Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors

Nicholas Wade

Penguin, 2006 - Science - 312 pages

Based on a groundbreaking synthesis of recent scientific findings, an acclaimed New York Times science reporter tells a bold and provocative new story of the history of our ancient ancestors and the evolution of human nature

Just in the last three years a flood of new scientific findings-driven by revelations discovered in the human genome-has provided compelling new answers to many long-standing mysteries about our most ancient ancestors-the people who first evolved in Africa and then went on to colonize the whole world. Critically acclaimed New York Times science reporter Nicholas Wade weaves this host of news-making findings together for the first time into an intriguing new history of the human story before the dawn of civilization. Sure to stimulate lively controversy, he makes the case for novel arguments about many hotly debated issues such as the evolution of language and race and the genetic roots of human nature, and reveals that human evolution has continued even to today.

In wonderfully lively and lucid prose, Wade reveals the answers that researchers have ingeniously developed to so many puzzles: When did language emerge? When and why did we start to wear clothing? How did our ancestors break out of Africa and defeat the more physically powerful Neanderthals who stood in their way? Why did the different races evolve, and why did we come to speak so many different languages? When did we learn to live with animals and where and when did we domesticate man's first animal companions, dogs? How did human nature change during the thirty-five thousand years between the emergence of fully modern humans and the first settlements?

Wade takes readers to the forefront of research in a sweeping and engrossing narrative unlike any other, the first to reveal how genetic discoveries are helping to weave together the perspectives of archaeology, paleontology, anthropology, linguistics, and many other fields. This will be the most talked about science book of the season.

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LibraryThing Review

User Review  - nosajeel - LibraryThing

The best, most up-to-date volume I've read on what recent genetic analysis tells us about human origins, pre-history, language, evolution over the last 10,000 years, and several other important ...

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - bezoar44 - LibraryThing

While it's not obvious from the title, the unifying theme of this book is the way genetic research is reshaping our understanding of human evolution, prehistory, anthropology, and history. Our ...

Contents

• Genetics Genesis: 5
• First Words: 35
• Eden: 51
• Exodus: 75
• Stasis: 100
• Settlement: 123
• Sociality: 139
• Race: 181
• Language: 202
• History: 233
• Evolution: 264
• Notes: 281
• Acknowledgments: 297
• About the Author: 313

About the author

David Dyergrew up in a coastal town in NSW, Australia, and graduated as dux of his high school in 1984. After commencing a degree in medicine and surgery at the University of Sydney, he soon decided it was not for him.

David went on to train as a ship's officer at the Australian Maritime College, travelling Australia and the world in a wide range of merchant ships. He graduated from the college with distinction and was awarded a number of prizes, including the Company of Master Mariners Award for highest overall achievement in the course. He then returned to the University of Sydney to complete a combined degree in Arts and Law. David was awarded the Frank Albert Prize for first place in Music I, High Distinctions in all English courses and First Class Honours in Law. From the mid-1990s until early 2000s David worked as a litigation lawyer in Sydney, and then in London at a legal practice whose parent firm represented the Titanic's owners back in 1912. In 2002 David returned to Australia and obtained a Diploma in Education from the University of New England, and commenced teaching English at Kambala, a school for girls in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

David has had a life-long obsession with the Titanic and has become an expert on the subject. In 2009 he was awarded a Commonwealth Government scholarship to write The Midni

• Title: Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors
• Author: Nicholas Wade
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Penguin, 2006
• ISBN: 1594200793, 9781594200793
• Length: 312 pages
• Subjects: Science / Life Sciences / Evolution