Description
Book Synopsis Life began about four billion years ago on our planet. Like an old patchwork quilt, evolution stitched the human being together from parts of ancient species now long extinct. Like any species, humans have hundreds or even thousands of traits that have been passed down through time. The evolutionary age of our different traits can be told from how widely distributed they are among today''s living creatures.
The book aims to explain some human traits and how we--as social, sexual, language-obsessed technological apes--evolved into our own modern species. Combining hard science with philosophical thought, this work aims to explain where humans have come from, and where we are going. Free of complicated jargon, it breaks down the concept of evolution starting with the human body''s most basic component--our cells. Building from there, chapters explore which traits became inherited over evolutionary time, ultimately projecting what could be next for our species.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Preface
Introduction: The Patchwork Human, Old and New Parts
1. The Human Machine
What Do People Think? 14
People versus Machines 14
Mind, Spirit, Soul 16
Matter 19
2. Cells, Genes, and Other Small Parts
Cells 23
Molecules Small and Large 26
Chromosomes, Genes, and Proteins 27
3. The Embryo: Construction and Continuity
Early Development 35
Continuity 39
4. Evolution: The Process
The Process of Evolution 43
Evolutionary Mechanisms 44
Adaptation and the Randomness and Purposelessness of Evolution 51
"For the good of the species" 55
Are We Still Evolving? 56
5. Evolution: The Pattern
Darwin's Tree 59
Evolutionary Genetics 61
Fossils 62
The Genus Homo and Its Ancestors 66
Sea Urchin Interview 70
6. Bigger Is Sometimes Better
7. Bilateral Symmetry
8. The Sexy Beast, Part I
The Biological Basics of Sex 87
Sperm and Egg Logic 92
The Mating Dance: The Logic of Fidelity and Promiscuity 95
9. Up the Mammalian Path
Origins 103
Mammary Glands and Milk 106
The Placenta 111
10. Fur
Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow 115
11. A Warm-Blooded Animal
Mechanisms 121
Evolution 122
12. Upright Living
Forelimbs and Hind Limbs 127
Fossil Evidence 129
13. The Brain
Brain Development and Structure 137
Some Comparisons 139
Aspects of Brain Evolution 142
Brain Function 145
14. The Sexy Beast, Part II
The Penis and the Vagina 151
External Testes 153
How Human Brain Size Influences the Mating System 154
Conspicuous Mammary Glands 155
Sex and Pleasure 158
Ovulation Now? 162
Monogamous or Polygamous? 166
Menopause 169
15. On Being Social
Basic Elements of Being Social 175
Teaching and Learning 178
Cooperation 180
Altruism 185
Mind-Reading, or Perspective-Taking 189
Evolutionary Origins of Sociality 193
16. The Truly Musical Animal
When? 201
How? The Muses Weigh In 202
As Part of Our Biology, Why Music? 207
17. The Talkative Ape
The Anatomy of Speech and Language 213
Features of Human Language 215
Precursors of Language in Animal Communications? 218
An Evolutionary Pathway for Language 221
18. Human Races, Real and Imagined
The Concept of Race 226
The Evolution of Human Races 228
Racial Prejudice 234
In Summary 236
19. The Future of the Only Remaining Human Species
Homo sapiens Forever 239
A New Species of Homo? 241
Extinction Once and For All 244
Slow Extinction by Climate Change 246
Appendix I: Tissues, Systems, Organs, and Cell Types
Appendix II: Some Musical Preferences
Background and Further Reading
Index
