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Title: The Monkey in the Mirror: Essays on the Science of What Makes Us Human by Ian Tattersall ISBN: 0-15-100520-6 Publisher: Harcourt Pub. Date: 08 November, 2001 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.57 (7 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: on a few peak topics in human evolution
Comment: I read this and _becoming human_ for an online class in human evolution at barnes and noble dot com. This is an extension and elaboration of the major points in _becoming human_. Actually a little bit better given the looser construction of the essay format, so read this rather than _becoming human_. Either is a simple basic intro to human evolution with a big dose of Neanderthal history, which is tattersall's field. Short, to the point with a minimum extrapolation and speculation, recommended for a light informative afternoon spent with our closest relatives.
Rating: 5
Summary: Evolution? Read Just This One.
Comment: This book is a great summary of the past century's debates on Evolution. It is well and clearly presented by a master of the science. There is a small hidden agenda regarding the author's theory of "exaptation" (which BTW should probably be called "abaptation" as the opposite of "adaptation"). Anyway, for those of us not deeply interested in the creationist/evolutionist debates this book begins as a clear statement of the conflict and ends with an interesting and insightful prediction of our future. The book is short. If you only want to read one of these Human Evolution texts. . .read this one.
Rating: 2
Summary: A broadsword for creationists?
Comment: A collection of science essays is fraught with pitfalls for the unwary. If the author is well known or is in high position [Tattersall is both], or even simply articulate [Tattersall is] heedless reading may result in blind acceptance. The essay format, as Tattersall confesses in his Preface, lacks discipline. This book reinforces that assertion with a vengeance. The subtitle should be printed in glowing letters. "What Makes Us Human" is a large topic for a book of so few pages. After reading it, it seems to be a bit too ample for the author, as well.
Tattersall begins with an excellent summary of why we study science. Too many people still equate the search for "facts" with a quest for "truth." The author makes a valiant attempt to explain why these ideas must be kept separate. Since he must rely on the reader to understand this division, his success in the endeavour can only be guessed. The quest for "facts," as he ably states, often leads to a new quest for new facts. Science, then, is an ongoing and highly cooperative effort. Many "facts" unveil the need to seek further in an unrelated field of interest. He describes "science" as a "corporate" endeavour by many people to organize and relate the facts revealed.
From science in general, Tattersall moves to the more specific area of the study of evolution. After a brief presentation on Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace in development of the concept of "natural selection," he goes on to deal with "adaptation." How life changes is the core of evolution and he describes the travails of early thinkers after Darwin dealt with the processes. He describes the merging of Darwin's natural selection and the later knowledge of genetics as the "Evolutionary Synthesis," which he then castigates as "hardening into dogma." This rather dark pink herring is his way of easing into a challenge of gradual change typifying evolution. He states that "speciation remains poorly understood." Speciation may be poorly defined, but it's well understood. By claiming speciation is "poorly understood," Tattersall is free to introduce the worn-out concept of Punctuated Equilibrium, variously described as "punk eek" or "evolution by jerks." While he endeavours to build a case for the concept, it falls rather flat under his touch. Adding to the reader's confusion, he offers the Gouldian term "exaptation" to fog the image of adaptation as the mechanism of species change. The logic of substituting Gould's arcane term isn't presented.
Evolution, to most readers, is only important to humans. Tattersall expounds on diversity, environment, cladistics [grouped traits] as his lead-in to human evolution. At this point, however, we seem to leave the whole process of evolution behind. Tattersall is keen to show that behaviour patterns, while deceptively common among ape-like species, branch off into something altogether different in humans. Apes can't talk. Apes can't learn. Apes don't walk upright, or, according to Tattersall, have any reasoning power. He attributes "an unprecedented leap in body structure" to make modern humans ["punk eek", again]. From this, he derives the notion that this structure, powered by the new, improved brain, took us off the evolutionary path.
The key agent, according to Tattersall, is the implementation of "symbolism." Describing early hominid brains as "exaptations" awaiting fulfillment, he informs us that the fulfillment was "culture." He attributes "symbolic processes" in the brain as experience being converted to discrete symbols. We manipulate those symbols in ways other animals cannot, and the manipulation is accomplished through speech. To Tattersall, the innovation of "cultural symbolism" widens the gap between humans and the remainder of the animal kingdom. Animal behaviour has no relation to human behaviour, and any attempt to establish that link underlies what he terms the "arrogant pseudo-science of 'evolutionary psychology' ." His penultimate chapter is a denunciation of relating behaviour to genetics [although his memory gene fails him when he attributes to Shakespeare a quote of Thomas Hobbes'] which is sprinkled with reproachful buzzwords, distortion and use of newspaper headlines instead of serious research results. His sweeping accusations make one wonder if Tattersall has read any scientific publication of the past
generation.
The essay format may be forgiven many sins. It's not an academic treatise nor peer-reviewed scientific collection. Indexing, for example, while useful, would be onerous in so short a book. The lack of any further reading references, however, is inexcusable. Given the number of people and disciplines that he maligns so vigorously, it would have been a decided service to the reader to give us some reference to his targets. Tattersall hauls Steven Mithen up on the Gouldian charge of telling "just-so" stories, but fails to indicate where to read them. You may enjoy reading this type of presentation, but it's doubtful you'll learn anything from it.
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Title: Becoming Human: Evolution and Human Uniqueness by Ian Tattersall ISBN: 0156006537 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 08 July, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Theories of Culture in Postmodern Times by Marvin Harris ISBN: 0761990216 Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield (non NBN) Pub. Date: 16 October, 1998 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: Extinct Humans by Ian Tattersall, Jeffrey H. Schwartz ISBN: 0813339189 Publisher: Westview Press Pub. Date: December, 2001 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: A Devil's Chaplain : Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love by Richard Dawkins ISBN: 0618335404 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: 29 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: Sudden Origins : Fossils, Genes, and the Emergence of Species by Jeffrey H. Schwartz ISBN: 0471379123 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 10 March, 2000 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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