{"title":"Blake Edgar","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"from-lucy-to-language-book-blake-edgar-9780743280648","title":"From Lucy to Language","description":"In 1974 in a remote region of Ethiopia, Donald Johanson, then one of America's most promising young paleoanthropologists, discovered Lucy, the oldest, best preserved skeleton of any erect-walking human ever found. This discovery prompted a complete reevaluation of previous evidence for human origins. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn the years since this dramatic discovery Johanson has continued to scour East Africa's Great rift Valley for the earliest evidence of human origins. In 1975 this team unearthed the First Family, an unparalleled fossil assemblage of 13 individuals dating back to 3.2 million years ago; and in 1986 at the Rift's most famous location, Olduvai Gorge, this same team discovered a 1.8 million-year-old partial adult skeleton that necessitated a reassessment of the earliest members of our own genus \u003ci\u003eHomo.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eJohanson's fieldwork continues unabated and recently more fossil members of Lucy's family have been found, including the 1992 discovery of the oldest, most complete skull of her species, with future research now planned for 1996 in the virtually unexplored regions of the most northern extension of the Rift Valley in Eritrea. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eFrom Lucy to Language\u003c\/i\u003e is a summing up of this remarkable career and a stunning documentary of human life through time on Earth. It is a combination of the vital experience of field work and the intellectual rigor of primary research. It is the fusion of two great writing talents: Johanson and Blake Edgar, an accomplished science writer, editor of the California Academy of Sciences' \u003ci\u003ePacific Discovery, \u003c\/i\u003e and co-author of Johanson's last book, \u003ci\u003eAncestors.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eFrom Lucy to Language\u003c\/i\u003e is one of the greatest stories ever told, bracketing the timeline between bipedalism and human language. Part I addresses the central issues facing anyone seeking to decipher the mystery of human origins. In this section the authors provide answers to the basics -- What are our closest living relatives? -- tackle the controversial -- What is race? -- and contemplate the imponderables -- Why did consciousness evolve? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eFrom Lucy to Language\u003c\/i\u003e is an encounter with the evidence. Early human fossils are hunted, discovered, identified, excavated, collected, preserved, labeled, cleaned, reconstructed, drawn, fondled, photographed, cast, compared, measured, revered, pondered, published, and argued over endlessly. Fossils like Lucy have become a talisman of sorts, promising to reveal the deepest secrets of our existence. In Part II the authors profile over fifty of the most significant early human fossils ever found. Each specimen is displayed in color and at actual size, most of them in multiple views. With them the authors present the cultural accoutrements associated with the fossils: stone tools which evidence increasing sophistication over time, the earliest stone, clay, and ivory art objects, and the culminating achievement of the dawn of human consciousness -- the magnificent rock and cave paintings of Europe, Africa, Australia, and the Americas. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn the end \u003ci\u003eFrom Lucy to Language\u003c\/i\u003e is a reminder and a challenge. Like no species before us, we now seem poised to control vast parts of the planet and its life. We possess the power to influence, if not govern, evolution. For that reason, we must not forget our link to the natural world and our debt to natural selection. We need to think deep, to add a dose of geologic time and evolutionary history to our perspective of who we are, where we came from, and where we are headed. This is the most poignant lesson this book has to offer.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49581968097553,"sku":"GOR007907291","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50682783531281,"sku":"CIN0743280644G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50957047857425,"sku":"GOR009795717","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51568556966161,"sku":"CIN0743280644VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0743280644.jpg?v=1751168997"},{"product_id":"dinosaur-digs-book-blake-edgar-9781563318351","title":"Dinosaur Digs","description":"This 224-page title is a guide to the fossil remains of these perenially fascinating creatures in the USA and Canada. Ten informative essays present the science and history of palaeontology, as well as tips for \"rock hounds\" and descriptions of the countries' best dinosaur parks and fossil sites. Practical tips sections tell you how to join a dinosaur dig and give listings of museums, paleontology organizations and specialist resources. The work is lavishly illustrated with more than 250 spectacular photographs as well as nine specially commissioned maps.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49611418468625,"sku":"GOR003322783","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49648016261393,"sku":"GOR012956497","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50012610691345,"sku":"CIN1563318350G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50309239800081,"sku":"CIN1563318350VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1563318350.jpg?v=1751213189"},{"product_id":"william-morris-book-blake-edgar-9780295981840","title":"William Morris","description":"For thousands of years humans have adorned themselves. Adornment figures among the constellation of traits that signify the arrival of modern human behavior in the archaeological record. Werever they ventured, wherever they lived, people have made art and adorments to accompany them in life and death. In this book, artist William Morris celebrates this ancient and universal human quality and continues his exploration of the themes of origin and myth that permeate all his work. At first glance, these glass sculptures signal a striking departure from Morris's oeuvre of canopic jars, animal vessels, assorted artifacts, and imaginative burial installations. Here Morris depicts the people only imagined before. He has put flesh on the bones, and covered the bodies with costumes, jewelry, headdresses, and tattoos. These figures spring forth full of vibrant life in the present, rather than recalling a distant past. The faces and artifacts evoke and sometimes blend elements of Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas, tracing the global migrations of distant ancestors. Morris aims less for realism than for an essence of ethnicity. For more than 20 years, in a career that has brought Morris to the forefront of the modern Studio Glass movement, he has perfected a repertoire of techniques that virtually no other American glass artist can equal.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50325428207889,"sku":"CIN0295981849VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50347780407569,"sku":"CIN0295981849G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0295981849.jpg?v=1751195836"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/collections\/author-books-by-blake-edgar.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}