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Racial Adaptations
The author of this book's Foreword, William W. Howells, says that in 1950 Carleton Coon published a small book which was the FIRST to attempt systematically to survey racial adaptations such as skin color, hair form, and body shape as adaptations to climate and habitat. "Racial Adaptations" is partly an extension and updating of the older one, as well as "The Origin of Races" and "The Living Races of Man."
- GenresAnthropology
Hardcover
Published January 1, 1982
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 20, 2016
Carleton Coon's books were popular when I was first getting interested in anthropology in the sixties, and I read them with interest. He boldly addressed questions about race that others shied away from. In this book you will find data-supported speculation on how differences in skin and eye evolved, and even in possible differences between races in hormonal development. For that I give him four stars.
Even then, as a teenaged scientist, I realized that Coon's reasoning was flawed. He never said so outright, but he evidently wanted the races to be as separate as possible. Coon argued that the races have been distinct for a very long time indeed, that each evolved into Homo sapiens separately from Homo erectus. Their development would have been a remarkable example of parallel evolution, one that would invite the interpretation that perhaps some races have evolved further than others. But it is incredibly unlikely that every race would have developed from one species to another independently, and molecular genetics has put this hypothesis to rest at last; there is no question now that we are all descended from one Homo sapiens stock. I was not surprised to find later that Coon argued against the integration of schools. If you are interested in the history of anthropology, do read this book, but with caution.
Even then, as a teenaged scientist, I realized that Coon's reasoning was flawed. He never said so outright, but he evidently wanted the races to be as separate as possible. Coon argued that the races have been distinct for a very long time indeed, that each evolved into Homo sapiens separately from Homo erectus. Their development would have been a remarkable example of parallel evolution, one that would invite the interpretation that perhaps some races have evolved further than others. But it is incredibly unlikely that every race would have developed from one species to another independently, and molecular genetics has put this hypothesis to rest at last; there is no question now that we are all descended from one Homo sapiens stock. I was not surprised to find later that Coon argued against the integration of schools. If you are interested in the history of anthropology, do read this book, but with caution.
May 19, 2013
This is easily the best, post-modern tome (of) rationalist theories on racial origins I've ever read. Carleton Coon's objectivity qualifies him as a rare philanthrope. A curious pursuer of revelations.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews