Book description
Alice Roberts has been travelling the world - from Ethiopian desert to
Malay peninsula and from Russian steppes to Amazon basin - in order to
understand the challenges that early humans faced as they tried to
settle continents. On her travels she has witnessed some of the daunting
and brutal challenges our ancestors had to face: mountains, deserts,
oceans, changing climates, terrifying giant beasts and volcanoes. But
she discovers that perhaps the most serious threat of all came from
other humans. When our ancestors set out from Africa there were already
two other species of human on the planet: Neanderthal in Europe and Homo
erectus in Asia. Both (contrary to popular perception) were intelligent,
adept at making tools and weapons and were long adapted to their
environments. So, Alice asks, why did only Homo sapiens survive?
Part detective story, part travelogue, and drawing on the latest genetic
and archaeological discoveries, Alice examines how our ancestors evolved
physically in response to these challenges, finding out how our colour,
shape, size, diet, disease resistance and even athletic ability have
been shaped by the range of environments that our ancestors had to
survive. She also relates how astonishingly closely related we all are.
As a lecturer in Anatomy at Bristol University, Alice Roberts is
eminently qualified to write this book. As a talented artist, she is
perfectly qualified to illustrate it, and dotted throughout this lively
book are many of the sketches and photographs from her travels. Alice
Roberts is a qualified medical doctor and lecturers in Anatomy at
Bristol University. She is a regular contributor to Channel 4's Time Team
and BBC2's Coast
series, and the presenter of Don't Die Young on BBC2.
