How We Got Here: From Bows and Arrows to the Space Age

by C.R. Hallpike

Only 10,000 years ago, our ancestors were small groups of hunter-gatherers, with bows and arrows and stone tools. Today, we live in vast nations with all the power of modern science and industry, and the ability to send men to the Moon and to destroy all life on the planet. In the history of the world, 10,000 years is the blink of an eye, yet it has seen the total transformation of human existence. That extraordinary revolution is just as interesting as the Big Bang, or the origin of life, and this book is a clear and concise explanation of how it happened. Human culture was something completely new in the history of the world, and has evolved in a unique way.  Darwin's theory of evolution can tell us nothing at all about this very strange process, that went far beyond any mundane struggle for physical survival by 'naked apes'. The picture of Stonehenge, built with enormous labour for no material reward, illustrates one of the central themes of this book - the fundamental importance of the human imagination to the development of science, that made possible the modern mastery of nature.

Genres: Anthropology, Nonfiction

624 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 5, 2008

About the author

Christopher Robert Hallpike (born 1938) is an English-Canadian anthropologist and an Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at McMaster University, Ontario, Canada. He is known for his extensive study of the Konso of Ethiopia and Tauade of New Guinea.

Reviews

[Mike Sutton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well written book that provides a unique insight into human progress via anthropological insight.

Of particular note is Hallpike's evidence that human altruism has been overstated. He also alludes to the likelihood that Darwin was influenced by Matthew's prior publication of the theory of natural selection. The fact that Darwin did was proven in 2014 by big data analysis.

This is an excellent book that is very good value. The Darwin industry and much Dawkinsian dysology is put in its rightful place many times by dis-confirming expert analysis of facts versus mere wishful thinking and unevidenced knowledge beliefs.