Review by Choice Review
One of the most fascinating books ever written about paleoanthropology-the science behind the search for human origins. Lewin presents an insider view of controversies that have arisen over the interpretation of human and hominid fossils; he lays bare the personalities and preconceptions of the individuals involved in the search. No ``skeletons'' are left unexposed as Lewin delineates the classic feuds that have made names such as Richard Leakey and Donald Johanson household words. The book is exciting and nearly reads like a mystery novel. Lewin is well qualified to write such a book, having both served as editor of research news at Science magazine and authored other significant books on paleoanthropology. He has coauthored Origins (CH, Feb '79) and People of the Lake (CH, Dec '78) with Richard E. Leakey. Bones of Contention is well indexed and well illustrated. Lewin either avoids overly specialized jargon or explains the terms he uses. The book is recommended for all anthropologists (regardless of specialty), graduate and undergraduate students, and interested general readers.-M.J. O'Brien, University of Missouri-Columbia
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this compelling, readable book, Lewis (Thread of Life, etc.) inquires into the controversies and ``paradigm shifts'' that have marked the views of evolutionists Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace, T. H. Huxley and others in the era that witnessed the discovery of the bones of Neanderthal Man (1856); as well as such modern-day theorists and field-workers as the Leakeys (Louis, Richard and Mary) and Donald Johanson, who found the bones of ``Lucy.'' Covering the history of the hunt for fossil evidence supporting Darwin's argument for man's ``descent,'' he shows through superb research and lively interviews how profoundly subjective the views of scientists have been whenever they have tried to determine when, how and why humans (``hominids'') branched off from apes. Here are descriptions of African fossil-digs, arguments about the naming of fossil finds, ego-clashes between the likes of Richard Leakey and Donald Johansonnone of it destroying evolutionary theory itself, but all of it, with insight and submerged humor, showing how all-too-human science can be. Photos. Macmillan Book Club alternate. (September 17) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Lewin, an editor of Science magazine and co-author with Richard Leakey of Origins and People of The Lake , has written a fascinating inside look at the field of paleoanthropology, including some of the cultural and personal biases, the emotions and professional loyalties that have an impact, conscious, or unconscious, upon those who work in it. He focuses on a number of landmark fossil finds, including Neanderthal man and the hoax Piltdown man, through the latest thinking on ``Lucy.'' Lewin's scrutiny offers laypeople a view of the professionfrom shifts in scientific paradigms to inevitable human subjectivitywhich, no matter how fairly written, would make any scientist somewhat uncomfortable. An exceptionally good book. Joan W. Gartland, Detroit P.L. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Not just another ""stones and bones"" account of human evolution. It is Lewin's thesis, amply demonstrated, that paleoanthropology is the most subjective of sciences, because it engages the emotions of virtually everyone; and since the evidence is scrappy, interpretation is everything. Lewin's notion goes far toward explaining the howls of derision that greeted poor Raymond Dart's landmark Taung baby fossil: it was too obviously apelike and small-brained to have been a hominid. Instead, scientists embraced the fraudulent Piltdown discovery (the skull of a modern human combined with the jawbone of an ape) because they knew that human ancestors had to have had large brains. Elsewhere, Lewin spares virtually nobody, from Richard Leakey (with whom Lewin wrote Origins, etc.) to Donald Johanson, discoverer of Lucy. Leakey, Lewin notes, though a superb fund-raiser and expositor, is hampered by his lack of formal scientific training, and runs his digs in an autocratic manner that Americans in particular find offensive. Johanson, in turn, outraged many scientists with his Australopithecus afarensis designation: he used as his type specimen a scrap of jawbone found by Mary Leakey at Laetoli, when he had Lucy, a 40% complete skeleton from Afar; the two fossils, Lewin also notes, are in addition separated by 1500 miles distance and half a million years in time. To put matters in perspective, many paleoanthropologists now ruefully admit their own errors and biases. And the excitement generated by each new fossil discovery continues unabated, even though, sadly, the rich Ethiopian beds are still closed to exploration. A splendid, stirring, and eye-opening account, to be devoured by the knowledgeable, or read in combination with Origins, Lucy, John Reader's Missing Links, etc. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
