The Real Eve: Modern Man's Journey Out of Africa

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Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 599 EAN: 9780786713349 ISBN: 0786713348 Label: Basic Books Manufacturer: Basic Books Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 464 Publication Date: 2004-08-15 Publisher: Basic Books Studio: Basic Books
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Editorial Reviews: About 80 millennia ago, out of one major exodus by migratory human ancestors from Africa—from Eritrea to Yemen (then to India and Australia, and eventually to Europe)—was the entire non-African world in all its racial and cultural diversity ultimately peopled; and to one prehistoric woman in Africa 150,000 years ago, all the peoples of the world can trace their genetic origin. So argues Stephen Oppenheimer in a groundbreaking volume that has stirred heated controversy among authorities in geology, linguistics, archaeology, and anthropology. Thoroughly researched and meticulously reasoned, with dramatic evidence garnered from recent advances in the field of genetics through DNA analysis, The Real Eve traces the evolution of modern humankind out of a common African ancestry—for again and again, Oppenheimer’s extensive genealogical research, based on our gender-specific so-called Adam and Eve genes, has led him straight back to Africa. His conclusions have placed him in direct opposition to multiregionalists, who maintain that archaic human populations evolved locally, and have unsettled many long-established anthropological assumptions and cultural prejudices to provide a fresh perspective on the nature of the human destiny that all of us on planet Earth share. Color photographs are featured in this fascinating story of our human beginnings.
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: The Real Eve Comment: This book I regard as one of the great books I have read in my lifetime. If books are meant to inform, educate, entertain and open the doors of the mind, then this does it in spades. Nicely written, easily understood and the profound drawing together of scientific disciplines only a polymath could achieve. Customer Rating: Summary: All About Eve Comment: Very interesting, but not easy to follow in places. A glossary of terms would have been a great help. Customer Rating: Summary: One exit from Africa Comment: Very interesting reading about mankind's journey from Africa to all parts of the world. Lots of detail and convincing (to the layman) evidence. I hope other geneticists will confirm Oppenheimer's hypotheses and dates, especially that there was only one exit of humans from Africa. Customer Rating: Summary: Genes, DNA, and man's migrations Comment: The front and endpapers of this book sum up the author's theory of the origin of modern man and his expansion to nearly every corner of the world. Homo sapiens originated in Africa and spread north and east along the coasts of the Indian Ocean and then split into groups that migrated in every direction. His evidence is primarily mutations in micochondial DNA found in the descendants not of a single woman, Eve, but rather a "core of 2,000 to 9,000 Africans who lived around 190,000 years ago. The author's precision in explaining the far distant past in that sentence may cause angina among more cautious scientists. Certainly, Oppenheimer expresses his ideas confidently -- more confidently perhaps than the evidence supports. In addition to mtDNA, however, he also calls on archaeological, linguistic, and climatic evidence to support his theories. The author is plausible and persuasive and the story he tells is fascinating. Along the way he pokes holes in treasured theories such as the ones that the European sub-species of Homo sapiens invented art, language, and other markers of civilization and that man arrived in the New World only about 12,000 years ago. (Australians were painting walls as early as Europeans and man probably arrived in New World at least 20,000 years ago. I can't pretend to understand all the many DNA charts and explanations that the author uses to support his theories although the maps are excellent. I was especially interested in his illuminating discussions about the impact of the Ice Ages on the spread of mankind and his pointed discussions of vested interests and conventional wisdom among archaeologists. All in all, "The Real Eve" is a very good book to read about our distant ancestors and their travels. Smallchief Customer Rating: Summary: The Real Eve is an excellent and informative read Comment: I rate it as high as Spencer Wells's Journey of Man book. Both books are much superior to Bryan Sykes's egotrip The Seven Daughters of Eve. More Reviews