Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth? Why Much of What We Teach About Evolution is Wrong

Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth? Why Much of What We Teach About Evolution is Wrong
Average customer rating:

Good book from this point of view.

Just the facts, maam

Just read the top ten

Typical ID/creationist crack at evolution, great if you want to reinforce your world view

sensational tabloid garbage

Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth? Why Much of What We Teach About Evolution is Wrong
Jonathan Wells
Manufacturer: Regnery Publishing, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0895262002

Book Description

Everything you were taught about evolution is wrong.

Customer Reviews:

Good book from this point of view........2007-09-25

This book a fairly good critique of evolution. This book I'm sure will receive many poor reviews or raving reviews from people who have already decided which side of the debate they are on (or would claim there is not even room for debate on this subject).

"Icons of Evolution" points out flaws in the basic illustrations that are always given to people just learning about evolution. These illustrations are used as a basis to support evolution where no alternative theories are given in biology classes (particularly at the lower levels of education.) Anyone who advances to the upper levels of any type of science will realize that many theories that are used to simplify teaching at the lower levels of education are flawed or debateable.

I have to question a theory that uses such obviously flawed examples to attempt to show uneducated people how it works. I was particularly interested in the discusson on the fossil record (which shows a particular explosion of species in a certain period of time.) I recommend the book to anyone who is interested in finding out more about evolution, although there are many other books you should read as well.

Just the facts, maam.......2007-07-07

Jonathan Wells systematically examines and dissects 10 classic "examples" of Darwinian

evolution. Drawing on the published works of recognized scientists, Wells exposes the

logical fallacies and factual errors of the pre-biotic soup, peppered moth, homologous

structures, Archaeopteryx, and other "showcases" of evolution. He also considers the

perpetuation of these "examples" in current (up to Y2K) biology textbooks. I wish this book

had been available when I was in college 20 years ago. I hope it is on the shelves in major

universities today. I hope university biology professors have the courage to read it, and

tell their to students about it. But if all that fails, I hope you, with an interest in the

subject, get it and read it yourself. Other titles you might enjoy include "Evolution: A

Theory in Crisis" by Michael Denton; "Of Pandas and People" by Dean Kenyon and Percival

Davis; "The Creation Hypothesis", ed. JP Moreland; "Darwin on Trial", by Philip Johnson;

"Darwin's Black Box" by Michael Behe; "What is Creation Science?" by Henry Morris and Gary

Parker; "Uncommon Dissent", ed. William Dembski; "Darwin's Enigma" by Luther Sunderland.

Just read the top ten.......2007-07-05

You can skip the book and read his top ten. Your not missing anything new.

I love how he wants to debate the 'evils' of a scientific theory with fallacy of the single cause and slippery slope arguments and not just the scientific facts. For example:

"Darwinism has been used historically to justify social evils such as eugenics and racism."

Of course, I'd be accused of 'attacking religion and moral values' if I point out that religion has been the cause of woe. Salem Trials, 911, the Crusades, do I need to go on? Obviously humans misuse ideas to fit a cause. Science is not the cause of racists any more then religion is the cause of the IRA.

My favorite is how 'Darwinists' want to censor free thought by not teaching ID in schools. Since for years his camp has been outlawing the teaching of Evolution in biological science, it's a sadly lacking argument. ID is a good discussion for a politics or comparative religion course in any school. Since it lacks any scientific merit, it does not belong in the science classroom of our public schools.

What bothers me most is how the Creationist camp has attempted to use the tools of science and logical argument to mislead. ID is a silly attempt to make religion a science so they can force a doctrine to be taught in school. In the end, ID only has one 'proof', which is the Bible. That makes ID a religion. End of story.

Typical ID/creationist crack at evolution, great if you want to reinforce your world view.......2007-07-05

First thing is I suggest getting this book from you local library.

If you like the topic of evolution and have read Dawkins or Mayr you might want to indulge in this short book to develop a better understand of what evolution is not . This book will do an excellent job of providing the typically Christian creationist (or Intelligent Designer) a reinforcement of their world view by casting doubt on evolutionary processes.

That being said I do believe that Dr. Wells is a good writer, decent at constructing an argument for the uninformed reader and even better at sounding convincing.... Also his attempts at casting doubt on evolution are completely unsuccessful.

The book truly is a simple example of deconstruction. One of the basic techniques Dr.Wells employs is to take the disagreements about "how" evolution happens and turn it into the argument "does evolution happen"? It is somewhat intellectually dishonest.

The most incredible part of the book is the last few chapters. His blatant attacks on evolutionary biologists are uncalled for and his conspiracy theories about government funding for research based evolutionary biologists is as crazy as the Roswell aliens or the JFK assassination conspiracy, UFO's ... etc.

The fact is there is no debate among true scientist about evolution. The evidence for evolution is overwhelming, widely accepted, has undergone peer review etc... has all the elements of good science - Evolution is a scientific fact that is as well established as the theory of gravity. Then again if use deconstruction techniques and are sufficiently uninformed about physics you could probably disprove gravity.

In summary if you are uninformed about evolution and like conspiracy theories you might really like this book, the arguments do sound convincing. If you want to really learn about the science behind evolution you might want to pick up something by Dawkins or Mayr.

sensational tabloid garbage.......2007-06-01

my biggest beef with this book is the blatant lies and misuse use of facts.one example is the haeckels embryos and how the drawings are inaccurate.first off the drawings are 12o yrs old and i have yet to find those drawings in any high school or college textbook (with the exception of history of biology or evolution and only as an outdated example) so my question for all you so called intelligent design advocates that want the controversy taught, why would you intentionally mislead the readers ? if these are the so called icons of evolution why did he choose the stupidest and flimsiest example? quit living in a fairy tale and understand that science has to contain testable hypothesis not god did it .

Racing the Antelope: What Animals Can Teach Us About Running and Life

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An Unique Perspective
Distance Running
I'd Rather Eat Worms than Deplete
Very entertaining book
Don't Forget We are All Animals!

Racing the Antelope: What Animals Can Teach Us About Running and Life
Bernd Heinrich
Manufacturer: Ecco
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0060199210
Release Date: 2001-04-24

Book Description

Racing the Antelope

"The human experience is populated by dreams and aspirations. For me, the animal totem of these dreams is the antelope, swift, strong, and elusive. we chase after 'antelope,' and sometimes we catch them. Often we don't. But why do we bother? I think it is because without dream 'antelopes' to chase we become what a lapdog is to a wolf. And we are inherently more like wolves than lapdogs, because the communal chase is part of our biological makeup."

In 1981, Bernd Heinrich, a lifelong runner, decided to test his limits at age forty-one and race in the North American 100-Kilometer Championship race in Chicago. To improve his own preparations as a runner, he wondered what he could learn from other animals--what makes us different and how we are the same--and what new perspective these lessons could shed on human evolution. A biologist and award-winning nature writer, he considered the flight endurance of insects and birds, the antelope's running prowess and limitations, the ultraendurance of the camel, and the remarkable sprinting and jumping skills of frogs. Exploring how biological adaptations have granted these creatures "superhuman" abilities, he looked at how human physiology can or cannot replicate these adaptations. Drawing on his observations and knowledge of animal physiology and behavior, Heinrich ran the race, and the results surprised everyone--himself most of all.

In Racing the Antelope, Heinrich applies his characteristic blend of scientific inquiry and philosophical musing to a deft exploration of the human desire--even need--to run. His rich prose reveals what endurance athletes can learn about the body and the spirit from other athletes in the animal kingdom. He then takes you into the heart of his own grueling 100-kilometer ultramarathon, where he puts into practice all that he has discovered about the physical, spiritual--and primal--drive to win.

At once lyrical and scientific, Racing the Antelope melds a unique blend of biology, anthropology, psychology, and philosophy with Heinrich's passion for running to discover how and why we run.

Customer Reviews:

An Unique Perspective.......2004-03-30

This is a great little book. It's title doesn't fully convey the complete story which includes one man's quest for a life-time-in-the-making run.

While Bern Heinrich's description of his quest pertains to ultra-marathoning, I found the principles he brought out equally applicable to lesser efforts. His vignettes of the natural endurance abilities various animals and insects are useful to ponder as one tries to squeeze a little extra performance out of a marathon. I found his observations of mankind's natural abilities and their comparisons to wildlife very interesting. I also found his commentary of his thoughts and tactics in preparation for and during his actual 100k race identical to some that I've had during my own endurance runs.

All in all, a unique read for the experienced runner who doesn't need another "how to" book on running.

Distance Running.......2002-11-19

This was a thoughtful venture into the science of distance running. The authors presents us with this scientific material (the physiology of endurance running) in a digestable manner. His prose is excellent for a scientist.

I'd Rather Eat Worms than Deplete.......2001-12-02

Anyone (like myself) who likes to run longer distances (and likes ~bugs~ to boot) will just plain enjoy reading about Heinrich's passion for the simple, elegant and primordial sport of running. Heinrich has woven his autobiography with scientific inquiry...his vocation (biology) is what gives this book about his avocation (running) an interesting bent. Heinrich talks about antelope, birds, toads, dogs and cats etc. and investigates what those animals can teach us about running, and what humans do or do not have in common with these animals regarding stamina, endurance, and even focus. I think that this book gives the reader / runner something to think about and be inspired by in an abstract way rather than serving as a ~step-by-step process~ on how to be a better runner. This is not some boastful read for the old-fart jock club (which by age I would qualify for), but an inspirational life story ~and~ scientific investigation regarding the human spirit, our primal / animal need to run (well, some of us anyway) and the drive to pursue our dreams (that goes for all of us!).

Very entertaining book.......2001-10-18

I can't disagree with the other reviewers that say this book is original and intense. However, I'm struggling to find out how my running can benefit from Heinrich's advice. The problem I have with the book is that it's disorganized. It starts off comparing the physiology of animals and humans' running ability, and ends with Heinrich's triumph at the big ultramarathon. I'm not sure what message the author and publisher are trying to convey to me. I was totally enthralled though with the discussion of the physiology of animals. I guess I was hoping for more details on how a runner can best prepare for an ultramarathon.

Don't Forget We are All Animals!.......2001-09-22

Racing the Antelope is one of the finest books on running I have ever read. Heinrich draws us in with his anecdotes as an ultramarathoner and enriches us with his deatiled knowledge of biology and physiology. The technical aspects are informative yet not too heavy. Any experienced or even beginner runner can profit from his examples. Well done!!

