Overview

Historians relying on written records can tell us nothing about the 99.9% of human evolution which preceded the invention of writing. It is the study of genetic variation, backed up by language and archaeology, which provides concrete evidence aboutthe spread of farming, the movements of peoples across the globe, the precise links between races - and the sheer unscientific absurdity of racism. Genes, Peoples and Languages offers an astonishing investigation into the past 100,000 years of human history and a rare, firsthand account of some of the most significant and gripping scientific work of recent years. Cavalli-Sforza is one of the great founding fathers of archaeogenetics, and in this book he maps out some of its grand themes.

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9780140296020

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What defines race? Is it skin colour, cultural upbringing or something else? It is accepted (by virtue of Darwin) that our closest ancestors are apes; as these creatures lived only in Africa it seems reasonable to suppose that our own ancestors also originated from this region. There are 5000 languages in the world, but only a few have a large global distribution, and many languages with only a few hundred speakers face extinction. From observations like these, the author takes us on a journey, tracing man's evolution in terms of language and genetics and how they have developed and travelled through the ages. If you enjoyed Darwin's Origin of Species then you will probably enjoy this, although it is not bed-time reading and is not just for dipping into. This is an academic book at heart, and pretends nothing else, borne as it was from a series of lectures in the 1980s. The author is recognized as one of the world's leading experts on human population genetics, and he is able to draw on over 20 years' research into this fascinating topic. And, in case you're wondering, a race is a group of individuals that can be recognized as being biologically different. (Kirkus UK)

Author Information

Cavalli-Sforza was born in Genoa in 1922 and has taught at the universities of Cambridge, Parma and Pavia. He is currently Professor Emeritus of Genetics at Stanford University. He is the author of THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF THE HUMAN GENE.

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