LUCY: THE BEGINNINGS OF HUMANKIND

I read this book when I was writing a paleo-historic drama of the life of earliest man. My characters were Homo habilines, but they cohabited Africa with Australopithecines, so to understand the co-stars of my story, I turned to the man who has become the guru of earliest man: Donald Johanson and his amazing find, Lucy.In his book, Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind (Touchstone Simon & Schuster 1990) Johanson and his co-author, Maitland Edey tell the fascinating tale of how they found Lucy, the most complete skeleton ever uncovered of an Australopithecene, the genus that immediately preceded Homo. Prior to this find, he was pretty much an unknown, toiling with many other paleoanthropologists in search of man's roots, maybe the now defunct 'missing link'. Johanson got an idea, followed it despite adversity, disbelievers, money problems and set-backs. These, he chronicles in the book, sharing every step of his journey with an easy-going writing style, breaking down the complicated science to an amateur's understanding and sharing his innermost thoughts on his discovery and how it changed then-current thinking on man's evolution. I learned not only about Lucy, but how paleoanthropologists do their field work, what their days are like, how they fight to prepare for an expedition, and the politics they must solve both to get there and get back. Johanson also includes well-written descriptions on the background of human evolution, field work in East Africa, the paleo-historic geology of Olduvai Gorge (the famed location where Leakey uncovered so much of our primeval roots), the discussion among scientists that pinned down the human-ness of the genus Homo and what differentiated it from older genus like Australopithecines (Lucy's genus), other animals Lucy likely lived with and survived despite of, how Lucy's age was definitively dated, and more.Johanson jumps right in with the Prologue, telling us how Lucy came to be discovered, and then takes us back to the story of how he got there and what happened after. Through Lucy's story, we learn about man's beginnings and who that earliest forebear was. Here are some of my favorite quotes: She had lain silently in her adamantine grave for millennium after millennium until the rains at Hadar had brought her to light again Bands of Homo erectus would wait in the valleys between the hills for the big game herds that migrated south for the winter. They drove the game into swamps by setting grass fires. Big men have big brains, but they are no smarter than small men. Men are also larger than women and have consistently larger brains, but the two sexes are of equal intelligence Desert people the world over shun wadis or defiles as campsites The ash became wet and, almost like a newly laid cement sidewalk, began taking clear impressions of everything that walked across it You don't gradually go from being a quadruped to being a biped. What would the intermediate stage be--a triped? I've never seen one of these. You might not think that erect walking has anything to do with sex, but it has, it has If one is to jump and snatch, one had better be able to judge distances accurately. The way to precise distance judgment is via binocular vision: focusing two eyes on an object to provide depth perception The chimpanzee...is the most adaptable of the apes. A hen is an egg's way of getting another egg.For some truly beautiful and realistic drawings of man's predecessors, check out Jay Matternes.

I am reading this book 35 years after its publication date, which makes it...and me behind the times. So, a few things may have changes in the field of paleoanthropology since then, but it is probably pretty accurate. It is not easy to take a pot ntially complcated discussion like this and reduce it to layman level, but the author has succeeded. If you have any interest in the prehuman creatures from whom we may have descended, this is an excellent read. Some will, for religious reasons, object to the entire subject, and the book does not waste much time dealing with a defense of evolution. Nonetheless, such a defense is mounted anyway by the shear application of scientific reasoning, and the hesitation to draw conclusions until much evidence had been obtained.

Everyone should read it. Yes, at times the scientific stuff drags on, But, you can not fully comprehend the work without it. Everything adds up later!How this book leaves you in the end makes you want to continue reading other books in the genre. I already read Sapien. That is a wonderful book, also. But, Lucy will leaving you rethinking, what you thought you already knew.

I really wanted this book. In fact, if it was 100% fine I would give this book five stars. However when I received the book. The cover was bent and damaged. The plastic seal it came in was ripped and damaged. For some odd reason the back of the cover was sticky. The edges of the book looked used. I paid for a brand new book.

My hubby wanted this so I got it for him. He opened it and was impressed with it. It was second hand but it was stuff was highlighted and there were notes in it. He was so excited.

I am really happy that I got this book. Johanson is an excellent writer and he makes the book interesting and descriptive at the same time. He has lots of drawing that explain the similarities and differences amoung the archeological findings. I was taking a physical anthropolgy class and I was looking for something that would give a personal inventory about what I was learning in the classroom. Thank you, Amazon!

I first read this book in the 70s and fell madly in love with Lucy. The progress from the jungles to the savannahs, from living in trees to walking upright, made the discovery of Lucy was one of the most important finds in human history. I wanted to be an anthropologist. I still do.

Lucy is a fossil that tells clarifies much about our evolutionary history. It is indispensable in this regard, but it also tells about the expedition that discovered Lucy, and it's a fascinating story. It even tells how she got her name.

It's not just the story of a phenomenal discovery that makes this book one of my all-time favourites, but the locomotive and social analyses of our transition from non-humans towards what we are today which makes this such a fascinating read. An essential book for anyone's library.

Don't really have to say much it's worth a read , good book , not crap by any means.

great

livre anglophone relié rigide moyen format ancien (1981) consacré à Lucy; après un court prologue, l'ouvrage aborde le sujet en 17 chapitres inégaux regroupés en quatre parties:1 le contexte: n°1: les premières découvertes de fossiles (13 pages) n°2: afrique du sud: les premiers homme-singes (31p) n°3: afrique de l'est: enfin des dates (26p) n°4: homop habilis: le premier homme? (10p)2 la décennie dorée 1967-77: n°5: Omo et son échelle temporelle (19p) n°6: Koobi Fora: le triomphe d'homop habilis (14p) n°7: la 1ère saison d'Hadar: un genou (14p) n°8: la 2nde saison d'Hadar: une machoire et Lucy (23p) n°9: quel âge a-t-elle? (21p) n°10: la 3ème saison d'Hadar: la première famille (12p) n°11: la 4ème saison d'Hadar: nettoyage (16p) n°12: Laetoli: dispute sur les dates et les empreintes (19p)3 qui est Lucy?n°13: les analyses commencent (24p) n°14: elles se terminent (15p) n°15: les réactions (15p)4 pourquoi Lucy marchait-elle debout ? n°16: est ce une question de sexe? (34p)5 une affaire à suivre n°17: microscope électronoque et retour à Hadar (34p)appendices, bibliographie et indextextes scientifiques illustrés de schémas tableaux, gravures et cartes n&b plus un encart central de photos couleurs des campagnes de fouillescet excellent ouvrage scientifique complet et passionnant mérite d'être relu à la lumière des évolutions récentes et restrea un incontournable sur le sujet dans la bibliothèque de tout lecteur curieux

I couldn't put it down--such a fascinating glimpse into all that goes on before we general public types read about groundbreaking archeological finds--about all the debate and science behind it all. There's some really interested trivia in here too about some of the less scrupulous souls fudging facts (and always getting found out by and by) Reading this left such a big impression the cat who joined our family while I was reading it was named Lucy :)