Physical Books

What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? (Caldecott Honor Book)

Robin Page, Steve Jenkins

Amazon Price: $10.20 List Price: $15.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Houghton Mifflin Amazon Marketplace: 60 new & used starting at $8.12

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Great book for interaction! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book is really hands on, and gets lots of talking and questions going with my 3 and 5 yr olds. It's a clever book and we've had a lot of fun with it.

Small wonder this book has received so much attention! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

One of the loveliest and most thought out books to hit children's bookshelves in years! The information is so interesting and presented together with such unusual paper art the book just captivates its reader. Ann Clarke, author of People Are So Different! based on tolerance and understanding.

What DO you do with a tail like this? 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

A very beautifully illustrated smart book, WHAT DO YOU DO WITH A TAIL LIKE THIS helps kids think outside the box. My 3 year old daughter found it interesting the some creature have ears, mouth, etc. in other place then us humans. The book that starts with a question ends with wanting to ask more questions like the one my daughter asked, "Why do flies have 6 legs and spiders have 8?" I really couldn't answer why but I think this book helped her be more observant.

Interestingly beautiful illustrations help grab attention too, that was the reason I purchased this book in first place. The artist captures every necessary detail with his unique, almost surreal style which permeates throughout the book.

Editorial Review:

A nose for digging? Ears for seeing? Eyes that squirt blood? Explore the many amazing things animals can do with their ears, eyes, mouths, noses, feet, and tails in this beautifully illustrated interactive guessing book by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page.

Jacob's Legacy: A Genetic View of Jewish History

David B. Goldstein

Amazon Price: $17.16 List Price: $26.00 Usually ships in 2 to 4 weeks By: Yale University Press Amazon Marketplace: 6 new & used starting at $17.16

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Who are the Jews? Where did they come from? What is the connection between an ancient Jewish priest in Jerusalem and today’s Israeli sunbather on the beaches of Tel Aviv? These questions stand at the heart of this engaging book. Geneticist David Goldstein analyzes modern DNA studies of Jewish populations and examines the intersections of these scientific findings with the history (both biblical and modern) and oral tradition of the Jews. With a special gift for translating complex scientific concepts into language understandable to all, Goldstein delivers an accessible, personal, and fascinating book that tells the history of a group of people through the lens of genetics.

In a series of detective-style stories, Goldstein explores the priestly lineage of Jewish males as manifested by Y chromosomes; the Jewish lineage claims of the Lemba, an obscure black South African tribe; the differences in maternal and paternal genetic heritage among Jewish populations; and much more. The author also grapples with the medical and ethical implications of our rapidly growing command of the human genomic landscape. The study of genetics has not only changed the study of Jewish history, Goldstein shows, it has altered notions of Jewish identity and even our understanding of what makes a people a people.

(20080722)

Introduction to Physical Anthropology

Robert Jurmain, Lynn Kilgore, Wenda Trevathan, Russell L. Ciochon

Amazon Price: $122.45 List Price: $124.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Wadsworth Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 77 new & used starting at $68.28

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

The wonder of human evolution... 4 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

If this book is required for your anthropology course, then you're in luck! I appreciate that the authors genuinely enjoy the subject matter, and that it comes through in their writing.

The book is very well organized. You can look forward to chapters of reasonable length -- usually 25 to 30 pages, at most. There are lots of colourful pictures and diagrams, though some flowcharts seem like page fillers to me. The margins are used for definitions of new key words and concepts, a very useful feature.

Aside: There's a little bit of "handwaving" in the early chapters introducing concepts of genetics. That's unfortunate, but necessary at the same time. So if you're interested in the details, I encourage you to pick up a genetics textbook (I liked Concepts of Genetics), or better yet, take a genetics course.

There are certainly debates and controversies in the field. This makes sense, since there are so many unknowns. I appreciate that the authors make mention of differing perspectives and points of view when appropriate.

Editorial Review:

Jurmain's best-selling text provides you with the course content you need to help you pass your biological/physical anthropology course. Through clear discussions that move from 'description' to interpretation, compelling visual content, cutting-edge research, and interactive multimedia, you'll discover life's history and the place of human beings in the biological world.

The Seven Daughters of Eve

Bryan Sykes

Amazon Price: $11.53 List Price: $16.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: W. W. Norton & Company Amazon Marketplace: 84 new & used starting at $1.57

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 118 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Who is Your Mommy? 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I read this book because I had read about National Geographic's Genome Project including the book by the Project Director Spencer Wells. I wanted to learn more on the subject and get other points of view.

The first part of Sykes' book is the most interesting because he summarizes the major advances especially on the maternal side better than Wells without being too technical. The other book was shorter but more technical. Sykes really writes an informative book that takes us step by step through the advances in genetics following the mother's mitochondrial DNA in a kind of "gee whiz" manner about the dicoveries. I accepted that enthusiasm because he does tell you at the beginning that he is a scientist, but his writing is understandable. He elaborates on the scientific debates as a way to communicate the shadings of judgement that go into advancing this frontier of science. The application of genetics to ancestry is fascinating stuff to me..a non scientist. It is...within a short period of time...opening a new door and accelerating the study of Mankind and the evolution of our species. You also get a picture of past Ice Ages and a discussion of "What Happened to the Neanderthals."

In the second part of the book, Sykes speculates on the day to day lives of the seven daughters. After reading the first of these I skipped to the last 2 chapters, then closed the book. I am glad I read the chapters I did.

