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Over the past 180 years scientists have discovered evidence that at least twenty-seven species of humans evolved on planet Earth. What enabled us to survive when all the others were shown the evolutionary door?
Chip Walter tells the intriguing tale of how against all odds and despite nature's capricious ways we stand here today, the planet's most dominant species. Drawing on a wide variety of scientific disciplines, he reveals how a rare evolutionary phenomenon led to the uniquely long childhoods that make us so resourceful and emotionally complex. Walter explains how the evolution of our highly social nature has shaped our moral (and immoral) behavior. He also plumbs the roots of our creativity and investigates why we became self-aware in ways that no other animal is. Along the way, Last Ape Standing profiles the mysterious "others" who evolved with us-the Neanderthals of Europe, the "hobbits" of Indonesia, the Denisovans of Siberia, and the recently discovered Red Deer Cave people of China, who died off just as we stood on the brink of civilization eleven thousand years ago.
Last Ape Standing is evocative science writing at its best-a witty, engaging and accessible story that explores the evolutionary events that molded us into the remarkably unique creatures we are.
- Sales Rank: #904582 in Books
- Published on: 2014-02-18
- Released on: 2014-02-18
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 207.77" h x .71" w x 5.70" l, .57 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 240 pages
Amazon.com Review
Amazon Q&A with Chip Walter, author of Last Ape Standing
Photo by Richard Kelly Photography
1.: Your previous book, Thumbs, Toes and Tears, helped explain human nature by looking at traits that are unique to humans and then exploring how they came to be. Since that book was written, it’s become increasingly clear that many other species of humans co-existed and competed in the past, and that now all of them are gone, but one. Us. Why have we survived when so many others failed?
Chip Walter: It’s fascinating how that happened because on the surface it really doesn’t make any evolutionary sense. Our direct line of ancestors faced a dilemma more than a million years ago that could have ended them right there and then. Their brains were growing larger AND they had taken to walking upright at the same time. Both adaptations were helpful except for one problem: walking upright narrows the birth canal and that makes it difficult to bring larger brained babies to full term. The solution was to bring the babies into the world prematurely, and extend their childhood longer AFTER birth. You wouldn’t think that bringing increasingly helpless preemies into existence and then lengthening the time it takes for them to have the next generation of children wouldn’t seem to be a very effective survival strategy. Might be smarter to shorten childhood and have more babies faster. If you were a betting ape in those days, you wouldn’t have given our direct ancestors much of chance. But the creativity and inventiveness our uniquely long childhoods make possible are the reasons, ultimately; that we survived when so many others were shown the evolutionary door.
2.: You say that at one point the human race had been whittled down to near extinction, and only a few thousand of us remained. Why? How did we bounce back?
CW: Around 75,000 years ago the genetic evidence indicates we were, at best, down to a few thousand childbearing Homo sapiens. This would mean there were fewer of us than there are wild chimpanzees on Earth right now. The planet was in the grip of a very nasty ice age that had dried out most of Africa. Pockets of Homo sapiens existed in South Africa and maybe a few other locations. Around this time there was also an immense volcanic eruption in Indonesia and the Homo sapiens in Africa were in the path of the ash cloud. (Other human species were not down wind or in the direct path.) Ironically, around the same time you begin to see the first glimmers of human creativity and symbolic thinking which is necessary for things like art, sculpture and language. Those extra skills apparently helped us bounce back, generate newer, better survival strategies and share innovative ideas.
3.: You have a chapter in the book entitled “The Moral Primate." You point out that most other animals aren’t, don’t worry about being fair, but we struggle with good and evil all the time. Where does our sense of morality come from?
CW: One of the outcomes of a longer childhood for us was that our ancestors found themselves faced with two BIG problems. They had already been forced out of the jungle into the savannas of Africa. Savannas are far more dangerous places to live and survive—more predators, less available food, greater distances to cover. On top of this, they now had to deal with raising these “early-born” infants and children who required their care for longer and longer periods of time. So how do you deal with that without getting wiped out? You bond, you rely upon one another more than ever to help keep the whole troop alive. BUT it’s not quite that simple because at the same time you also have to compete with the very same people you rely on for help. You contend with them for mates, for food, for power and status within the troop. This is one of the great paradoxes of the human condition. We all must both compete and cooperate with one another. This raised the first “moral” questions. Do you put yourself first, or do you put others in the group first? Do you kill, bully or hurt another to get more food, a mate, more power in the short term, and if so, what are the long term consequences? You could be killed or bullied yourself, or tossed from the group, the equivalent of suicide on the savanna. Longer term, you might need that person’s help some day. Maybe thinking a little less selfishly would be a good idea? So we evolved a basic moral code, one in which we want to be treated by others the way we treat them—the golden rule, which is universal and expressed in virtually every human culture on earth.
