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The Scars of Evolution
What Our Bodies Tell Us About Human Origins
by Elaine Morgan
Recommended by Tamarack Song

      Long, long ago, something happened to our ape ancestors that did not happen to the forebearers of gorillas and chimpanzees, something that made them walk on two legs, lose their fur, sweat, develop larger brains, and learn to speak. This book offers a pioneering look at the perplexing phenomenon, arguing that all the facts about our mysterious origins are right in front of us - in the form of fundamental flaws in the human design.

      The scars of human evolution are visible in many forms, from our propensity to suffer from lower back pain, to obesity, varicose veins, acne, and even infact death syndrome. They are all, essentially, the result of some catalysmic event that happened aeons in our past.

      Theories about why we differ so greatly from our closest relatives in the animal kingdom, especially in regard to these many incongruous flaws in our physiological makeup, abound within the scientific community. But these theories cannot explain our unique features: they leave too many questions unanswered. In this fascinating work, Morgan shows just where our earliest ancestors came from, pointing out the evolutionary path that seperated us from the rest of the animals. While carefully considering all of our uniquely human traits - our relative hairlessness, our ability to control our breathing, our inability to maintain proper salt levels - she comes the closest yet to solving one of the enduring riddles of our orgins.

      Lively, controversial, and presented with a brilliant logic, The Scars of Evolution will change the way you think about the world - and our place in it. Paperback, 196 pages.

      "An exceptionally well-written book. Morgan seem to have succeeded where the professionals have failed. She has made a genuine contribution to evolutionary history...and she has presented it in a form which is accessible to the interested lay reader." - British Science Journal