Fossil Trail - Hardcover

"The overall effect is tightly controlled, measured, fair, thoughtful, and demands a good deal of respect."--The Times Higher Education Supplement "This refreshingly opinionated book will have a lasting influence on the next generation of paleoanthropologists."--Nature "Encapsulates the study of human evolution."--The Washington Post "Tattersall provides the richest and most comprehensive account to date of the thrilling quest to discover our ancestors. But more importantly, the book succeeds brilliantly in enlightening us about the varied scientific and intellectual frameworks in which fossil evidence for human evolution has been interpreted. This superb book is a must for everyone interested in understanding the human story."--Don Johanson, Institute of Human Origins "Lucidly crafted within the framework of modern evolutionary biology this volume affords a much-needed and long-awaited critical analysis of the now greatly enhanced documentation of the human fossil record and of major transformations in perspectives and methodologies in respect to its analysis and evaluation. The appearance of evolutionary novelties, the recognition of past species' diversities, of major extinction events, of persistent lineages, and their poles of adaption, of modern morphological differentiation, and of behavioral capabilities are singularly and effectively elucidated. The Fossil Trail is an unsurpassed, tour-de-force exposition of the growth of knowledge of the origins and evolutionary past of human kind. It constitutes an exceptional landmark in the literature of paleoanthropology."--F. Clark Howell, Laboratory for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of California, Berkeley "The overall effect is tightly controlled, measured, fair, thoughtful, and demands a good deal of respect."--The Times Higher Education Supplement "This refreshingly opinionated book will have a lasting influence on the next generation of paleoanthropologists."--Nature "Encapsulates the study of human evolution."--The Washington Post "Tattersall provides the richest and most comprehensive account to date of the thrilling quest to discover our ancestors. But more importantly, the book succeeds brilliantly in enlightening us about the varied scientific and intellectual frameworks in which fossil evidence for human evolution has been interpreted. This superb book is a must for everyone interested in understanding the human story."--Don Johanson, Institute of Human Origins "Lucidly crafted within the framework of modern evolutionary biology this volume affords a much-needed and long-awaited critical analysis of the now greatly enhanced documentation of the human fossil record and of major transformations in perspectives and methodologies in respect to its analysis and evaluation. The appearance of evolutionary novelties, the recognition of past species' diversities, of major extinction events, of persistent lineages, and their poles of adaption, of modern morphological differentiation, and of behavioral capabilities are singularly and effectively elucidated. The Fossil Trail is an unsurpassed, tour-de-force exposition of the growth of knowledge of the origins and evolutionary past of human kind. It constitutes an exceptional landmark in the literature of paleoanthropology."--F. Clark Howell, Laboratory for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of California, Berkeley "The overall effect is tightly controlled, measured, fair, thoughtful, and demands a good deal of respect."--The Times Higher Education Supplement "This refreshingly opinionated book will have a lasting influence on the next generation of paleoanthropologists."--Nature "Encapsulates the study of human evolution."--The Washington Post "Tattersall provides the richest and most comprehensive account to date of the thrilling quest to discover our ancestors. But more importantly, the book succeeds brilliantly in enlightening us about the varied scientific and intellectual frameworks in which fossil evidence for human evolution has been interpreted. This superb book is a must for everyone interested in understanding the human story."--Don Johanson, Institute of Human Origins "Lucidly crafted within the framework of modern evolutionary biology this volume affords a much-needed and long-awaited critical analysis of the now greatly enhanced documentation of the human fossil record and of major transformations in perspectives and methodologies in respect to its analysis and evaluation. The appearance of evolutionary novelties, the recognition of past species' diversities, of major extinction events, of persistent lineages, and their poles of adaption, of modern morphological differentiation, and of behavioral capabilities are singularly and effectively elucidated. The Fossil Trail is an unsurpassed, tour-de-force exposition of the growth of knowledge of the origins and evolutionary past of human kind. It constitutes an exceptional landmark in the literature of paleoanthropology."--F. Clark Howell, Laboratory for HumanEvolutionary Studies, University of California, Berkeley "The overall effect is tightly controlled, measured, fair, thoughtful, and demands a good deal of respect."--The Times Higher Education Supplement "This refreshingly opinionated book will have a lasting influence on the next generation of paleoanthropologists."--Nature "Encapsulates the study of human evolution."--The Washington Post "Tattersall provides the richest and most comprehensive account to date of the thrilling quest to discover our ancestors. But more importantly, the book succeeds brilliantly in enlightening us about the varied scientific and intellectual frameworks in which fossil evidence for human evolution has been interpreted. This superb book is a must for everyone interested in understanding the human story."--Don Johanson, Institute of Human Origins "Lucidly crafted within the framework of modern evolutionary biology this volume affords a much-needed and long-awaited critical analysis of the now greatly enhanced documentation of the human fossil record and of major transformations in perspectives and methodologies in respect to its analysis and evaluation. The appearance of evolutionary novelties, the recognition of past species' diversities, of major extinction events, of persistent lineages, and their poles of adaption, of modern morphological differentiation, and of behavioral capabilities are singularly and effectively elucidated. The Fossil Trail is an unsurpassed, tour-de-force exposition of the growth of knowledge of the origins and evolutionary past of human kind. It constitutes an exceptional landmark in the literature of paleoanthropology."--F. Clark Howell, Laboratory for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of California, Berkeley

Ian Tattersall is Head of the Anthropology Department at the American Museum of Natural History, where he was Curator in Charge of the Hall of Human Biology and Evolution, which opened in 1993.