From Booklist
Images of hirsute, slack-jawed Neanderthals are so ingrained in popular culture that nearly anyone can readily identify this cave dweller as a long-extinct predecessor of modern man. Yet according to science writer Walter, most people are shocked to learn that 25 other species of humans besides Neanderthals and contemporary Homo sapiens evolved on our planet over the last seven million years. In this captivating and informative field trip through man’s paleontological past, Walter stitches together the piecemeal story of our unlucky ancestors and showcases the adaptive characteristics that allowed our kind to—so far—make the evolutionary cut. Some of the more intriguing vanished species profiled here are the diminutive, hobbit-like Homo floresiensis of Indonesia and the recently discovered Red Deer Cave people of China. Among the many survival advantages Walter highlights in comparing today’s humans with these earlier species are their prolific creativity and significantly longer childhoods. An exceptionally well-written overview of man’s evolutionary history as well as an accessible guide to the underappreciated field of paleoanthropology. --Carl Hays
Review
“Chip Walter's Last Ape Standing is provocative, insightful and engaging; a rare trifecta among science books. Nearly every page offers something that will surprise or intrigue you.” ―Ray Kurzweil, inventor, futurist, and author of How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed
“I read Last Ape Standing while sitting, then I jumped up and cheered. It's that good!” ―William Shatner
“The saga of human evolution is far from a straight line from ape to angel, with all but one of many species going extinct. Chip Walter's thoroughly enjoyable new book considers the evolutionary and social forces that crafted us, modern humans, and presents an intriguing scenario of why Homo sapiens is the Last Ape Standing.” ―Donald Johanson, discoverer of Lucy and founding director of the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University
“This book has a way of making you feel magnificently insignificant and at the same time an essential, vital part of the chain of human evolution. Just when you thought you were fully evolved as a human.....think again. Mind blowing stuff!” ―Michael Keaton
“[An] engrossing, up-to-date account of human evolution.” ―Kirkus
“[A] captivating and informative field trip through man's paleontological past...an exceptionally well-written overview of man's evolutionary history as well as an accessible guide to the underappreciated field of paleoanthropology.” ―Booklist
“Whether reading as a student or simply somone interested in how we came to be who we are today, Last Ape Standing provides a captivating look at science's evidence of evolution.” ―ShelfAwareness
“[An] engaging accounts...shed[s] a fascinating light on our evolutionary success.” ―New Yorker
“Chip Walter has made himself indispensable to audiences craving the latest information about our evolutionary past. No one wrties about early man, evolutionary dead ends or our pre-human rivals better than Chip Walter. If all science books were this witty and well-written, everyone would be a nerd.” ―Pittsburgh Post Gazette
“Walter takes an antic delight in the triumphal adaptations and terrifying near misses of human evolution...Last Ape Standing makes for a lively journey.” ―New York Times Book Review
Most helpful customer reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
Who knew?
By jasonhad
Utterly fascinating exposition of the latest theories on the evolution of modern Homo Sapiens, from the earliest fossilized traces to the present day. Not just the how, but the why, and told in a straightforward prose unfettered by the usual 7-syllable words anthropologists love to use to convince through obfuscation and confusion.
What differentiates us from our past - and from our fellow denizens of the planet. How the people we once thought of as ignorant savages, the Neanderthals, left their heritage behind for us to enjoy - through interbreeding. Most of us whose ancestry is of the northern hemisphere still carry their DNA in our cells - from one to four percent.
Why childhood is so much longer for us than for our cousins the primates, and why we are born utterly helpless - as well as upside-down (or at least compared to other animals).
Sadly, the author gets bogged down in the latter part of the book, expounding at great length on the mysteries of the current human brain, and in a disconcertingly repetitive manner entirely out of character. As another reviewer wrote, it is almost as if there was a word count goal and the last part of the book was written to that end rather than to the subject at hand. Psychobabble is still psychobabble, whether in the guise of paleoanthropology or of psychiatry.
Enjoy! But when you get bogged down in the last chapters, don't feel you've missed anything when you close the book in frustration - you'll have read the best part.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Fabulous Book
By Dale J. Horst
I hate being called a layman, but that is in fact what I am. I wanted to make a lot more money than my parents, and make it through my entire adult life without financial aid. I never became that paleoanthropologist I always wanted to be. So instead I read every book at every opportunity I can on the subject because it fascinates me. This book is fabulous, and is both understandable as well as technical. I have watched lectures by Chip Walter and he admits he is a much better writer than lecturer. He is a gifted writer, and truly takes the time to explain every point he makes in the book in clear concise terminology. I especially liked the chapter " The Voice Inside Your Head"..........Fascinating.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
Wow, a GREAT Read! Entirely Fascinating and Well Researched & Well Written!
By Tilly's reviews
I have to admit that I originally downloaded this book to my Kindle for two reasons, that it was a topic that my husband enjoys reading about and that it was on sale when I downloaded it...thinking he'd like it and the price was right. Forget him, as when I started reading it, I was hooked right away! Mike is going to have to (impatiently) wait to read it next as I have just a few pages yet to finish. Unlike many other reviewers, I hate giving away all the fascinating theories and scientific research plus the DNA test results that contributed to the information in this book. Lets just teasingly say...you might not exactly be WHO you thought you are as a modern humanoid. Scientific evidence is changing all the time in this field as fresh finds are made of remains and new DNA testing sheds new light on our origins. READ, LEARN and CONSIDER....and finally.... if all of our big toes start curling back underneath...we are quite possibly all in evolutionary trouble! Enough clues given...now buy it! This book is an amazing read and so well written, the author really knows how to keep the ball rolling on a topic some people might find a little boring...Boring it certainly is NOT.
See all 164 customer reviews...
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