What Is Life?: with "Mind and Matter" and "Autobiographical Sketches"

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An Absolute Classic from a Great Thinker
Stimulating Reading
A physicist's essay on a topic he cannot know as a scientist, only as a human being
Pons Asinorum? It Wasn't Then !
A Classic

What Is Life?: with "Mind and Matter" and "Autobiographical Sketches"
Erwin Schrodinger
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521427088

Book Description

Nobel laureate Erwin Schrödinger’s What is Life? is one of the great science classics of the twentieth century. A distinguished physicist’s exploration of the question which lies at the heart of biology, it was written for the layman, but proved one of the spurs to the birth of molecular biology and the subsequent discovery of the structure of DNA. The philosopher Karl Popper hailed it as a ‘beautiful and important book’ by ‘a great man to whom I owe a personal debt for many exciting discussions’. It appears here together with Mind and Matter, his essay investigating a relationship which has eluded and puzzled philosophers since the earliest times. Schrodinger asks what place consciousness occupies in the evolution of life, and what part the state of development of the human mind plays in moral questions. Brought together with these two classics are Schrödinger’s autobiographical sketches, published and translated here for the first time. They offer a fascinating fragmentary account of his life as a background to his scientific writings, making this volume a valuable additon to the shelves of scientist and layman alike.

Customer Reviews:

An Absolute Classic from a Great Thinker .......2007-08-03

In "What is Life?" monograph, Schrodinger brilliantly enlightens us with the true concept of life science. He proposes what himself calls "a naive physicist's ideas about organisms." Years before the discovery of double helix structure of DNA, Schrodinger beautifully details how the huge volume of information is related to the structure of what he calls "aperiodic crystal" (what we currently call it "protein structure."

The ideas are still fresh and everybody who really wants to start the REAL and TRUE molecular biology must read this classic. It is astonishing to see how this great thinker and physicist had elaborated, very correctly and properly, to use the statistical tools in physics (statistical physics) to explain the fundamentals of life.

It is an absolute classic from a great legend. Please read and enjoy it.

Stimulating Reading.......2006-10-15

Schroedinger, one of the great physicists of the 20th Century, applied the knowledge he gained in his own discipline to analyze human life. Based upon lectures that he gave in the 1940s, this brief book contains Schroedinger's fascinating speculations on the nature of life, several of which have proven prophetic (including the discovery of DNA). The reader comes away with the joy of having shared in the workings of a great mind.

Perhaps the most impressive achievement of the book is that it can be readily understood by persons relatively untrained in science or mathematics.

A physicist's essay on a topic he cannot know as a scientist, only as a human being.......2004-12-19

I'm wondering why scientists are allowed to give their opinion as scientists about topics they know nothing about as scientists. The beginning of the title ("What is Life") sounds like if Schrodinger can claim anything about the difference between mind and matter as a pure consequence of physics. Too bad, as the rest of the title might make you think that there will be some discussion about why and whether there might be a difference between mind and matter. What remains of mind when you stick to the physics? That would be a very nice question to think about, if only this was the topic of the book...but it's not what is done here.

Pons Asinorum? It Wasn't Then !.......2004-08-30

While I was reading the book I thought "this is pretty obvious stuff!" Then I began reminding myself that "If I see further, it's because I stand on the shoulders of giants."
I read the book because J.D.Watson said it was good in his book "DNA The Key To Life." He was right. The first chapter was fascinating.

A Classic.......2004-03-08

What is Life? is an absolute classic. Schrodinger felt that life must be explainable by physics and chemistry, yet seemed to violate the normal behavior of entropy-- and he understood further that this was a remarkable wedge point to explore. He figured out the explanation: life is the result of evolution of genetic information, which selects for complex processes that by ordinary considerations would be very unlikely. He predicted that there must be a molecule capable of carrying the genetic information (incorrectly thinking it would be a protein.) His beautifully-written book was influential and timely. Within 4 years, Von Neumann elucidated the mechanisms involved in self-reproducing automata (illustrating his abstract discussion with a picture looking remarkably like DNA to the eyes of readers today); and within a decade, Watson and Crick grasped the structure of DNA. You should not read Schrodinger's book today as one of your first sources to understand life-- there has been remarkable progress in the 50 years since Watson and Crick-- but you should read it to gain appreciation for how science can be advanced when the time is ready and a wedge point, an apparent conflict between fundamental ideas, is analyzed.

The volume also includes another lecture by Schrodinger, Mind and Matter, which is historically interesting in another way. In Schrodinger's day, the state of understanding had not advanced to the point where it was possible to make as useful conjectures about the structure of mind as of life, and he accordingly felt "[mind] may well be beyond human understanding."

Readers interested in Schrodinger's book will also enjoy What is Thought?, published 2004. What is Thought? argues that mind must be explainable by computer science, that the fundamental issues are computational, and that there is again a wedge point: the question of how the workings of a computer, which are always purely syntactical, can correspond to meaning and understanding. The situation is parallel to the one that faced Schrodinger with respect to life in two respects: first, mind is the outcome of evolution, which has built thought processes that seem inconsistent with our standard science, and second, scientific research has advanced to the point where, if we focus on the wedge point, significant understanding is obtainable. What is Thought? brings to bear on the problem of mind core ideas from computational learning theory, complexity theory, and evolutionary computing, as well as molecular and evolutionary biology, cognitive science, and other areas. The result is a principled and concrete explanation, consistent with the vast array of available data, of how meaning, understanding, language, consciousness, and all the various aspects of mind arise from execution of an evolved computer program.

What Evolution Is
Average customer rating:

Good Overview by a Great Biologist

What it is not: a theory

Brief but comprehensive

An extraordinary author and scientist

This should be required reading

What Evolution Is
Ernst Mayr
Manufacturer: Basic Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0465044263
Release Date: 2002-10-15

Amazon.com

Gathering insights from his seven-decade career, the renowned biologist Ernst Mayr argues that evolution is now to be considered not a theory but a fact--and that "there is not a single Why? question in biology that can be answered adequately without a consideration of evolution."

Mayr, emeritus professor of zoology at Harvard University, has long been one of the world's foremost researchers in genetic and evolutionary theory. In this overview of past and current scientific thought, he discusses key concepts and terms, among them the origin of species, the (somewhat metaphorical) "struggle for existence," and agents of micro- and macroevolution. Somewhat against the grain, he argues against reduction and for the study of evolution at the phenotypic, not genetic, level. In his concluding pages, Mayr offers a careful overview of human evolution, adding his view that humankind is indeed unique--though "it has not yet completed the transition from quadrupedal to bipedal life in all of its structures."

Advanced students of the life sciences, as well as readers looking for a survey of current evolutionary theory, will find Mayr's book a useful companion. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

Mayr provides as convincing a testament to Darwin's genius as you are likely to find." --New York Times Book Review.

At once a spirited defense of Darwinian explanations of biology and an elegant primer on evolution for the general reader, What Evolution Is poses the questions at the heart of evolutionary theory and considers how our improved understanding of evolution has affected the viewpoints and values of modern man.

Science Masters Series

Customer Reviews:

Good Overview by a Great Biologist.......2007-10-03

As can be inferred from the title, What Evolution Is provides a brief overview of evolutionary theory; it was written by one of the leading biologists of the 20th century (the late Ernst Mayr). This book is broken up into four sections where evolution as a concept is first introduced followed by an explanation of evolutionary change and adaptedness, an explanation of speciation and macroevolution and, lastly, a discussion on human evolution. The book also includes two short appendices--one discussing some historical criticisms that have been made against evolution and another which provides short answers to some frequently asked questions.

I found this book to be very informative and written in a highly professional manner. Mayr's writing style is not the most energetic that I have encountered but it is very much to the point and makes me think of reading an elderly, patient professor (perhaps not coincidentally). The book includes a number of figures and tables that also add much to the presentation. My one complaint with this book is that the scientific jargon seemed a bit heavy in parts and some readers without much of a background in biology (such as me) might find this jargon discouraging when trying to read through the book. However, there is a glossary included at the back of the book and the limited discussion of the basics does allow the book to cover a lot of ground in a concise manner. Overall, I would recommend this book due to its clear presentation and broad range (and because it was written by Mayr).

What it is not: a theory.......2007-07-31

Ernst Mayr, at the age of nearly 100, wrote a sober, mostly crystal clear, mostly unpolemic overview and assessment of his scientific specialty: the biology of evolution. He did this although he has not normally been a 'popular' writer who wrote for laymen or semi-educated people (like me).
He makes it clear that he is not explaining 'a theory', but he is stating facts and explaining various theories explaining those facts. He is very good at outlining the progress made by and since Darwin, as well as at outlining the gaps in our knowledge. Nobody can seriously deny anymore that evolution has happened and is happening. Only the hows and whys are still debatable. (Why didn't evolution stop with bacteria, by the way? After all they are doing very well. One of my open questions.)
What I took away from this book are mainly two insights: the importance of the further progress of molecular biology for closing the remaining gaps in our understanding of evolution. Second, the importance of understanding that it is wrong to see species as fixed 'essences'; species are population continua. The process of variation and development is stochastic, precise typological definitions are deadends.
Let's watch what the recent new findings on RNA will mean for progress in this science. The last word has not been spoken yet. (That does however not mean that there is hope for creationists, unless they admit that Genesis is a poetic myth, and instead adopt the attitude that the creator is the one who gave us DNA and RNA etc)

Brief but comprehensive.......2007-01-10

Mayr is able to condense in a very small book, most of the areas of evolution. It suffers a little bit because of that(mainly if you have a knowledge more than the basics of evolution), but you have to realize that this is not a book for advance reader. It is for the illuminated basic science reader, that wants to expand their knowledge of this topic. From that standpoint, it's excellent. The authoritary tone that Mayr imparts to his writing is a little bit gratting if you know that some of the discussions that he closes up as resolved are not really that defined, but again if you are not a specialist it's good to have somebody telling you that X or Y is definitive.
In conclussion 5 stars as a beginner's book, and 3 as a general one.

An extraordinary author and scientist.......2006-12-24

Ernsy Mayr is one of the key figures in the development of the synthetic theory of evolution, by which Mendelian genetics was wed to Darwinian natural selection. The end result is a powerful paradigm that does well in explaining change in living forms. Especially extraordinary in the case of this book is that he was nearing 100 years of age when he wrote it. And it is a literate, accessible description of evolution that non-biologists can easily understand.
My interest in Mayr goes back to graduate school when I was assigned to read some of his classic works. Later on, I was given the opportunity to co-edit a volume (The Dynamics of Evolution) on the implications of Stephen Jay Gould's and Niles Eldredge's "punctuated equilibrium" theory in the natural and social sciences. Figuring "nothing ventured, nothing gained," I invited Mayr to contribute a chapter. To my astonishment, he agreed; further, I was overjoyed that major figures such as Gould, Eldredge, Kenneth Boulding, and Steven Stanley, among others, also agreed to write chapters. Mayr's chapter was one of the very strongest in this volume, even as he was in his 80s.

