Almost Adam

by Petru Popescu

In a forgotten corner of a country torn by violence, American anthropologist Ken Lauder is about to make a discovery that will challenge everything we've ever believed about the ascent of a boy who should not exist...a race the defies all logic...inhabiting a secret world of wonder, splendor and peril, a world that cannot be... A world Ken Lauder may never escape...alive.

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Thriller, Africa, Adventure, Anthropology, Historical Fiction

607 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petru_Po...

Reviews

[Paul E · Rating 3 out of 5]

WARNING! This novel includes numerous depictions of animal cruelty.

Palaeontologist Ken Lauder, is in search of evidence of homo-sapien's ancestral missing link and what he finds goes beyond his wildest expectation.
A Thriller set in Kenya, Africa with murderous villains and romance of a Prehistoric kind.
A little too heavy on senseless animal slaughtering and cruelty (as unfortunately true as it may be).
3-stars

[Ballpeendash · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first discovered this book while living in my car in New Orleans (that sounds a lot more exciting than it was). I stopped at a library for the internet, and ended up finding my way to this book. I probably read 5 pages, and almost 3 years later couldn't get it out of my head.
Granted, I am hopelessly enamored with paleoanthropology, but it was not even remotely possible to stop reading this book. It is fiction, and some of the facts are a little bit off (such as the Mesozoic ending 75 million years ago...not 65), but who's counting? The book is so enthralling it almost seemed plausible at times, although I found the climax a bit over dramatic.
Anyway, I seem to gravitate less and less towards fiction lately, but books like this make me second guess.

[Kristina · Rating 2 out of 5]

The entire book was on the verge of something exciting, but never quite got exciting.

[Frank R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think very few 609 page books are “fast-paced” adventures but this one is now a favorite of mine. I found this in a heap of used books and had never heard of Popescu before. The title implies an ironic biblical reference but is also named after the author’s son, Adam, whom he models the character of Long Toes after in the novel.

I took my time with this one because I wanted to return to the world in which these characters lived repeatedly. It truly is a meeting place of an imaginative Pliocene and the modern world: a place where we can imagine a pure naturalness of our distance hominid cousins and the greedy vying for prestige and money by modern academics, businessmen, and politicians.

The plot weaves several narratives together as various factions race to find a prehistoric band of Australopithecines and their discoverer, Ken Lauder, while Kenya boils over in a political coup. It’s got all the ingredients for a good versus evil (science/preserving our extant “ancestors” versus the destruction of our past) epic set in the forests, savannas, and cities of Africa. It is at once beautifully descriptive, erotic (oh yes, there’s a sex scene or two between HUMANS that are really well done! :) ), and emotional throughout its pages. I was completely amazed! This is definitely a book for the Anthro nerd and sci-fi reader alike.

Don’t expect too much scientific accuracy in terms of the supposed behavioral repertoires of the australopithecines described—at one point, Popescu even spends a few pages describing a “storytelling” ritual where our ‘pith protagonist, Long Toes, taps into Lauder’s brain with some telepathy—but it’s fun to humanize these fossil hominids and consider what it would be like to live with other human-like creatures. Popescu makes genetics seem like divinity and sociobiology like the will of God in these pages. I was shocked at how meaningful and even spiritual this book became for me as our author writes with awe over evolutionary possibilities; I loved it!

[Silver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un bel thriller antropologico. Cosa succederebbe se quella dell'Homo Sapiens Sapiens non fosse l'unica specie umana sulla Terra?
Popescu offre un punto di vista interessante.

[Jim Vuksic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prior to reading this novel, my knowledge of paleontology and archaeology was limited to what I have learned primarily from viewing documentaries and specials presented by the National Geographic and Smithsonian channels on television.

Author Petru Popescu's story of a young Paleontologists' discovery of an isolated area of Africa, unaffected by the evolutionary advances experienced by the rest of the world, is interesting, entertaining and educational. I love to learn new things and, if I am being entertained while learning, even better!

The most enlightening and emotionally gratifying experience for me was the manner in which the story gradually reveals evidence that early humans of the Pliocene era (5 million to 1.5 million years ago), though physically and mentally quite different from modern man, may have shared many of the wonderful traits that separates humans from other animals. There is evidence that their natural instinct included emotions such as love, loyalty, loneliness, and a natural distrust of the unfamiliar.

"Almost Adam" is not the best novel that I have ever read. It doesn't even rate among the top twenty; but it is good and was worth the time and effort spent reading the 541 pages.

[Randy Schultz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm, there were parts of this book that were absolutely wonderful. The story of Ken and Long Toes is compelling and so very interesting. Unfortunately, Ken and Long Toes, as interesting and as book worthy as they might be, only account for a fraction of this book, perhaps, and I'm being generous, maybe1/3. The rest of the book is spent dealing with other characters whose place in this story is much farther reaching than Popescu has time for here. Thusly they become somewhat hastily drawn, incomplete and their actions, border on the ridiculous. In the case of Anderson, Kens nemesis, the character just dissolves completely into the world of stupid and dumb. There is a whole lot of effort put into this book and a consequence of that is that, instead of wasting it, it’s attempted to fit it all into the story. The problem is that it’s simply not long enough to do justice to either the characters it must bear, or the subsequent storylines they proceed down. By the end, this book just falls apart and ends both abruptly and without closure in a lot of areas.

[Ngaire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good. But so incredibly overlong that it made me want to tear my hair out, half the time. While the story was intriguing, I think it tried to do a bit too much, and took ages to get going. Once Ken was out in the wild with the hominid boy, things really started to move along. And seriously, I could have done without the endless descriptions of sex organs. And knees. I think Popescu mentioned Yinka's knees about five times, inexplicably. Do men really think about their knees knocking into a woman's knees when they're getting it on? Strange. Don't know why that bothered me, but it did.

