Pagina principaleGruppiConversazioniAltroStatistiche
Cerca nel Sito
Questo sito utilizza i cookies per fornire i nostri servizi, per migliorare le prestazioni, per analisi, e (per gli utenti che accedono senza fare login) per la pubblicità. Usando LibraryThing confermi di aver letto e capito le nostre condizioni di servizio e la politica sulla privacy. Il tuo uso del sito e dei servizi è soggetto a tali politiche e condizioni.

Risultati da Google Ricerca Libri

Fai clic su di un'immagine per andare a Google Ricerca Libri.

Sto caricando le informazioni...

Children of the Ice Age: How a Global Catastrophe Allowed Humans to Evolve (1996)

di Steven M. Stanley

UtentiRecensioniPopolaritàMedia votiCitazioni
956282,745 (4.1)3
"The contending theories of human evolution hold a special fascination for those who question the origin of human nature. In this book, prominent Johns Hopkins paleobiologist Steven M. Stanley proposes a bold new theory answering the classic chicken-or-egg question of human evolution: which came first, our bipedalism or the unprecedented size of our brains?" "With insight and remarkable common sense, Dr. Stanley argues that the confluence of environmental factors and developmental imperatives is the key to the mysteriously swift evolution from Australopithecus to Homo two-and-a-half-million years ago. While humans' unique brain is one of the most remarkable achievements of evolution, Stanley shows that it is intimately tied to our species' slow maturation and "postnatal helplessness," which requires extremely attentive parenting, particularly constant lifting and carrying of infants. This trade-off, which Stanley calls a "great evolutionary compromise," indicates that no tree-dwelling species could develop large brains. But if abandoning the trees was an evolutionary requisite for large brains, what can explain why our ancestors would choose the far more dangerous grassy terrain of Africa in the first place? A catastrophic change in the global climate, which Stanley links in a novel but convincing way to the formation of the Isthmus of Panama, is the answer Stanley unfolds in this anthropological detective story."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved… (altro)
  1. 10
    Armi, acciaio e malattie: breve storia del mondo negli ultimi tredicimila anni di Jared Diamond (br77rino)
    br77rino: Children of the Ice Age is an excellent anthropological discussion of the link that became homo sapiens. Guns, Germs, and Steel covers the more recent territory of racial evolution within homo sapiens.
Nessuno
Sto caricando le informazioni...

Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro.

Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro.

» Vedi le 3 citazioni

Considers the Ice Ages a global catastrophe that caused (allowed) the development of Homo sps. Interesting
  jhawn | Jul 31, 2017 |
It was very informative and interesting how he put together the facts like a mystery novel ( )
  JohnJohnsonII | May 19, 2013 |
(posted on my blog: davenichols.net)

Paleobiologist Steven Stanley considers the impact of major ecological and environmental changes wrought by ice ages on the evolution of human beings in his book Children of the Ice Age. A fascinating subject and impressive theory, the treatment here is disappointing.

I found Stanley's writing to be a bit jarring: the narrative seemed to skip across necessary connections between thoughts. By the time the author got to the primary evidence for his thesis, I had had to reread numerous passages to attempt to understand his points. The writing is not dense or overly-complicated (I am an experienced science reader who often enjoys such dense treatments), but it left me missing the point far too often.

Still, the subject is very interesting, and while I wouldn't recommend this book to many people, those with a keen interest in paleontology, paleobiology, anthropology, evolution, and population migrations will likely find some value in reading Children. Two and one-half stars. ( )
  IslandDave | Oct 29, 2009 |
A momentous amount of info presented a bit more dryly than I would have preferred. Also, a bit repetitive at times. I wouldn't recommend this to too many people. ( )
1 vota clamairy | Sep 28, 2009 |
This is a great book, and stands up well with my other favorite in the in the anthropological genre, "Guns, Germs, and Steel" by Jared Diamond. But "Children of the Ice Age" easily eclipses another of Diamond's books, "The 3rd Chimpanzee," although it has the advantage of being newer and thus having more recent scientific work to pick from. It does an excellent job of lucidly reasoning out how man may have evolved from Australopithecines. Highly recommended for the science-minded.

And in response to 'mama4x4's comments below, I too see the likelihood of an intelligence in the universe, and I don't think that Science in any way stands against that viewpoint now, or ever will. ( )
  br77rino | May 13, 2009 |
nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione
Devi effettuare l'accesso per contribuire alle Informazioni generali.
Per maggiori spiegazioni, vedi la pagina di aiuto delle informazioni generali.
Titolo canonico
Dati dalle informazioni generali inglesi. Modifica per tradurlo nella tua lingua.
Titolo originale
Titoli alternativi
Data della prima edizione
Personaggi
Luoghi significativi
Eventi significativi
Film correlati
Epigrafe
Dedica
Incipit
Dati dalle informazioni generali inglesi. Modifica per tradurlo nella tua lingua.
This is a story about out deep roots.
Citazioni
Ultime parole
Nota di disambiguazione
Redattore editoriale
Elogi
Dati dalle informazioni generali inglesi. Modifica per tradurlo nella tua lingua.
Lingua originale
DDC/MDS Canonico
LCC canonico

Risorse esterne che parlano di questo libro

Wikipedia in inglese

Nessuno

"The contending theories of human evolution hold a special fascination for those who question the origin of human nature. In this book, prominent Johns Hopkins paleobiologist Steven M. Stanley proposes a bold new theory answering the classic chicken-or-egg question of human evolution: which came first, our bipedalism or the unprecedented size of our brains?" "With insight and remarkable common sense, Dr. Stanley argues that the confluence of environmental factors and developmental imperatives is the key to the mysteriously swift evolution from Australopithecus to Homo two-and-a-half-million years ago. While humans' unique brain is one of the most remarkable achievements of evolution, Stanley shows that it is intimately tied to our species' slow maturation and "postnatal helplessness," which requires extremely attentive parenting, particularly constant lifting and carrying of infants. This trade-off, which Stanley calls a "great evolutionary compromise," indicates that no tree-dwelling species could develop large brains. But if abandoning the trees was an evolutionary requisite for large brains, what can explain why our ancestors would choose the far more dangerous grassy terrain of Africa in the first place? A catastrophic change in the global climate, which Stanley links in a novel but convincing way to the formation of the Isthmus of Panama, is the answer Stanley unfolds in this anthropological detective story."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche

Descrizione del libro
Riassunto haiku

Discussioni correnti

Nessuno

Copertine popolari

Link rapidi

Voto

Media: (4.1)
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5 1
3 1
3.5 1
4 3
4.5
5 4

Sei tu?

Diventa un autore di LibraryThing.

 

A proposito di | Contatto | LibraryThing.com | Privacy/Condizioni d'uso | Guida/FAQ | Blog | Negozio | APIs | TinyCat | Biblioteche di personaggi celebri | Recensori in anteprima | Informazioni generali | 202,658,075 libri! | Barra superiore: Sempre visibile