"What Evolution Is" is a wonderful introduction to the theory. It must be stated that he was nearing 100 years of age; nonetheless, his writing was sharp. The topics that he covers include the evidence for evolution, why evolution takes place, the nature of natural selection, the nature of species and speciation, macroevolution, human evolution, and a final chapter that explores what he refers to as "the frontiers of evolutionary biology." A very nice touch is his Appendix B, which provides short answers to frequently asked questions about evolution. There is also a useful glossary at the conclusion of the volume.

This is a terrific book for those wanting to know what evolutionary theory is all about by one of the greatest figures in this area. An accessible volume by a giant of science. . . .

This should be required reading .......2006-12-12

The late Ernst Mayr was one of the most prolific researchers in the area of evolutionary biology. As such, he has an expertise in this area which is almost unrivaled. In addition, he has the ability to explain some of the more complex parts of the theory of evolution in ways that are readily accessible to those without an advanced degree in biology. The book assumes very little general knowledge of biology and anyone who has taken an introductory course in biology (even high school level) should understand the vast majority of the book.

I think this book should be required reading for people in America because it seems that a significant portion of Americans are convinced that evolution is not real or is "just a theory." But, for the most part, these people are probably uninformed about the theory and may have erroneous conceptions of what evolution is. But don't take my word for it, this book, and the evidence that supports it speaks for itself.

Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies -- and What It Means to Be Human

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A Book for the SciFi Inspired to the Technologically Challenged
Radical Evolution
O the possibilities
How can we maintain in the midst of what's ahead?
Exponential curve?

Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies -- and What It Means to Be Human
Joel Garreau
Manufacturer: Broadway
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0767915038
Release Date: 2006-05-09

Book Description

Taking us behind the scenes with today’s foremost researchers and pioneers, bestselling author Joel Garreau shows that we are at a turning point in history. At this moment we are engineering the next stage of human evolution. Through advances in genetic, robotic, information, and nanotechnologies, we are altering our minds, our memories, our metabolisms, our personalities, our progeny–and perhaps our very souls. Radical Evolution reveals that the powers of our comic-book superheroes already exist, or are in development in hospitals, labs, and research facilities around the country–from the revved-up reflexes and speed of Spider-Man and Superman, to the enhanced mental acuity and memory capabilities of an advanced species. Over the next fifteen years, Garreau makes clear in this New York Times Book Club premiere selection, these enhancements will become part of our everyday lives. Where will they lead us? To heaven–where technology’s promise to make us smarter, vanquish illness, and extend our lives is the answer to our prayers? Or, as some argue, to hell–where unrestrained technology brings about the ultimate destruction of our species?

Customer Reviews:

A Book for the SciFi Inspired to the Technologically Challenged.......2007-05-08

Reading Radical Evolution is like reading a "How to" column - you are always surprised what can really be done. The book opens with a number of mind boggling bits of research talking about things from telekinesis to a device that gives soldiers x-ray vision; the funny thing is that these things are really occurring in laboratories as we speak. The purpose of the book is to provide an understandable, digested version of the work that is happening in Futuring land. Futuring, for those who are not in the know, is simply the study of trends and projections in an effort to forecast the future. Much like a meteorologist predicts the weather, futurists attempt to predict the social, political, technological, and economic climate 50 to 100 to a 1,000 years in advance. The book tries to stay neutral, explaining the possible horrors and terrors of advancing technology, but it clear from the first page to the back cover that its author, Joel Garreau, is a big supporter of advancements in technologies. Beyond the first couple examples, he goes further to describing how technologies can affect every bit of our being. Surveying the thoughts and opinions of numerous, credible futurists, he talks about how little robots can allow us to live in to our 200 hundreds and how we may have space colonies on the moon before we know it. The title, Radical Evolution, comes from the idea that through these advancements in technology, we, as humans, are creating a radical chain of evolution that is pushing past any boundaries that nature had set for us. It is even argued that we are actually transcending our humanity through these changes.
In the middle of the book he presents a point/counter-point discussion of the future technology, appropriately labeled "Heaven" and "Hell"; the greatest possible outcomes pinned against the most devastating consequences force the reader to ponder the benefits of new technology. As a compromise, Garreau offers a scenario in which humans simply prevail, this is neither a scenario of humanities grandeur or it's defeat, but rather a median between both extremes. Finally, Garreau admits the limited view that even the greatest researchers have in terms of looking at the future. People can make predictions to their hearts content, but in the end chance happenings and unplanned events can transform the course of any one prediction. All that any futurist can do is take the best information available and make a thorough forecast off with that data, supporting the argument until the next trend arrives.

Radical Evolution.......2007-04-15

Radical Evolution was written by Joel Garreu and is subtitled The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies--and what it means to be Human. The book leaves many ideas in a readers head about what is going to come of humanity, and what is in store for our future. Many researchers and scientists are interviewed throughout the book to give realistic ideas about possibilities dealing with technological, genetic, and philosophical changes that can possibly occur in the future. Garreau notes that the first difficulty in the world today is "making sense of the world unfolding before us, in which we face the biggest challenge in tens of thousands of years in what it means to be human". The book aims at helping to shape our world, our lives, our children, and our relationships.
Many different advancements in the world are being worked on as we speak such as mood-enhancing drugs, metabolism-enhancing drugs, drugs that will enable us to live without sleeping nearly as much as we do, and increasing mental capacity with genetic machines. Garreau's book dives into the ideas and endless possibilities behind GRIN technologies. GRIN technologies include genetics, robotics, information technology, and nanotechnology. Throughout the book, the author also explores the idea of how the world is going to end up. He presents many different scenarios that can formulate the world that will surround our children as they grow up. These possibilities include the heaven scenario, the hell scenario, and the prevail scenario. It is obvious throughout the book that the author leads towards the prevail scenario in which we take the "two steps forward, and one step back" philosophy and we end up successfully slowly continuing our future.
The book was extremely well written and a difficult book to put down after you begin reading it. It is shocking to find out that in our future, our bodies can be changed so much that dieting and exercise could become a thing of the past. Garreau did a wonderful job researching and finding information and advancements in technology that can be important throughout the future of our lives. The book is a prime example of a post-human future in which society uses advancements in technology to allow humans to shape their lives, bodies, minds, and well being. This book introduces the idea that our technologies are beginning to merge with our minds, our memories, our metabolisms, our personalities, our progeny, and even beginning to merge with our souls.

O the possibilities .......2007-04-15

Joel Garreau's Radical Evolution is a trip through our wildest fantasies, where anything is possible. This in-depth analysis of what may be in store for our earth and the human species can, at times, seem intriguing, frightening, mind-boggling or even overwhelming, but never boring. Garreau's overall aim is to inform a general audience of the vast changes that are currently reshaping our selves, our children and our relationships. To do this he focuses on the advancements of what he calls the "GRIN" technologies, or genetics, robotics, information, and nano-tech. He presents his work and scenario predictions through scientific research and entertaining depictions of scientists and pioneers in various fields, all of whom hold widely different views
Following a brief background of defining scenarios and what they entail, Garreau begins his analysis of future scenarios by introducing the idea of the "The Curve" or the rate of exponential change in technology and the Singularity scenario. He demonstrates "the curve" through the progression of "GRIN" technologies, while also setting the scene for the remainder of the book, which focuses on the various potential outcomes of these advancements.
Garreau divides the majority of the book into four scenarios, "Heaven," "Hell," "Prevail," and "Transcend." Although he defines them separately, he believes that the future is usually a combination of all the stories you can construct to anticipate it. While reading the book, this is a good outlook to have because the scenarios presented are radical. In the "Heaven" scenario, supported predominantly by Ray Kurzweil, positive technological advancements have led to a Utopian society. In this prediction the human race has achieved perfection on all realms. In the "hell scenario," a complete contradiction of the "heaven" one, everything goes awry. In this pessimistic forecast, primarily described by Bill Joy, the human species not only fails to thrive, but has to fight for survival against the technology it created. "Prevail," presented by Janor Lanier is a scenario in which the human race "muddles through." In this forecast we do not excel, but we do survive. Lanier believes that as we advance we will create and discover new problems but, like always, we will get through them. It is important to know that Garreau describes the first three as not being on a line, but forming a triangle where the two base points are the "heaven" and "hell" scenarios. This entails that Prevail, although a more moderate scenario is not a mid-point between the other two.
The last major scenario presented in the book is "transcend," which forecasts the world transforming beyond our wildest dreams. The information here is hardly feasible and at times hard to grasp. Overall the book is fascinating and paradigm shifting, leading the reader to evaluate the presented scenarios and challenge preconceived notions about what the future entails.

How can we maintain in the midst of what's ahead?.......2007-04-11

Radical Evolution, by Joel Garreau is one of the most insightful, down to earth and wonderful reads about the field of futures thinking, futures studies and many other things future-related. Garreau depicts for the reader in his work how we have already begun the development of technologies that will lead us into the following decades and how the development of these new technologies, and the way in which humanity implements them, will fundamentally alter and forever change what it means to be human and to exist in this world. Garreau's theories and brilliant depictions of many possible future scenarios are easily understood; he is extremely careful and precise in his vivid manner of relating seemingly complex moral, ethical and physical future situations to the reader. The effectiveness of his work shines through in his "everyman" approach to discussing the material within the book's pages. Although he is a professional and scholar in the field of futures studies and futures thinking, Garreau never seems to put himself above the reader. Radical Evolution is not a lecture, more, this book is a sort of conversation between the reader and Garreau. If you compare this book to others that include projections of the future, at least half of Garreau's work/chapters stand out far from the rest. Instead of merely making worked-over and tired predictions about the future of humanity and our developing technologies, Garreau details in three of the eight chapters in Radical Evolution, three separate and distinct scenarios for the future of mankind. Chapter 4, heartwarmingly titled Heaven, exhibits the ultimate in desired futures: a place where work is done by the technologies we've developed and humans enjoy lives of leisure. The Heaven scenario depicts a place where, if we have not cured all, or even most, of the diseases that plague the human body, we are extremely close. In Chapter 5 the reader comprehends (rather fearfully at times) Garreau's Hell scenario, in which the title explains it all. Quickly, Garreau revives the reader with a chapter that outlines his Prevail prediction/scenario in which the future has a more human (perhaps faulty) approach, meaning, not all is well at first, things go wrong, etc. however mankind will carry on. Radical Evolution is a fair and balanced portrayal of both good and bad, order and chaos, light and dark and moral and evil. Radical Evolution paints an in-depth, touching and rich portrait about where mankind is heading, outlining how we are propelling ourselves there slowly but surely and most importantly, helping to define what it all means for the individual.