[Limopilot · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great story. It really had me turning pages unexpectedly.
Petru had a way with drawing you in to the plight of the "Adam" race, and getting (at least me) emotionally involoved with the storyline.
Had this one read in three days.
Looking for more by this same writer - or very similar.

[Elaine Cougler]

Almost Adam I bought on a Chapters bargain table on the off chance it might live up to its jacket synopsis. It did--and more. Deftly melded together are the trials of a misfit anthropologist white hero, the emergence of Kenyan nationalism, the taboos of interracial relationships, and the pontificating attitude of some Brits toward the rest of the world. Suspenseful and probing.

[Triss Holland · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to make myself finish because the premise was intriguing, but there were many sections that seemed to drag on going nowhere. i agree with Randy that the interaction and exploits of Ken and Long Toes made the story worth it.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not put this one down!!

[Chenoa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting story about survival and exploring what it means to be human. Survival was explored in the context of politics, city life, academia, and in the wild. The discussions of what it means to human was through academic and internal conversation with one of the main characters. I found the story intriguing from a sociological perspective.

However, I found the ending over stayed its welcome. I think the author was trying to add depth to the world by introducing new characters for a few short pages and then they went away. Instead it felt more like a high school student that realised they didn't reach the minimum number of pages in an essay and wrote a sub-story within the story.

Overall, I enjoyed most of the story but I wouldn't read it again.

[Karen B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book on so many levels. I actually spent time in Kenya the summer of 1993. I was there for an archaeological field school and my degree was in anthropology with a focus on primatology and physical anthropology. So this book was right up my alley. However it times it was a little weird and I didn't love the ending. But I did enjoy the book as it was written in a way that I was interested to see what was next. Not to say that this book was so preposterously inaccurate. It actually was pretty good from the standpoint of actual science. I definitely enjoyed it though and I would recommend it.

[Andrew ✝️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to say that I would definitely seek out more books by Petru Popescu. I'm not normally one who delves into science, but I'm glad I read this one in its entirety. The characters were anything but lame; they all had their own personality. I pretty much fell in love with "Long Toes" (If you read or have read the book, you'll know who I mean). I only wish I could give this book 6 stars. I found this book in my mum's library since I've been wanting to read larger novels. The basic introduction for this book just completely caught my attention and I felt the pull to read this book.

[Daniel Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly exciting realistic sounding adventure in the African savanna and forests, with the discovery of ancient hominids and what it means to be human as the main theme. Hurt though by being a little overambitious, with the political side story/coup; the main themes could have been covered without the distraction. Also some of the science was incorrect, especially the size of human v ape genitals, female orgasms and other sexual angles. Maybe too much on that in general too.

[Emily Linder · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have had this book for so long and have always been looking forward to reading it. As a huge anthro nerd, the concept of this book was very interesting to me.

The actual writing and some of the plot lines were not my favorite - and to me there was a lot of extra unnecessary elements included.

But, I still give 4 stars because of the concept and my love of anthropology.

[Rhonda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting anthropology topics. Also covers African cultural issues, such as tribalism, poaching, government corruption, and more.

Similar to Jurassic Park, the story suspends belief. But the relationship between Ken and Long Toes is fascinating and charming. Some of the other characters are senselessly evil.

[Jim Short · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pacing is hard to manage. It started well, slowed incredibly during the middle and ended quickly and abruptly. I wasn't too thrilled with all the introspection every character seemed to have taking multiple pages each time. The author also seemed to spend special attention to sex as it related to evolution and social interaction to the point that I skimmed some paragraphs to get through it.

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed some of this but some of it felt out of place. The whole political revolution going on in Kenya just felt like it didn’t really belong with the rest of the story. I would have preferred a shorter book that just focused more on Ken and the Australopithecines.

[Justine Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. There was a character or two that got a bit out of hand without a lot of explanation, but as a biologist, I loved reading a book that sees the world the same way I do. A good read.

[Elizabeth Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vivid descriptions made me feel like I was part of the adventure. The science seemed well researched. The characters were rich and likeable, with warm relationships. The political scenario seemed a bit outdated for Kenya, but overall I was completely absorbed.

[Mark Goodwin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book about 20 years ago and still remember it as a Boring Book. The author tries to model the main character off Tarzan and trust me, the author is no Edgar Rice Burroughs. Just a ridiculous read and should only be attempted if you have nothing else to read !!!

[James Goulios · Rating 5 out of 5]

Αν όχι το καλύτερο, το πιο ευχάριστο και απολαυστικό μυθιστόρημα που έχω διαβάσει έως τώρα. Ο τροπος εξιστορησης του συγγραφέα έχει μια συνοχή που δεν σε αφήνει να βαρεθείς. Μία πολυ καλοσχημστισμενη πλοκή, εξισσοροπώντας νόηματα, υπόνοιες και μυθοπλασία.

[Rusty Ware · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe deserves 5 stars. I felt like I was there.

[Matt Kratz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent story with a good mystery surrounding it.

[Gretchen Stein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gerber Book Club choice

[Kristen Fewel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book. Read it a long time ago but it keeps coming back to me whenever I read about anthropological studies and human history.

['T Boekenreisbureau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Verhaal zit wel goed in elkaar qua spanning en wetenschappelijke onderbouwing maar het gegeven dat een prehistorische stam in deze moderne tijd onopgemerkt zou kunnen blijven is ongeloofwaardig.

[David M · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I enjoyed the imaginative story even if the writer's style is a bit sloppy at times. Very creative and engaging. Thank you.