Good Book on Physical Anthropology?

[JRoberts]

An area that really interests me right now is anthropology and the evolution of the conceptual faculty. Does anybody know of a good book that would be of value to me in studying this? I'm looking for a book that speaks in detail of the different varients of Hominids and their evolution. I'd also like it to be heavy in facts (Meaning more textbook than "Anthropology for Idiots").

Thanks for the help .

[stephen_speicher]

An area that really interests me right now is anthropology and the evolution of the conceptual faculty.  Does anybody know of a good book that would be of value to me in studying this?  I'm looking for a book that speaks in detail of the different varients of Hominids and their evolution.  I'd also like it to be heavy in facts (Meaning more textbook than "Anthropology for Idiots").

Thanks for the help .

Assuming your interest is not at the level of several scholarly works -- each tends to focus on small aspects of the subject -- most any of the standard texts used at the major universities should suit your purpose well. Tomorrow I will ask an excellent Anthropologist I know, one who is quite familiar with the teaching materials, to see if any particular text stands out for what you want to learn.

[Old Geezer]

You may want to check out "The Naked Ape" by Desmond Morris. It details how climate change was the stimulus for the development of language and reasoning ability.

(The short answer; inability to remain in receding jungles made living in the plains necessarry. But since we could no longer pick nuts+berries or Chew on Termites, we had to evolve in order to survive. Since competing with specialized predators (who had an ability to run or stalk etc) was not very easy for our awkard forms of locomotion, and since digestive systems capable of handling the tuberous high fiber plants of the plains take a long time to evolve, two characteristics became more prevalant;

A) The Smart; (Shit, I cant catch up to this Zebra, what will I do?)

The Sociable (Sociable in the sense of being able to communicate with other members)

In any case, unlike a Intro Anthro Text book, you dont see most of the Socialist riff-raff that seems to leak in, and the small paperback is easy to carry around and a "good read"

[JRoberts]

Assuming your interest is not at the level of several scholarly works -- each tends to focus on small aspects of the subject -- most any of the standard texts used at the major universities should suit your purpose well. Tomorrow I will ask an excellent Anthropologist I know, one who is quite familiar with the teaching materials, to see if any particular text stands out for what you want to learn.

You are pretty acurate at what I was looking for, and thank you for asking. My problem with the texts however is both the costs (even the used university bookstores around town are expensive) and that they generally tend to cover a broad base. I'm not interested in cultural anthropology or archaeology as much as I am on physical anthropology, focusing on the evolution of Hominids (If that helps you at all with your friend).

You may want to check out "The Naked Ape" by Desmond Morris. It details how climate change was the stimulus for the development of language and reasoning ability.

Thank you as well-I'll look into that. However, how reliable is Desmond Morris-meaning, what background in physical anthropology does he have?

[Old Geezer]

Thank you as well-I'll look into that. However, how reliable is Desmond Morris-meaning, what background in physical anthropology does he have?

Desmond Morris' value for me lies in his ability to make evolutionary theory as it applies to the emergence of humans accessible to non professionals. His books are usually well researched IMO, and were a helpful background when I took anthropology coursework.

But he is not a "physical anthropologist" by trade. His background is in Zoology (essentially the study of Animal behavior, which he applies to human evolution) and has some interesting musings about everything from the development of the female orgasm to the synthesis of competition and cooperation, to the development of reasoning ability.

Like many others, he certainly has some drawbacks, but if nothing else his works are thought provoking, and I found them definitely worth reading.

[stephen_speicher]

You are pretty acurate at what I was looking for, and thank you for asking.  My problem with the texts however is both the costs (even the used university bookstores around town are expensive) and that they generally tend to cover a broad base.  I'm not interested in cultural anthropology or archaeology as much as I am on physical anthropology, focusing on the evolution of Hominids (If that helps you at all with your friend).

Well, as I indicated the problem is that, generally speaking, scholarly works which focus on a single aspect of a field tend to be written on a level which is not always accessible to those who have not previously studied the field in general. However, I certainly know of books in other fields which meet your sort of requirement, so it is possible that my friend may single out a book which meets your needs. However, if cost is a problem, then that may be difficult to overcome since most decent texts are quite expensive nowadays.

If the result is that you cannot get a text, I can probably locate a few papers I have around which deal with your issue in one form or another. I have many thousands of papers in various fields that I have collected over the years, most in pdf or ps files. Let's wait to see what my friend suggests, and then we can go from there.

p.s. I get the impression you have a serious interest in this, so I would suggest staying away from popularizations, which all to often distort more than they enlighten.

[JRoberts]

Price is not really a problem-I can afford it-I would just generally prefer to get the most bang for my buck; meaning, I don't want to spend $80 for a book that I will use only 1/5 of it. But I tust you in your suggestion, and thank you for looking-and yes I am very interested in this, and biology as well (which if, after my anthropology readings, you have any suggestions for great Biology books, I'd also be greatly appreciative).

[stephen_speicher]

Price is not really a problem-I can afford it-I would just generally prefer to get the most bang for my buck; meaning, I don't want to spend $80 for a book that I will use only 1/5 of it.  But I tust you in your suggestion, and thank you for looking-and yes I am very interested in this, and biology as well (which if, after my anthropology readings, you have any suggestions for great Biology books, I'd also be greatly appreciative).

Well, with biology you will have to read real fast because the field changes so rapidly every day!

Biology is an exploding field but, all kidding aside, whenever you are ready, and when you have some idea of just what you want to learn, then, just ask.

[Reason's Ember]

Desmond Morris was a pioneer, but the work is a little bit dated. This field of research is one of the most active and exciting in contemporary science.

I would start with:

Leda Cosmides' web site http://www.psych.ucsb.edu/research/cep/, which provides updated information about new developments in the field.

Stephen Pinker, The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature.

Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene.

Robert Wright, The Moral Animal.

E.O.Wilson, Genes, Culture, and Evolution.

[JRoberts]

Thank you very much Reason's Ember-I'll look into those.

[stephen_speicher]

I will ask an excellent Anthropologist I know, one who is quite familiar with the teaching materials, to see if any particular text stands out for what you want to learn.

"JRoberts," to meet your need of finding a book "that speaks in detail of the different varients of Hominids and their evolution," the one suggested is:

EXTINCT HUMANS

By Ian Tattersall and Jeffrey H. Schwartz

Westview Press ISBN: 0813339189

I am told it is available on amazon.com in both new and used form. Enjoy your studies.

[JRoberts]

Thank you very much Stephen, and thanks to all of you. I'll report back when I get my paid next thursday and buy these

[Reason's Ember]

Re-reading your post and Stephen Speicher's, I should note that the books I mentioned have more to do with the possible applications of evolutionary theory to human psychology.

If you read them, you should take some of what they have to say with a grain of salt, because they can get quite speculative in a hurry.

They are not primarily about outlining the details of man's natural history, though they will contain some background information about that, especially Stephen Pinker's book.

More in line with what you are suggesting are books by Donald Johanson and Richard Leakey, who are two of the anthropologists who actually did the digging up of the bones of ancestral human species.