Exponential curve?.......2007-01-29

Radical Evolution discusses how the rate of technological innovation has consistently accelerated over time, and the implications for what the world might look like in ten, twenty, fifty years because of this.

Garreau focuses on 3 main scenarios for how it all might turn out, and he dubs these Heaven, Hell, and Prevail, which you can think of as optimistic, pessimistic, and realistic, respectively.

Interspersed in this presentation are many interesting tidbits and information about what is currently being worked on by agencies such as DARPA. My overall impression was that the book was of the variety of Blink and Faster, but with more meat.

The book content is actually only 273 pages long, due to a large index and collection of suggested readings, both very comprehensive.

What Darwin Didn't Know: A Doctor Dissects the Theory of Evolution

Average customer rating:

A Misguided Read
Fascinating journey into the human body.
What This Doctor and This Mathematician Don't Know.... If They Prevail, Medicine Will Return to the Dark Ages
A Harsh Review From An ID Supporter
Evolution: chance or necessity?

What Darwin Didn't Know: A Doctor Dissects the Theory of Evolution
Geoffrey Simmons , and William Dembski
Manufacturer: Harvest House Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Science & Religion | Religious Studies | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0736913130

Book Description

Endorsed by William Dembski, Ph.D., the scientist at the forefront of the intelligent–design movement.

Darwin might have thought twice about publishing his theories if he had had access to today’s medical and microbiological discoveries. Drawing on years of research, Dr. Simmons demonstrates that the almost infinite complexity of the human anatomy simply could not have developed by chance. For example:

the body runs on “battery power”...from the hundreds of mitochondria in each cell
the two sexes—evolutionary theory cannot explain why they exist
every cell is its own pharmacist, chemist, and metallurgist

Accessible, clearly presented, and utterly fascinating, What Darwin Didn’t Know shows the human body to be a marvelous system constructed by an infinitely wise Designer.

Customer Reviews:

A Misguided Read.......2007-07-18

First of all, this book received two stars from me as opposed to one because it was very interesting to read about some of the intricacies of the human body. However, I could have just as easily gone to an anatomy text for such a purpose. For that reason, I say that it is misguided.

Dr. Simmons, while writing passionately and eloquently, does absolutely nothing to discredit or bring to doubt evolution. In a nutshell, the book largely consists of a pattern that first describes an intricacy of the human body, and then fallaciously states in one manner or another that 'it can't be imagined' how something of such complexity could possibly arrived through evolution; i.e. the argument from personal incredulity, which is extremely popular among creationists and apologetics.

Additionally, I found it quite interesting that though the concept of evolution clearly applies to all living beings - macro and micro alike - Dr. Simmons curiously decides to ignore the rest of life by focusing only on humans to myopically imply that humans are the divine exception to biology.

I feel that this book was 'designed' for those who are already staunch supporters of Intelligent Design and have no wish to learn the actual science behind evolution. This book will no doubt be very successful in reinforcing creationist belief, but for those who have an actual grasp on the specifics of evolution as a whole, this book in actuality fails to dispute any of the key cornerstones such as random mutation coupled with non-random natural selection over a geological timespan to produce complexity.

If someone is interested in learning about evolution as opposed to human body complexity, they are urged to search elsewhere, because any actual discussion of it within this book is sorely lacking.

Those wishing for a true expose on the shortcomings of Dr. Simmons' book need only to read a general evolution text such as Richard Dawkins' "The Blind Watchmaker".

Fascinating journey into the human body........2007-03-17

The ancients had it all wrong. They dubbed the Pyramid of Giza, and Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Colossus of Rhodes, etc to be the Seven wonders of the world. Little did they know that to find the biggest wonder in the world, all they had to do was look inside themselves. That ability had to wait for the technology that would allow humans to discover what a marvel they really are. As the wonders of what transpires under my skin were skillfully unfolded, my mind was filled with awe. There is no part of the body I will take for granted again. Who can not be impressed that their blood vessels laid out end to end would circle the globe twice? How about the fact one cell is more complex than the space shuttle? Those stories and more await discovery between the covers.

Dr. Simmons tells the story with humor and clear, precise language. He is the tour guide on this ultimate, incredible journey. At each stop in the human machine, he reveals in detail the complexity of that particular part of the body and how it relates to the whole. The chapter on reproduction is absolutely mind boggling. The chapter on the development of an embryo gives the reader a play by play account of the development of a new human being. All the major systems of the body are explained in language that makes it fun to read this book. Dr. Simmons is a writer who is also a scientist. This is one of the most edifying books I have ever read.

If you home school your children or teach science in a private school, this book is an excellent resource to augment your curriculum.

What This Doctor and This Mathematician Don't Know.... If They Prevail, Medicine Will Return to the Dark Ages.......2006-08-16

For more than fourteen hundred years, Western medicine returned to the Dark Ages due in no small measure to religious superstition and faith-based adherence to Roman doctor Galen's medical text on anatomy. It wasn't until the advent of the Renaissance, with such leading figures as Leonardo Da Vinci and William Harvey, that Western medicine once more became a rigorous discipline based entirely on serious, extensive scientific study of human anatomy and the origins of infectious diseases such as smallpox and cholera. Geoffrey Simmons, a doctor, and William Dembski, a philosopher and mathematician (I might add too, a strident Fundamentalist Protestant Christian ideologue, whose philosophical point of view isn't too far removed from Osama bin Laden's.) have sought to recast modern medicine as offering evidence in support of Intelligent Design; an invalid hypothesis claiming to be scientific which was rejected originaly back in the 18th and 19th centuries by scientists, and most recently, has been determined to be a religious doctrine masquerading as science by Republican Federal judge John Jones in his landmark, historic December 22, 2005 ruling in the Kitzmiller vs. Dover Board of Education trial (htttp://www2.ncseweb.org/kvd/all_legal/2005-12-20_kitzmiller_decision.pdf) - claiming that the complex nature of human anatomy is sufficient proof of the concept of irreducible complexity stated by biochemist Michael Behe in his book "Darwin's Black Box".

If one were to follow Simmons' and Dembski's tortuous, sloppy logic, then the concept of irreducible complexity would explain why African-Americans are susceptible to sickle cell anemia. Unfortunately, not only does Intelligent Design fail to explain the existence of sickle cell anemia, it also casts into question whether an "Intelligent Designer" would seek to create this disease. On the other hand, evolutionary biology has demonstrated conclusively that sickle cell anemia arose as a means of insuring immunity from insect-borne diseases carried by the tsetse fly and other insects within native African populations. Once Africans were transported to the New World - which had a different suite of insect-borne diseases - then sickle cell anemia was no longer a beneficial trait, but instead, became a serious medical condition within African-American populations.

Over the past year and a half major American medical organizations and journals have issued statements in praise of evolutionary theory and condemning Intelligent Design, echoing Judge Jones' decision by noting that Intelligent Design isn't a valid scientific theory, but rather, a religious doctrine masquerading as science. One notable example was published recently by Stanford University's medical school: http://mednews.stanford.edu/stanmed/2006summer/. Those interested in rigorous, contemporary medical research should not think of acquiring this book, unless they wish to see medical practice return quickly back to the Dark Ages of Western civilization (EDITORIAL NOTE: Of the comments listed below, Stewart Thorne's are the most thoughtful and persuasive, and are indeed, a rather insightful commentary on my own eloquent points made in this review.).

A Harsh Review From An ID Supporter.......2006-07-31

This book is possibly THE worst book of its kind...at least of all that I have read. Off the bat, let it be known that I am an ID proponent and a critic of Darwinism. I'm not an atheist/materialist out to criticize a book for questioning evolution. That said, this book has alot of problems. First, it seems like information is repeated more often than necessary. This book could have been one-fourth of the size it is now. Second, there are far too many questions posed and far too few questions answered. "How could evolution..? Why would evolution...?" Mere speculation abounds in this book and will not be helpful to any reader. Third, there is also inaccurate and pointless information all over the pages of this book. The chapter "Gifts" is so non-sensical it was amazing to me that it was included in the book. ID is real science, but this book does it no justice. This book is fodder for materialists who are critical of ID. I'm a supporter of ID and I found plenty of reason to criticize it. If you want to read about ID, there are much better sources of information than this book.

Evolution: chance or necessity? .......2005-10-27

The problem is not so much what Darwin didn't know, since it is clear by now that most of what he said about evolution has really nothing to do with it, much less is able to explain it. Actually this applies, "mutatis mutandis", to all present evolutionists. Let me tell you what Darwinists still don't know. Although they have lots of models and theories, they really can't explain: 1) the origin of the Universe; 2) the origin of the first stars; 3) the origin of the first galaxies; 4) the origin of the solar system; 5) the origin of the Earth and the Moon; 6) the origin of the oceans; 7) the origin of life; 8) particles-to-people evolution; 9) the origin of the sexes; 10) the origin of language, etc, etc. They can't even demonstrate that random mutations and natural selection are responsible for all the complex specified information we see all around us. So don't ask only what Darwin didn't know; ask also what Darwinists still don't know.

The real problem is that universities have been "programmed" with the wrong "software" ever since the historical emergence of "scientist anti-metaphysical positivism".

How can universities detect design if they were "programmed" not to do so? The main reason why all scientific disciplines agree with evolution is because they cannot but agree with evolution. They have no choice. The "system" doesn't allow any other option. This is not a scientific problem: it is a systemic problem.

Most modern universities have excluded arguments based on design and teleology a priori, as non scientific. Because of that, their "systemic code" can only detect random, natural and accidental causes and processes. Agreement with evolution has been pre-programmed into the system, and as the saying goes: garbage in, garbage out.

That's why I am not really impressed with the argument according to which all disciplines of science agree that evolution took place. That should not be considered a valid argument in favour of evolution, since that "conclusion" is really nothing more than the assumption from which they start reasoning in the first place and from which they approach the facts. No alternative assumptions or interpretations are allowed, no matter how well they are able to explain and predict.

This means that all current certainties about evolution are nothing more than circular reasoning. In fact, that translates in to the methodologies and arguments of all the scientific disciplines: when they deal with evolution they do so in terms of tautology and fallacy. We see that in geology, palaeontology, biology, genetics, chemistry, astrophysics, etc.

The conclusion in favour of evolution is necessary, because the assumption of evolution is mandatory. In "scientific" circles evolution is not so much a matter of chance, but a matter of necessity.

The Dover trial on evolution and intelligent design is a good example: if scientists dismiss design arguments a priori as non scientific, it should be no surprise to anyone that evolution becomes the only game in town. Evolution becomes "scientific" by definition and design becomes "religious" by decree.

