Over a few million years, and a lot of mutational games of chance (most of which ended in TILT), here we are: humans. For example, the occasional mutation occurs in some ape’s genes, a mutation that does nothing to harm the creature and perhaps does something helpful. This is fitting, since the story we will tell here is also one of contingencies, of what might be called accidents. We might never have known one another, much less worked together, except for a series of contingencies and serendipitous events. But this book is not a piece of scientific discourse like that. In theory, everyone except maybe the pizza guy signs off on the wording of the final article, signaling an overall agreement with its contents. Some scientific papers include the names of practically everyone who had anything to do with the experiment or investigation being described-probably even the guy who delivers the pizza on late nights in the lab. But numerous chefs are common in the arena of scientific discourse. This book is the product of three authors, and that may well remind readers of the old caveat about too many chefs in one kitchen, which implies a culinary catastrophe. Overall, however, it's a good read and I'd recommend it for anyone skeptical enough that they don't automatically believe whoever they last read. It's also a bit annoying whenever the ubiquitous "noble savage" comes shining through, because at some point, the noble savage myth actually ignores the true humanity of the individuals it's trying to build up. I felt like they were twisting definitions past the breaking point in some of these cases. I also felt some of the attempts to fit findings into their conclusion of egalitarian societies where women weren't necessarily oppressed were a bit labored, given the evidence they had to work with. In addition, there are a couple of occasions where the authors draw some rather complex and definitive conclusions from evidence that doesn't appear adequate to support that conclusion this is ironic, since that's what they are basically accusing other writers of doing. There are a couple of other spots that are similarly unnecessary. These could have been summarized in much less space, but then the book might have been too short for consideration by a publisher, I suppose. There are a few places where I suspected certain things were added to make the book long enough, particularly the point where the authors include the stories from the Seven Daughters of Eve. Overall, it's well written, easy to read, and flows nicely through the narrative. In so doing, it's necessary also to correct ideas about the role of men. This book attempts to correct mistaken ideas about prehistoric humans, especially concerning the role of women.
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