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The Super Theory of Super Everything.
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![carolinafrica:
BOOK RECOMMENDATION
In The Footsteps Of Eve: The mystery of human origins – Lee R Berger and Brett Hilton Barber
“At the best of times, paleoanthropology, because it is such an interpretative science, leads to personal rivalries. Entire careers can hang on a discovery, reputations can be made or destroyed in the subsequent analyses, and funding more often than not follows personalities rather than institutions.”
On the advice of two grand masters of paleoanthropology, Johanson and Richard Leakey, Berger decided that South Africa was the place to go to study the origins of humankind. It was a chance to work with actual fossils since both Ethiopia and Kenya were already bursting with paleontologists. Berger describes his first meeting with the “king” of South African paleontology, Prof. emeritus Philip Valentine Tobias, who was in his 70s:
“He took me to the university’s hominid fossil vault and produced a large skeleton key from his pocket… Behind this door lay not only the largest single collection of undescribed early hominid fossils in the world, but my future. Most of the fossils, the bulk of which came from Sterkfontein, were unknown to the broader scientific community… [for] a variety of reasons, including the academic boycott. … nearly 500 specimens were undescribed. At that time there were maybe 4,000 catalogued hominid specimens in all of the collections of both East and southern Africa.”
As well as the autobiography of a modern paleoanthropologist, In the Footsteps of Eve details South Africa’s part in the search for hominid origins. From the beginnings of paleoanthropology as a recognizable science with the description of the Taung skull by Professor Raymond Dart in 1924-5, to Berger’s own discoveries and theories in the late 90s. Hominid finds in the rest of Africa, especially along the Great Rift Valley and in Ethiopia, are also described.
Berger sets out his own interpretation of humankind’s family tree. He takes us patiently, step-by-step, from the first flowering of his theories and his attempts to explain them to the scientific community. Berger describes the opposition he met from Tim White as if it were a part of the Spanish Inquisition. This form of investigation into a researcher’s work is hardly unusual - cross-examination by a panel of peers is standard practice in science and will be familiar to anyone who has defended a post-graduate dissertation.
The field of paleoanthropology is described in this book as the playground of super-egos rather than a strict science and Berger, it appears, is well on his way to becoming another of these super-egos. The book tells an almost autobiographical tale of Berger’s research, and presents a great deal of scientific information in an easily accessible format. It is a must for anyone who has the slightest interest in the hunt for humankind’s origins.
Source: http://africanhistory.about.com/od/archaeology/fr/FootstepsOfEve.htm](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ly7thbEGaB1r3e68fo1_400.jpg)
BOOK RECOMMENDATION
In The Footsteps Of Eve: The mystery of human origins – Lee R Berger and Brett Hilton Barber
“At the best of times, paleoanthropology, because it is such an interpretative science, leads to personal rivalries. Entire careers can hang on a discovery, reputations can be made or destroyed in the subsequent analyses, and funding more often than not follows personalities rather than institutions.”
On the advice of two grand masters of paleoanthropology, Johanson and Richard Leakey, Berger decided that South Africa was the place to go to study the origins of humankind. It was a chance to work with actual fossils since both Ethiopia and Kenya were already bursting with paleontologists. Berger describes his first meeting with the “king” of South African paleontology, Prof. emeritus Philip Valentine Tobias, who was in his 70s:
“He took me to the university’s hominid fossil vault and produced a large skeleton key from his pocket… Behind this door lay not only the largest single collection of undescribed early hominid fossils in the world, but my future. Most of the fossils, the bulk of which came from Sterkfontein, were unknown to the broader scientific community… [for] a variety of reasons, including the academic boycott. … nearly 500 specimens were undescribed. At that time there were maybe 4,000 catalogued hominid specimens in all of the collections of both East and southern Africa.”
As well as the autobiography of a modern paleoanthropologist, In the Footsteps of Eve details South Africa’s part in the search for hominid origins. From the beginnings of paleoanthropology as a recognizable science with the description of the Taung skull by Professor Raymond Dart in 1924-5, to Berger’s own discoveries and theories in the late 90s. Hominid finds in the rest of Africa, especially along the Great Rift Valley and in Ethiopia, are also described.
Berger sets out his own interpretation of humankind’s family tree. He takes us patiently, step-by-step, from the first flowering of his theories and his attempts to explain them to the scientific community. Berger describes the opposition he met from Tim White as if it were a part of the Spanish Inquisition. This form of investigation into a researcher’s work is hardly unusual - cross-examination by a panel of peers is standard practice in science and will be familiar to anyone who has defended a post-graduate dissertation.
The field of paleoanthropology is described in this book as the playground of super-egos rather than a strict science and Berger, it appears, is well on his way to becoming another of these super-egos. The book tells an almost autobiographical tale of Berger’s research, and presents a great deal of scientific information in an easily accessible format. It is a must for anyone who has the slightest interest in the hunt for humankind’s origins.
Source: http://africanhistory.about.com/od/archaeology/fr/FootstepsOfEve.htm
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![carolinafrica:
BOOK RECOMMENDATION
In The Footsteps Of Eve: The mystery of human origins – Lee R Berger and Brett Hilton Barber
“At the best of times, paleoanthropology, because it is such an interpretative science, leads to personal rivalries. Entire careers can hang on a discovery, reputations can be made or destroyed in the subsequent analyses, and funding more often than not follows personalities rather than institutions.”
On the advice of two grand masters of paleoanthropology, Johanson and Richard Leakey, Berger decided that South Africa was the place to go to study the origins of humankind. It was a chance to work with actual fossils since both Ethiopia and Kenya were already bursting with paleontologists. Berger describes his first meeting with the “king” of South African paleontology, Prof. emeritus Philip Valentine Tobias, who was in his 70s:
“He took me to the university’s hominid fossil vault and produced a large skeleton key from his pocket… Behind this door lay not only the largest single collection of undescribed early hominid fossils in the world, but my future. Most of the fossils, the bulk of which came from Sterkfontein, were unknown to the broader scientific community… [for] a variety of reasons, including the academic boycott. … nearly 500 specimens were undescribed. At that time there were maybe 4,000 catalogued hominid specimens in all of the collections of both East and southern Africa.”
As well as the autobiography of a modern paleoanthropologist, In the Footsteps of Eve details South Africa’s part in the search for hominid origins. From the beginnings of paleoanthropology as a recognizable science with the description of the Taung skull by Professor Raymond Dart in 1924-5, to Berger’s own discoveries and theories in the late 90s. Hominid finds in the rest of Africa, especially along the Great Rift Valley and in Ethiopia, are also described.
Berger sets out his own interpretation of humankind’s family tree. He takes us patiently, step-by-step, from the first flowering of his theories and his attempts to explain them to the scientific community. Berger describes the opposition he met from Tim White as if it were a part of the Spanish Inquisition. This form of investigation into a researcher’s work is hardly unusual - cross-examination by a panel of peers is standard practice in science and will be familiar to anyone who has defended a post-graduate dissertation.
The field of paleoanthropology is described in this book as the playground of super-egos rather than a strict science and Berger, it appears, is well on his way to becoming another of these super-egos. The book tells an almost autobiographical tale of Berger’s research, and presents a great deal of scientific information in an easily accessible format. It is a must for anyone who has the slightest interest in the hunt for humankind’s origins.
Source: http://africanhistory.about.com/od/archaeology/fr/FootstepsOfEve.htm](http://covers.openlibrary.org/w/id/557897-L.jpg)
carolinafrica