If evidence of creation and intelligent design is ruled out, the only option is naturalistic evolution. The same is true in a court of law: if all evidence of criminal intent is ruled out as non-legal, than the court will have to conclude that an accident took place and was responsible for the existing dead body. What a surprise!! All the "circumstantial evidence", all the "coincidences" and all the "patterns" that might lead a judge to an inference of intent beyond reasonable doubt were not presented nor assessed in court. They were dismissed a priori as non-legal, as irrelevant from the point of view of the "code" of the legal system.

That's why evidence of design and creation has to come from those who work outside the system, that is, outside the mainstream "pre-programmed" naturalist "scientific" circles. That's why we observe the creation and evolution of many creationist and intelligent design web sites, publications and other materials.

The same phenomenon is true about the legal system. If the judges in a court arbitrarily rule out relevant evidence in a case, it is for the press, who works outside of the legal system, to try to denounce cases of gross miscarriage of justice.

That's what creationists and design theorists are doing when they put forward evidence of creation and design in nature and try to persuade those who are willing to open their minds to other kinds of arguments, and demonstrate that the observed evidence fits much better within a creationist and design model. Evidence of design in nature is not hard to find, because, as even atheist Richard Dawkins admits, it is simply overwhelming.

Of course, creationists and intelligent design theorists will have a hard time convincing mainstream scientists, because they are pre-programmed to listen and recognize only those arguments that don't allow for design and teleology. The problem is not about the quality and quantity of the evidence of design. The problem is that, no matter how good or how much, design evidence is simply ruled out as inadmissible. The current scientific paradigm is one sided from the start.

Creationism and intelligent design are being judged by the court of science without "due process" rights. When a court is not independent and impartial in a given question, the best way to solve the problem and get a fair hearing is to do away with it and replace it altogether. The only way out is to break the naturalistic "code" and reprogram the "systemic code" by which science defines itself. That's why many have been saying, even outside creationist circles, that we need a new kind of science.

The Simplest Path to Personal and Planetary Awakening, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND: 10 Keys for Unlocking Your Personal Potential, Achieving Spiritual Awakening, ... of Humanity's Ultimate Cosmic Destiny

Average customer rating:

Way Beyond "Socrates Revisited"
True, but gimmicky
A Unique and Inspiring Wake-up Call
Challenge Consensus Reality!
A Simple Cure For What's "Eating Us"

The Simplest Path to Personal and Planetary Awakening, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND: 10 Keys for Unlocking Your Personal Potential, Achieving Spiritual Awakening, ... of Humanity's Ultimate Cosmic Destiny
Vincent Casspriano Jr.
Manufacturer: Lulu.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Buddha | Buddhism | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1847285783

Book Description

The Simplest Path, Step One: Free Your Mind delineates, in one slim volume, a complete system for achieving personal spiritual awakening, along with a straightforward, no-nonsense plan individuals and groups so enlightened can follow to awaken Humanity en masse and positively transform the world. This book contains keys to awakening. Awakening from our personal dream shatters the solid "box" of limitation memes have built around our lives, and frees us to fluidly craft our personalities, environments, relationships, careers, etc. as an artist paints a landscape or a sculptor teases form from formless clay. All of us awakening together from the shared dream of the planet will mark the birth of our species out of our current global nightmare of decline into a limitless future literally beyond our present ability to imagine, even in our "wildest dreams," indeed.

Customer Reviews:

Way Beyond "Socrates Revisited".......2007-08-22

After reading the commentary attached to the one star rating given by the young man from Texas, I feel compelled to step forward in defense of this very fine book. With only one exception, every point made in that negative review is simply wrong. Just not factually correct. The reviewer identifies himself as a young man (... "to my young mind"), and since all of his other Amazon reviews are of TV episodes on DVD, video games and rock music CDs I take him at his word. Well, I am an "old man," closing in on my sixty-third birthday, and I came to Mr. Casspriano's book after six decades of life experience, the last three of those decades a zealous practitioner of Zen Buddhism. I say this not to "brag," but simply to qualify myself as a reviewer before beginning.

I'll start where the one star reviewer closed his argument, with his statement that the simplest path reduces to two Socratic concepts: "Admit that you don't know anything" and "know yourself."

The first part is nominally true (the exception). Like Zen Buddhism, a central tenet of the simplest path is working to release the false notion we all hold that we know ourselves, other people, the world around us. But identifying and releasing our attachments to our illusions is a life's work, not some brash "I don't know nothin'!" as the young Texan seems to imply. Under normal circumstances, we go about our daily lives with no idea we are deluded about anything, as Maya (the illusion of the phenomenal world around and even inside us) is so convincing that most of us never even think to question its validity. Casspriano did not invent the notion of human beings being trapped in illusion, as this truth was known to the timeless authors of the Hindu Vedas and is central to all schools of Buddhism (not just Zen). But his scientific/spiritual exploration of the mechanism by which Maya ensnares our minds and can, with effort, be overcome is among the best "plain English" explanations of this process I have read. There is no "inscrutable mystery" in the simplest path (a criticism that has been accurately leveled toward Zen Buddhism, as a lot of Eastern thought truly does come off as "inscrutable" when translated into English and/or the metaphors of Western culture). Casspriano lays out in no-nonsense American English exactly what our brains are doing when they create the illusion we mistake for reality, then shows the reader in the same clear terms how to train his or her brain to break free of illusion and taste reality as-it-is. In just 216 pages, that is no mean feat. After thirty years of Zen practice and numerous kensho experiences (of varying depths and intensities), I can say from personal experience that Casspriano is correct. Enlightenment comes as the fruit of a long, incremental process of retraining the mind to touch reality in a new way, and the process described in the simplest path is the same as that followed in Zen practice, especially Rienzi Zen koan study (I'll have more to say about this in a later paragraph). Casspriano's approach and language is very different from traditional Zen (more "scientific," and no sitting meditation is required), which I think would appeal to Americans and other Westerners seeking to experience "awakening" without necessarily committing themselves to a religion like Buddhism, but the internal mental/spiritual process and final destination are the same.

"Know yourself," on the other hand, is not in this book at all, at least not in the way the young reviewer, or Socrates for that matter, uses the phrase. As in Buddhism, Casspriano takes pains to demonstrate that "self" is as much of an illusion as our misapprehension of the phenomenal world, and is a byproduct of exactly the same mind process that creates outer Maya. A core teaching of Buddhism is that our "self," our personality/ego, is nothing more than an aggregation of outside influences that cluster together in our minds like shiny stones gathered into a pile, and which we mistake not only for something "real," but tragically, for our essential selves. Yet this "pile" has nothing really to do with who we are at all. Buddhism teaches "no-self." Belief in the illusion of a unique and independent "self" is our greatest obstacle to enlightenment. Wasting time and energy getting to "know yourself" in the Western sense is foreign to Eastern thought. Casspriano again does a great job of translating the Buddhist concept of "no-self" into Western scientific/spiritual terminology. He shows the process by which our ego/personality aggregate "piles up," as well as how to take the pile down, stone by stone. Enlightenment is what the pile was covering up, and so it naturally appears as soon as the pile is removed - but oh how we cling to our personal pile of stones! "Self" is what we must trade for enlightenment, what must be surrendered, and Casspriano returns to this truth many times in the simplest path. My point is that the one star reviewer's reduction of the simplest path to "know yourself" has no basis at all in the actual book.

As to the book being "gimmicky": Yes, the words "The Simplest Path" recur frequently throughout the book, but not in reference to the book itself (at least that's not how I took it), but rather to the system of understanding the mind and working toward "awakening" Casspriano is describing - and it is a complete system that deserves to be considered as a whole, on its own. At times the repetition does have a feel of "branding" in the commercial sense, so I understand where the reviewer may have taken his impression. But the simplest path, while resonant with Zen Buddhism (and apparently, according to Casspriano, with the Toltec philosophy espoused by Carlos Castaneda, of which I have no personal knowledge, so I'll have to take the author's word for that) is far enough different that it needs its own "name" to set it apart from other schools of similar but not identical thought. The reviewer's criticism is like saying that every use of the term "Zen" in a book called "Zen Buddhism" should be taken as a reference to the book, and not to the larger practice of Zen Buddhism as a spiritual discipline that the book is describing. Casspriano's point in repeatedly linking The Simplest Path, Zen Buddhism and Toltec Shamanism throughout the book, at least as I understood it, is to highlight these three spiritual practices as related reliable paths through a dark forest of illusion, a forest in which many apparent (and more popular) paths, including most (all?) religious beliefs, actively vie to mislead travelers toward deeper ensnarement in the dream, rather than leading them toward "awakening."

I want to say a word about koan study in Rienzi Zen and how it relates to the simplest path. Koans are those quirky Zen sayings and stories like "what is the sound of one hand clapping?" or "what was your original face before you (or your parents) were born?" that have no rational answer, and which Zen students turn and turn in their minds like the tumblers of a combination lock until their imprisoned psyches "explode" in a "super-rational" experience of reality beyond the illusion ("irrational" would be the wrong term, as that implies "nonsense"). That "super-rational" vision of reality is called "kensho." I have experienced it myself, more than once in my lifetime. I have come to think of Casspriano's "Key Questions" in the second half of the simplest path, especially the later seven of the ten, as "cultural koans" designed to trigger "collective kensho" for the whole human race at once. Like "what is the sound of one hand clapping?", unflinching consideration of the value of human life, of how our beliefs about the future shape the present, of the true origin and destiny of life on Earth, etc., especially as seen through the lens of Casspriano's "Key Question Technique," reveals that none of these questions have rational answers, yet all require our active and immediate response. Successful resolution of these larger riddles that impact everyone will require us all to eventually "explode" into reality, together, in a "super-rational" way. We'll have to break through the illusion and wake up together, as one (which has been the goal of Mahayana Buddhism, of which Zen is a sect, since around 200 BCE). That is the "Planetary Awakening" addressed in this book, and I believe Casspriano's "Key Questions" are a concrete step in that direction. I'm glad I spent my fifteen dollars.

This is my "old man" take on the simplest path, having encountered it after 30 years of Zen Buddhist practice (I'm not veering off my chosen path here, just bowing respectfully in passing toward Casspriano's). From a Buddhist perspective, the simplest path is true Dharma, though I do not get the impression from reading his book that Vincent Casspriano is himself a Buddhist or a follower of any religion. That to my mind makes his book all the more interesting.

True, but gimmicky.......2007-08-09

Casspriano's book is scientifically and philosophically sound as best as my young mind can tell, but I don't recommend this book. Its scattered with numerous pages of advertising about how his "program" works and how it compares to other religions and spiritual movements. Why must this author physically write out "The Simplest Path" in reference to his book every other page, and talk about his second volume? Perhaps because he's not out for pure truth, but for our money.

