good recommendations here. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything from this time period, sad to say.

I’ll read Reindeer Moon, Children of the Dawn, and for nonfiction either Lucy or Origins.

>24 marell: hope you enjoy it!

I read The First Dog. This was a pre-release copy I bought for 10 cents. Grammar errors aside, it was a so-so book. I think it was written for YA. The book postulates how the first dog evolved from a baby wolf. The most interesting bits were how the people were constantly attacked by wolves after they killed either a moose or a buffalo. I will look for something more to read for this time-period. 37 pages 3 stars

P.S. I clicked the wiki link, but it's a blank page.

>27 Tess_W: You can 'look inside' on Amazon. He has also written The First Cat and The First Horse.

https://www.amazon.com/First-Dog-Adam-Cassell/dp/1982956615

For this theme, I read Daughter of the Red Deer by Joan Wolf. I really enjoyed it and could hardly put it down. It is the story of two Cro-Magnon tribes living in Southern France “during the Upper Paleolithic, the period of the last ice age.”

It started out a bit odd and I really wondered if I could even read it what with the author’s too-frequent mentions and descriptions of the main characters’ eyes and lashes. This theme is repeated throughout the story but lessens over the course of the book. That said, it was a page-turning adventure with romance. Wonderful descriptions of cave painting, hunting - a rare mammoth hunt even - rituals and daily life. An entertaining read.

>29 marell: woo! I love that book. I'm not a "romance" reader as a rule...and to the author's credit, that story was more than just breathless looks. Glad you enjoyed it.

Now read The Morning Gift by Diana Norman (NOT the book by Eva Ibbotson). I need to reread that one as well, again.

Thank you for both recommendations!

I have completed Bronze Summer by Stephen Baxter. This is the second book in a trilogy about the period in history when England was linked to the European mainland by a low lying land before the rising seas and climate changes covered it forever.

Oh is that the same Stephen Baxter who wrote Time Ships? Loved that book! He also wrote the Long Earth series with Terry Pratchett but wasn't a big fan. That trilogy looks fantasticc - whats the first one?

Oh and Time Ships works for this theme!

This quarterly wiki is not yet set up! At least with the link provided.

>33 cindydavid4: Yes, it is the same author and the first book in the Northlands trilogy is called Stone Spring. These are the first books by this author that I have read, but his research and historical details are excellent and he doesn't sacrifice story for science.

>34 Tess_W: Although the link at the top of this page is incorrect, the link on the home page of the group is correct.

>36 DeltaQueen50: TY TY TY!

Language Families of the World, a "Great Courses" video of 34 half-hour sessions. Very comprehensive with an excellent instuctor, but I could have done with a little less cornpone humor, hence 4**** only. Ties in nicely with Guns Germs and Steel, which I'm also reading for this first quarter.

>34 Tess_W: >36 DeltaQueen50: >37 Tess_W: Sorry about that. Link in OP is now fixed.

>38 CurrerBell: And I just finished Jared Diamond's Guns Germs and Steel 5*****

I finished Vergessene Kulturen der Weltgeschichte where the author presents 25 civilisations that have been lost and only recently rediscovered by archaeology. Not all are strictly prehistoric, but enough to fit the theme. The articles are pretty short and vary in depth, interesting, but I had expected something more substantial. Sometimes there's a feel of scholarly articles reworked for a general public.

April-June thread is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/317479

It was a toss up which book I would read for prehistory. I read Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors because it was the slimmer of the two possibilities on my shelves. It examined what we know of this era of our past by looking at what has been studied through various disciplines.