All this book comes down to after you strip away the nonsense is two things. First, admit that you don't truly know anything. Second, know yourself. Do those two things (they essentially both mean to question EVERYTHING), and you'll have Casspriano's "Planetary Awakening," with 15 bucks still in your pocket. And you'll be following the fundamental truths already said by Socrates.. so do yourself a favor and pick up Plato's "Apology" and read up on the Socratic dialogue on how to live a good life. And don't stop there, because you can't be sure he's right.

And I have 10 bucks that says these other couple of reviews were written by the book publisher. In any case, ignore the hype.

A Unique and Inspiring Wake-up Call.......2007-05-15

This is one of the most clear-headed books I've read in years on the subject of real, nitty gritty, get your hands dirty spiritual development (as opposed to the fru fru New Age variety). So much of what passes for "spirituality" in our time amounts to some author, celebrity, priest, philosopher or self-appointed guru telling us what to "believe," sight unseen, if we want to reach heaven, attain enlightenment, achieve "ascension," etc. Casspriano takes an at times startling opposite approach. For Casspriano, such unquestioned/unquestionable beliefs are not only NOT the path to spiritual awakening, they represent the chief obstacle blocking our realization of higher consciousness. And it's not just religious beliefs ("faith") he's talking about, but all our beliefs about reality, especially those that enclose our thinking in "boxes" that limit our freedom to find solutions to real-world threats like Peak Oil, overpopulation, Global Warming, etc. Though much of the book focuses on individual enlightenment, for Casspriano, these larger planetary issues are "spiritual," as well. Whether the issue is our personal inability to find happiness or Humanity's collective rush toward physical extinction, the cause is the same - our wrong-headed beliefs about what's real. The solution is the same, as well - continuous, deep questioning. Using Richard Dawkins' concept of "memes" as a central metaphor, Casspriano first breaks down the basic process of belief, showing the mechanism in our brains by which beliefs misdirect and control our psyches, then he walks the reader through an exploration of a series of ten "anti-meme questions" aimed at breaking down the walls of our mental "boxes" and setting our minds free. With each question, he supplies an exercise designed to allow the reader to attain a personal taste of reality "beyond the box," especially as flavored by that chapter's "Key Question." For the most part, this formula works very well (with a few rare moments of over-exuberance on the author's part, as already described in other reviews, though as a card carrying vegan environmentalist, I can't say I particularly minded), delivering a cumulative series of death-blows to some of the most basic "pillars" of our present human consensus reality. Beyond the walls those pillars supported lies real reality, where we are all interconnected and interdependent, and, in Casspriano's view, mutually destined for greatness, if we can just wake up and grab the reins of our runaway culture in time. This is not a book for spiritual "feel gooders" seeking soft assurances that they're perfect just they way they are and everything's going to be all right, no matter what. This is a wake up call, a tool kit and a concrete action plan for becoming individually enlightened and collectively saving the world, all rolled up into one. That, I think, is a cause well-worthy of exuberance.

Challenge Consensus Reality!.......2007-05-10

This is a thoughtful book that addresses how we may go about developing a process to question our everyday consensus reality. I suppose if I have learned anything in 49 years of life, it is that all personal and social problems stem from our fundamental views on the nature of reality itself. Vincent Casspriano uses the concept of a "meme" as a fundamental unit of ideas, assumptions, etc. that often block our understanding of reality itself. One such meme, for example, may be that we have to "fight for our freedom" or the world's a "fearful" place and hence, we have to be ready to kill to protect ourselves. I suppose you could also use the word "paradigm" here as well, but the essential point of this book is that we "unconsciously" function in our life with many limited points of view that block our ability to solve problems on both a personal and a social basis.

While Vince Casspriano is to be congradulated for producing a book that presents both a methodology and a motivation for personal transformation, there are a few pitfalls here that the potential reader should be aware of before tackling this material. The author has some rather strong views on fossil fuel consumption, meet consumption, and the role of humans in the cycle of procreation. While I generally agree with his analysis on fossil fuel consumtion and meat consumption (as I have viewed large tracks of deforrested grazing land in developing countries), these viewpoints can distract the reader from the essential point here which is to rigourously question consensus reality. Since I am single, and have no motivation to have children, I definitely disagree with his views on the necessity of human procreation on this planet, but here again, it is important to extract the essential meaning rather than get caught in the specific political/social debates that these issues may spawn.

If you are serious about personal transformation with the potential for changing our global consciousness, than this book can be an invaluable tool. I do agree with the Author that a world population of "high functioning" people can resolve every planetary problem we face today. As we systematically question our consensus reality, we will see our problems in new ways, and with this new perspective, problems can often be quickly resolved or transcended.

A Simple Cure For What's "Eating Us".......2006-11-13

I considered titling this review, "Stop Whining, Wake Up and Get Busy Saving the World," but decided "Eating Us" would be more attention-grabbing - which matters because I believe Vincent Casspriano, Jr.'s "The Simplest Path, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND" is an important book, and I want to do whatever I can to draw your attention to it. Pick the title you like best. Both very fittingly describe what you will find within the pages of this remarkable new release from New Paradigm Press.

I have selected three short quotations to explore in this review that I think best summarize Casspriano's overall message:

From Chapter One, "The Boxes We Dream In":

"Right now, this very moment, you are asleep... Even if you are reading these words in broad daylight - sitting at your desk or beside the kitchen table, your feet firmly planted on the floor, eyes open, senses alert, feeling the weight of this book in your hands as sounds of life rise and fall rhythmically around you - you are deeply asleep, and dreaming furiously"

Now, the idea that Humans are sleeping, and must therefore "awaken," is by no means unique to Casspriano's "Simplest Path" spiritual system, being the root observation underlying pretty much all Eastern religion, and a lot of Western Occultism and New Age metaphysics, as well. In fairness, Casspriano makes no claim to this as an original insight, openly supporting his assessment of the human predicament with quotations taken from Animism, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam. He then flows seamlessly into a list of complementary illustrations from the secular realms of Quantum Physics, brain/consciousness research, and most to-the-point, the study of memes and memetics, ala Evolutionary Biologist and world's best-known cheerleader for scientific atheism, Richard Dawkins.

If you've never heard of memes or memetics, a quick Google of those terms will reveal hundreds of serious, information-rich websites devoted to this now thirty-year old science. In a nutshell, a "meme" is a sort of contagious thought-form that spreads between people by way of imitation. Obvious memes in our environment include advertising jingles, fads and fashions, etc. Casspriano somewhat radically extends the concept to include just about everything that makes up the contents of our individual brains and shared human culture. While he resists redefining the word "meme" wholesale, he decidedly expands its definition to make memes and "memeplexes" (what you get when a number of memes band together into an organic, relational unit, like a religion or cultural or political movement) the basic, fundamental building blocks of everything we habitually label "real..."

And then he demonstrates, in at times excruciating detail, the complete emptiness of the "apparent-reality" that is a byproduct of memetic activity in our brains. What we call "real" is not real at all. It's an illusion spun up by our memes. And our memes are not original to us. They are "viral invaders" assailing our minds from without. Worse - and, while even this thought is not wholly unique to Casspriano, he certainly gives it his own very effective spin - memes are by no means mere passive beliefs or simple "harmless ideas." They are, Casspriano believes, actively predatory psychic parasites whose survival depends on our buying into the illusions they create in our minds. Think of illusion (Samsara, Maya, etc.) as a web we're caught in. Memes are the spider. We are the fly. Gotcha.

One thing I like very much about Casspriano's book is that he never asks us to take anything on faith, least of all this rather ugly depiction of the human psychic/spiritual condition. He not only challenges readers to test his hypothesis firsthand in order to experience what is real and true for ourselves, he spends a large chunk of the book outlining specific exercises anyone can do to escape memetic interference and personally experience reality as-it-is. The exercises in Part II of the book are powerful medicine... But this is a digression, so let me return to the point.

Memes are the spider, and we are the fly. A better metaphor might be that memes are the farmer, and we are the cow. Domesticated and docile, we allow memes to milk us daily, to extract from our minds the potent human psychic energy which, if reclaimed by us and put to proper human use, would quickly and positively transform our lives and our world. This transformation is awakening, ascension, enlightenment, metanoia, the Buddha-like change of consciousness most religions and spiritual systems on Earth hint at, but few ever actually deliver to followers. In this analysis, Casspriano's "Simplest Path" is very much in line with Gurdjieff's "Fourth Way," Carlos Castaneda's Toltec sorcery, and a few other well known spiritual practices inhabiting a somewhat darker, though perhaps more realistic corner of the New Age. But unlike most of those other systems, Casspriano's prescription for escaping illusion and awakening to reality is remarkably, well... simple.

From Chapter Three, "Waking Up":

"The simple truth is that we are sleeping because we lack sufficient energy to wake up."

And later in the same chapter:

"The real work that brings about awakening, rather than merely granting the external appearance of "being spiritual," while actually embroiling us ever more deeply in the dream, is a rigorous, daily commitment to the identification and elimination of every self-serving belief from which our personal dream-lives are constructed."

For "belief" in the quotation above, read "meme/memeplex." Casspriano certainly does, treating the terms as largely interchangeable. In the end, this genuinely simple - at least in the sense of being uncomplicated and pragmatic - spiritual practice amounts to discovering reality as-it-actually-is less by searching for a glimpse beyond the illusion, than by systematically withdrawing our participation in, and identification with, the dream. When we disentangle our psyches from memetic illusion, only reality remains. We don't have to chase it; to a meme-free mind, reality just appears. This is "Satori" in Zen Buddhism. This is "stopping the world" in the Toltec sorcery of Castaneda and others. Casspriano's genius lies in his talent for exposing the core mechanism behind such complex and often inscrutable spiritual systems, and for putting into plain language clear instructions for unraveling the dream and achieving personal awakening. The virus-like process by which memes take over and control our human minds, as described by Casspriano is, to my mind, very complicated (but well worth struggling through). What is genuinely simple about "The Simplest Path," however, is Casspriano's prescription for breaking those bonds, once you've made the effort to understand how they are created and maintained. For Casspriano, remaining a victim of spiritual sleep and energetic exploitation by memes is a complex activity in which we unconsciously invest enormous amounts of psychic energy every day of our lives. Awakening is the product of a simple act of withdrawing that investment, which automatically re-energizes of our minds and lives. Or as Casspriano cleverly phrases it when closing Chapter Three, "Waking Up":

"Unweave the tapestry of the dream, and awakening happens."

Anyone can do this. Spiritual awakening, in Casspriano's view, may be hard work, but it is not complicated work. The path to enlightenment is really rather shockingly simple. Fall out of love with the dream. Reclaim your psychic energy. Wake up to reality.

The ten "Key Questions" Casspriano explores in the second section of the book are designed to put the theory laid out in Part I to practical and immediate use. Essentially, I think Casspriano sees these ten issues - why we treat enlightenment as an "airy-fairy" ideal instead of a measurable transformation of brain functioning, the excuses we make for avoiding personal responsibility and integrity along the lines of Castaneda's "impeccability," the fallacy of belief in a "separate self," etc. - as pillars of both our personal and collective human dreams. They are by no means an exhaustive listing of the memes twisting our minds. But they are primary keystones on which layers upon layers of the grand illusion are built. Topple these ten baseline pillars and the larger structure crumbles.

Casspriano explores some "Keys" more successfully than others. One downside to the book is that, especially in the "Keys," Casspriano's own memetic prejudices shine at times rather glaringly through, as when, in his discussion of the American "What Would Jesus Do?" religious fad, he characterizes the Evangelical Christian purveyors of WWJD as, "ultra-conservative, right wing ideologues." Even should the reader personally agree with such pronouncements, its hard to resist thinking, "Hey Vince! Your memes are showing!" But where he nails his point, Casspriano's prose can be downright inspiring, as with the "Key" cosmological study "Is Earth the Center of the Universe?," which explores the gap between what we know, scientifically, about the Universe and what our daily choices and behavior says we really believe, about the cosmos and about ourselves. His closing "Key" "Are We Alone?" so poetically frames the true stakes of our global human predicament - species survival VS extinction - that its hard to imagine anyone keeping their gaze glued squarely to their own self-involved navel in the wake of reading it. Of course we are not alone. There are six and a half billion of us on Planet Earth, and whether we awaken to what's best in us or follow our darkest drives over History's cliff into oblivion, we do so as one. One planet, one fate.

This notion of "oneness" and of a common, intertwined human spiritual and biological destiny is a core theme in The Simplest Path, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND that sets it apart from any spiritual book in recent memory. My final quotation from the book returns us to the opening lines of Chapter One, "The Boxes We Dream In":

"We are all aware of the challenges facing us as we enter together into the 21st Century:

· World oil supplies are running out.

· Global warming is transforming the Earth into a steamy greenhouse.

· Even as our technology connects the world, ideological extremism, terrorism and militarism divide us as never before.

· Headlines bombard us with news of war, famine, pestilence and death until we feel overwhelmed and unable to respond.

· Time is running out..."

Vincent Casspriano, Jr.'s "The Simplest Path to Personal and Planetary Transformation, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND" does not offer easy escape from these very pressing real-world human ills, but rather, a down to Earth, workable prescription for their cure. Yes, we must awaken as individuals, and, rest assured, "The Simplest Path" shows spiritual seekers exactly how to do that. But a prime message of "The Simplest Path" is that, for personal awakening to have meaning, it must occur within the context of a complete re-visioning of global culture, and a mass wrenching away of the wheel of History from the control of viral memes, that we might create a common cosmic human destiny worthy of our highest potential as a species.

Now that's a meme worth feeding.

The Evolution Diet: What and How We Were Designed to Eat

Average customer rating:

Junk science, silly diet, bad prose.
The Evolution Diet by Stephen Morse
Evolution Diet
Summary of early results
poor

The Evolution Diet: What and How We Were Designed to Eat
Joseph Stephen Breese Morse
Manufacturer: Code Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

The Paleo Diet: Lose Weight and Get Healthy by Eating the Food You Were Designed to Eat
Health Secrets of the Stone Age, Second Edition
NeanderThin: Eat Like a Caveman to Achieve a Lean, Strong, Healthy Body
Metabolic Man: Ten Thousand Years from Eden (The Long Search for a Personal Nutrition From our Forest Origins to the Supermarkets of Today)
The Paleo Diet for Athletes: A Nutritional Formula for Peak Athletic Performance

ASIN: 1600200389
Release Date: 2006-02-23

Book Description

For 2 million years, humans evolved to eat a certain way: in the hunter/gatherer style, which consists of snacking on plant foods while roaming around before hunting and consequently filling themselves with animal meat. For the last few thousand years, however, our culture has forced us into a diet that is contrary to this. As a result, it is increasingly difficult to eat the way we were designed to eat. JSB Morse's Evolution Diet explores this modern problem and how to adjust our diet to fix it. In the book, you'll find a thoughtful, often funny, survey of the makeup of the human body, contributing factors to our diet (such as culture), and an easy-to-grasp explanation of what exactly we should eat. You'll also find over 50 recipes for tasty Evolution Diet foods. This book will help you become the healthy and happy person you've always known you can be. It's time to evolve!

Customer Reviews:

Junk science, silly diet, bad prose........2007-09-07

I was wondering what foods humans evolved eating and if it would be sensible to eat predominately those foods nowadays, so I bought _The Evolution Diet_. It has nothing to do with any of that. I expected it to discuss evolution and early human diets, and why certain foods are more suitable for humans than others. It doesn't. I expected it to make scientifically supported claims about diet and nutrition. It doesn't. When it does cite a source, it's often an article in _Redbook_, not a peer reviewed one from the likes of _Nature_. The book is high-school-term-paper-grade fluff surrounding a weight loss plan. And here's what the book advises: eat very little, exercise on most days, and only eat protein after you exercise.

The Evolution Diet by Stephen Morse.......2007-05-12

This book seems to have been written as a vanity publishing venture--as if a young man with leisure was told by his friends : "You sure know a lot about diets, you should write a book." I read the book thinking it would be related to Loren Cordain's "Paleo Diet"-given the title-but the author seems to not know about the Paleo diet, which is the REAL evolutionary diet book. Don't waste your time on this book.

Evolution Diet.......2007-03-29

It's really good. I think it's got a funny approach to teaching about the body and how we're supposed to eat, or how we were DESIGNED to eat. He made it into very easy instructions:

1. Listen to your body
2. Appropriate your diet
3. Avoid intake fo Artificially Extreme Foods
4. Exercise and sleep when you're body tells you to.

The main thing this book talks about is 2- Appropriate your diet- it comes down to eating the right foods at the right time: snack on cards throughout day and eat a lot of protein at night.

I likes it- I think I can hang with that!

Summary of early results.......2007-03-03

I really liked the concept of this book- you have to eat certain foods at certain times to have a perfect diet. Not only does it want you to eat healthy foods, it tells you when to eat them to maximize the benefit to you. I got started right away because it said you can just rearange what you eat now to fit the diet to loose weight (I have about 50 extra L-B's to loose)

So- here's how I feel after two weeks:
I feel like I'm eating constantly (the snacks especially, but I'm definitely listening to my stomach instead of listening to my boredom or emotions). This constant eating in small portions almost feels like work (but fun work cause I'm eating), so it feels like my digestive system is constantly moving and burning calories.

Like some of the trial dieters, I had energy problems before, but it looks like that's changed. I do feel really tired about an hour after the big protein meal every night- that's what's supposed to happen. I think eating carbs all day then hitting your system with a big steak shocks it- but it feels healthy. I've been trying to walk after work and before dinner, but it's really cold out!

You're supposed to "gorge" yourself on protein meat for dinner, but I think my stomach's getting smaller with the snacking all day instead of big meals- so that's good too. Sometimes I have dessert, but I don't feel as good after (obviously). I haven't tried the desserts he suggests like peaches and cottage cheese.

I don't know if this has to do with the diet, but I wake up happier now and I have more energy. I wish the book gave more advice on what to eat when you're out at a restaurant or how to eat if you're a vegetarian (my wife is). But besides that- it's working really well- I don't feel like the Jared Subway guy, but I've lost 5 pounds so far (updated: 3 weeks- 8lbs).

poor.......2007-02-28

The most amateurish book I have ever read on health and diet. I really got the impression the author had done a little reading on these ideas and then decided to write his own book. Here's a sample of the writing style - on the topic of the Islets of Langerhans (the structures in the pancreas that produce insulin) he says "Instead of picking on these little guys because of the funny name, you should know that these guys produce... insulin". As for his diet, it's either well-known information (don't eat excessive sugar), or is stated without adequate justification (like eating complex carbohydrates in the day and protein at night). I'm not saying it's incorrect, I'm saying it needs justification and discussion. And as for the diet itself, with a title like the Evolution Diet, you might wonder why it contains amongst other things Cheerios, popcorn, Triscuit crackers, and diet root beer.

Origins Reconsidered: In Search of What Makes Us Human

Average customer rating:

Convergence and Evolution
Informative but...
Nice ideas...difficult reading
Interesting read with many thought-provoking theories
Good mea culpa

Origins Reconsidered: In Search of What Makes Us Human
Richard E. Leakey
Manufacturer: Anchor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Evolution | Science | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0385467923
Release Date: 1993-10-01

Book Description

Richard Leakey's personal account of his fossil hunting and landmark discoveries at Lake Turkana, his reassessment of human prehistory based on new evidence and analytic techniques, and his profound pondering of how we became "human" and what being "human" really means.

Customer Reviews:

Convergence and Evolution.......2005-09-01

"Men it appears would rather believe than know. They would rather have the void of purpose...than to be void of purpose." E. O Wilson

There is a concept of "convergence" that is used by many evolutionary scholars to make their case that evolution is real, factual and not only tells us about history but allows us to make valid predictions about the future. This notion of convergence tells us that there is not one specific event or proof that guarantees that the theory of evolution is real but there exists detailed evidence in many arenas of science that all point to the same conclusion.

Origins Reconsidered provides a methodology of convergence that is critical in making a case for what appears obvious to the thinking individual. Unfortunately, the theory of Evolution requires constant re-proving. Evidence which has been overwhelming for the last 150 years is still subject to "debate" for a contingent large in numbers, who have attempted to erode the credibility of this science by locating little chinks in the over all armor. Briefly, convergence is the making of inductions from classes of facts that may be disparate in and of them selves, and making strong scientific cases for each class. Once that is done the convergence of all of these explanations makes an extraordinary case for the over all objective. In this case the objective is that the theory of evolution is once again, strong and obvious.

The book is written in six different parts that take the reader through an explanation of methodology, through some obvious conclusions and lastly into some speculation about what the future bodes. The authors tell most of the story in clear and sequential ways. Initially part one "In search of the Turkana Boy" is more prosaic and nearly fictional in style. It describes the setting and friendships amongst skilled and intellectual colleagues in search of "Missing link" or at least additional verification of paleo-anthropological evolution. In this section I did worry that I was reading the wrong book; that I was about to endure a book of anecdotes about what life in the anthropological dig would be. Fortunately I did not give up.

Leakey attempts to make a case for how the first humans came about. At what point are those of us who are considered human distinguished from other nearly similar hominoids? Leakey explores aspects of personality that of course include the use of tools but extends the search to the beginning of language, writing, musical instrument making and art to name a few aspects.

He explores the concept of consciousness and morality to further his premise. While many animals have instinctual altruism and show human signs of affection it is the ability to remember things distant and to create an ethical code of morality that distinguishes us from Cro-Magnons and other late near humans.

Leakey furthers his case by addressing evolution itself and the arguments against it. He talks about the arguments and dismisses them succinctly. "In many cases the urge to know surpasses what can be known; questions without answers." Many find this impossible to accept and seek mysticism in its place, extracting meaning where none exists.

Leakey would applaud the fact that mankind has evolved into the most powerful animal on earth but he has no delusions that this is part of a divine plan. There is no predestination in evolution. Mutations occur that are of benefit and help those survive to pass that gene on and improve the species. What has happened in history is only one possible result. There is no inherent superiority in adaptation. Humans have always tried to have a gap between them and animals mainly because of the need to assuage our subjective consciousness.

Origins Reconsidered also discusses how difficult paleontology really is. He uses the problem of distinguishing early hunter/gatherers from scavengers as an example. Both leave their orts in locations that are very difficult to distinguish. At the same time these are very different survivors.

Ultimately Leakey maintains that while currently humans rule the earth it may not always be so, at least not as we understand humans. He sees the future as one wrought with ecological problems. He uses the notion of mass extinction to make his point. He asserts that throughout history there have been many periods of natural mass extinction. Those were precipitated by events such as Ice Ages. He maintains that Biota are fairly resistant to natural disaster. Floods for instances can apparently wipe out some local vegetation but that same biota can revive. Man made ecological disaster is another matter. Leakey's concern is that the current trends toward smog, deforestation and global warming my create a pathos that vegetation cannot withstand.

Leakey and Lewin display very clearly, the science behind their own efforts but they also describe the weaknesses of science in making determinations about what is a human. Those weaknesses are noble when they are ascribed based on sound scientific theory and otherwise when "proven" by only considering results that make one's point.

Leakey may have an axe to grind. He presents excellent scientific evidence but was never trained as a scientist in any field. Of course he is a scion of one of the most prolific of paleontologists; he never received a degree of any sort to lend to his credentials. His skills come from "on the job training" but they are sound. I believe it is rare that an individual can produce sound evidence to back up their empirical claims without the scholarly background, Leakey has done it.

As a non scientist, it is my endeavor to understand evolution from as many perspectives as possible and this is a book that weighs heavily on that purpose.

Informative but..........2005-07-30

The book is informative but repetitive and Leakey writes sometimes in the form of a biography which is unnecesaary and the writings repetitiveness not only in the concept but also in word use is distracting. The words milieu and inexorably were used at least every other page. The editor should have cut the book in half.

Nice ideas...difficult reading.......2004-10-07

I almost gave this book 3 stars for it's difficult narrative style, but that would have taken away from the fact that it is full of great ideas. Lots of photos and illustrations cut through the slow moments. More info on the mitochondrial hypothesis would have been nice also. Still a great read all in all.

Interesting read with many thought-provoking theories.......2004-07-23

Richard Leakey is one of the most well-known, and respected, fossil-hunters today. One must stop to appreciate the irony of his rebellion toward his parents, without whom he may have actually had to go to college to establish the credibility he enjoys due to his last name.

Leakey's "shots" at Donald Johanson and other scientists aside, much of the analysis presented in "Origins Reconsidered" is quite interesting. His rebuttal of the "Lovejoy hypothesis" is well-articulated and rather persuasive. But the way he barely hints at his infamous "4-million-year-old homo habilis" fossil debacle (a claim he held far longer than evidence supported it) is awfully self serving.

The driving force behind Leakey's studies is this fundamental question: "what separated members of the genus homo from the "bipedal ape" australopithecines, and what were the environmental factors that favored homo's survival and led to australopithecus' extinction?" Nearly the entire book focuses on the analysis of this question, and rather eloquently at that.

This book would be best for the student of paleoanthropology, whose reading list on the subject would extend beyond this single volume. While scientifically valid, the range of theories in the area is vast, and each developing theory carries its own controversy. Only by understanding the range of these theories can one hope to have a good idea of the bipedal-ape-to-human evolution.

Good mea culpa.......2004-01-14

This book had to be written by the Leakeys if for no other reason than to rescue their reputations. For years, the Leakey family - mom, pop, son - were the last word on the topic of mankind's beginnings. As such they got most of it right but missed a few things.

This book does not go into detail on all the scientific fist fights that occurred between the Kenyan crew and others in the field, notably the discoverers of "Lucy". This discovery more than anything else caused a revision in our previous thinking, forcing us to step back further in time. The upswing was that the findings served notice that the Leakeys were wrong in a few respects. This nook is an attempt to "rework" the evidence presented in the original "Origins". Crammed with pictures, illustrations, charts and presented in that always entertaining style/

Tree of Origin: What Primate Behavior Can Tell Us about Human Social Evolution
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Ideas that snap, crackle and pop

Essays on our roots

Tree of Origin: What Primate Behavior Can Tell Us about Human Social Evolution
Richard Byrne , Robin Dunbar , W.C. McGrew , Anne Pusey , Charles Snowdon , Craig B. Stanford , Karen B. Strier , and Richard Wrangham
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0674010043

Book Description

How did we become the linguistic, cultured, and hugely successful apes that we are? Our closest relatives--the other mentally complex and socially skilled primates--offer tantalizing clues. In Tree of Origin nine of the world's top primate experts read these clues and compose the most extensive picture to date of what the behavior of monkeys and apes can tell us about our own evolution as a species.

It has been nearly fifteen years since a single volume addressed the issue of human evolution from a primate perspective, and in that time we have witnessed explosive growth in research on the subject. Tree of Origin gives us the latest news about bonobos, the "make love not war" apes who behave so dramatically unlike chimpanzees. We learn about the tool traditions and social customs that set each ape community apart. We see how DNA analysis is revolutionizing our understanding of paternity, intergroup migration, and reproductive success. And we confront intriguing discoveries about primate hunting behavior, politics, cognition, diet, and the evolution of language and intelligence that challenge claims of human uniqueness in new and subtle ways.

Tree of Origin provides the clearest glimpse yet of the apelike ancestor who left the forest and began the long journey toward modern humanity.

Customer Reviews:

Ideas that snap, crackle and pop.......2004-12-07

I checked this book out of the local library many weeks ago, having come across it via a desultory shelf scan. I was so engrossed by the book, I kept renewing it, then returned it to the library and bought my own copy.

Each chapter got my synapses firing with interesting information about how the evolution of human culture might be inferred from primate behaviors and primate and human physiology. I scribbled numerous notes that started with "I wonder if ... " or "Is it possible that ...", using the data from the authors as jumping-off points.

For example, before I read the book, I'd been wondering if it'd be possible to identify and track back as far as possible in time a collection of aphorisms that all cultures shared, such as "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach," to see what might be learned about our cultural evolution - and how closely our "culture" was actually tied to our physiological hard-wiring. Lo and behold, one of the articles in Tree of Origin appears to offer a heart-through-stomach theory for how humans came to pair off as couples.

The discussion about the size of our neocortex (neocortices?) and its relationship to the size of social groups we can "manage" expanded another line of thinking on my part about what might really be at the roots of what we call racism and of our propensity toward bloody conflict. It's possible that one core cause is our brains' maximum capacity for social complexity, rather than "just" a learned behavior that one can discard through an intellectual process.

The book reminded me of Desmond Morris' books, The Human Ape and The Human Zoo, both of which I also found fascinating.

Now that I own this book, I can re-read it and mark it up as I wish!

Essays on our roots.......2002-08-27

The greatest scientific quest is finding our place in Nature. This leading primatologist has collected a series of essays on primate behaviour in an outstanding effort aimed at answering that question. De Waal's credentials as a student of chimpanzee behaviour are well-known. He's joined here by researchers of equal status in presenting the most recent findings in the field. De Waal states in the Introduction that research in human behaviour falls into two camps - human beings are an entirely unique species or human evolutionary roots are visible in many of our related species. He and his fellow essayists adhere to the second theme, the one that has gained significant adherence over the past several decades of research. "The proliferation of research on monkeys and apes . . . has influenced the way we look at our place in nature."

This collection brings to view much of that research, a compendium long overdue in de Waal's estimation. His team provides new insights into primate behaviour. They combine the research finding with speculations on how modern monkeys and apes reflect the evolutionary roots of our own relations with each other. The topics covered show the impact of environment, the patterns of sex and reproduction, social organization and cognition. The collection addresses the "process of hominization" leading from ape-like ancestors to modern humans. If all this sounds like a series of lofty scientific pedantry, fear not. All the authors present their information in open, conversational style. Although the result of a scholarly seminar, the writing throughout is clear and unpretentious. Anyone interested in their evolutionary roots or in the status of the research will find this collection rewarding.

The quality of this compilation makes choice of place difficult, if not impossible. Each author presents new information and delightful analyses of the importance of the findings. Craig Stanford discusses the role of meat eating [not hunting] in building social relationships. Studied closely in the field in both ape and human societies, meat distribution and sex have a clear evolutionary role. Richard Wrangham carries this theme a step further in his analysis of the social role of food preparation - cooking. He stresses how early cooking must have emerged in hominid evolution and what its likely social impact was in our development. Richard Byrne extends this analysis to describe several forms of food acquisition and processing among various primate species.

If any issue transcends the others in the role of humanity, it is that of human cognition. To those contending only human cognitive abilities are worth studying, several authors respond that "evolution does not proceed by inspired jumps . . . but by accretion of beneficial variants" over time. In order to comprehend the evolutionary path of cognition, definitions are of primary importance. Cognition is here defined as "a species' package of information-processing capabilities" encompassing individual, social, technical and other skills. Robin Dunbar shows how these skills were likely reinforced through selectively chosen group size. He examines variations in primate group size and how these impact social behavior. Charles Snowdon addresses the mainstay of human "uniqueness" in an outline of language
development. In the final essay, William McGrew considers the question of "culture." What is it and how was it derived? McGrew refers to eight criteria, developed many years ago by Alfred Koeber, and applies them in a historical context. McGrew emphasizes that humans are not the only social species. Language enhanced abilities inherited from our predecessors.

This book addresses older ideas and breaks new ground. With a strong foundation in the intensive primate studies achieved during the past three decades, the collection calls for further studies in the field. What these will bring to light will increase our knowledge of where we fit in Nature. There are assuredly many surprises remaining to be revealed. Will you help search for answers to some of these questions?

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