Editorial Review:

The national bestseller that reveals how we are descended from seven prehistoric women. One of the most dramatic stories of genetic discovery since James Watson's The Double Helix, The Seven Daughters of Eve reveals the remarkable story behind a groundbreaking scientific discovery. After being summoned in 1997 to an archaeological site to examine the remains of a five-thousand-year-old man, Bryan Sykes ultimately was able to prove not only that the man was a European but also that he has living relatives in England today. In this lucid, absorbing account, Sykes reveals how the identification of a particular strand of DNA that passes unbroken through the maternal line allows scientists to trace our genetic makeup all the way back to prehistoric times, to seven primeval women, the Seven Daughters of Eve.

Our Origins: Discovering Physical Anthropology

Clark Spencer Larsen

Amazon Price: $88.87 List Price: $90.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: W. W. Norton Amazon Marketplace: 35 new & used starting at $65.79

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Editorial Review:

With an unparalleled art program, Our Origins is an accessible, up-to-date text that focuses on anthropology's big questions and the scientific process. A leader in the field and an experienced teacher, Clark Larsen focuses not on encyclopedic details but on the "big picture," getting students to see and think like anthropologists. Larsen covers all the major aspects of physical anthropology, including genetics, primatology, and the fossil record. He also provides the strongest coverage of bioarchaeology on the market.

Saxons, Vikings, and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland

Bryan Sykes

Amazon Price: $11.53 List Price: $16.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: W. W. Norton Amazon Marketplace: 48 new & used starting at $8.93

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 56 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A Very Good Read 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This is the book I've been looking for! I found Bryan Sykes to be a thoroughly engrossing author and storyteller as well as an accomplished scientist.

His overview of British history (as well as the occasional personal anecdote) coupled with the story of collecting samples in the various regions of the Isles is entertaining and sheds much light on who we are as a people. I came away with a feeling of connectedness to all around me and a burning desire to know my own ancient ancestry.

I loved not only the succinct stories of conquest and migration but also the simple explanations of current genetic anthropology. I was sorry to see this book end and look forward to reading his other books as soon as possible.

Perhaps the funny thing about all this is that I am not a scientifically minded person at all. I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in history or with a family that hails from the Isles. Or, to anyone with a desire to know how we are all connected biologically.

Perhaps the most intriguing 'side benefit' of this book is a feeling that most of the conflict among peoples today could be seen in a different light when we finally come to understand that on the level of DNA we are all so remarkably the same.

Editorial Review:

From the best-selling author of The Seven Daughters of Eve, an illuminating guide to the genetic history of the British Isles.

One of the world's leading geneticists, Bryan Sykes has helped thousands find their ancestry in the British Isles. Saxons, Vikings, and Celts, which resulted from a systematic ten-year DNA survey of more than 10,000 volunteers, traces the true genetic makeup of the British Isles and its descendants, taking readers from the Pontnewydd cave in North Wales to the resting place of "The Red Lady" of Paviland and the tomb of King Arthur. Genealogy has become a popular pastime of Americans interested in their heritage, and this is the perfect work for anyone interested in finding their heritage in England, Scotland, or Ireland.

The Kingdom of Infinite Space: An Encounter with Your Head

Raymond Tallis

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Editorial Review:

In this pathbreaking book, one of Britain’s most eloquent and original thinkers writes about the head, what happens in it, and how it is and is not connected to our sense of identity and consciousness. Blending science, philosophy, and humor, Raymond Tallis examines the extraordinarily complex relationship we have with our heads. His aim, as he says, “is to turn readers into astonished tourists of the piece of the world that is closest to them, so they never again take for granted the head that looks at them from the mirror.” Readers will delight that this is precisely what he accomplishes.

The voyage begins with a meditation on the self-portrait of a mirror image, followed by a consideration of the head’s various secretions. Tallis contemplates the air we exhale; the subtle meanings of nods, winks, and smiles; the mysteries of hearing, taste, and smell. He discusses the metaphysics of the gaze, the meaning of kissing, and the processes by which the head comes to understand the world. Along the way he offers intriguing digressions on such notions as “having” and “using” one’s head, and enjoying and suffering it. Tallis concludes with his thoughts on the very thing the reader’s head has been doing throughout the book: thinking.

The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey

Spencer Wells

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 56 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Spencer Wells traces human evolution back to our very first ancestor in The Journey of Man. Along the way, he sums up the explosive effect of new techniques in genetics on the field of evolutionary biology and all available evidence from the fossil record. Wells's seemingly sexist title is purposeful: he argues that the Y chromosome gives us a unique opportunity to follow our migratory heritage back to a sort of Adam, just as earlier work in mitochondrial DNA allowed the identification of Eve, mother of all Homo sapiens. While his descriptions of the advances made by such luminary scientists as Richard Lewontin and Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza can be dry, Wells comes through with sparkling metaphors when it counts, as when he compares genetic drift to a bouillabaisse recipe handed down through a village's generations. Though finding our primal male is an exciting prospect, the real revolution Wells describes is racial. Or rather, nonracial, as he reiterates the scientific truth that our notions of what makes us different from each other are purely cultural, not based in biology. The case for an "out of Africa" scenario of human migration is solid in this book, though Wells makes it clear when he is hypothesizing anything controversial. Readers interested in a fairly technical, but not overwhelming, summary of the remarkable conclusions of 21st-century human evolutionary biology will find The Journey of Man a perfect primer. --Therese Littleton

Annual Editions: Physical Anthropology 08/09 (Annual Editions : Physical Anthropology)

Elvio Angeloni

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Editorial Review:

This Seventeenth Edition of ANNUAL EDITIONS: Physical Anthropology provides convenient, inexpensive access to current articles selected from the best of the public press. Organizational features include: an annotated listing of selected World Wide Web sites; an annotated table of contents; a topic guide; a general introduction; brief overviews for each section; a topical index; and an instructor’s resource guide with testing materials. USING ANNUAL EDITIONS IN THE CLASSROOM is offered as a practical guide for instructors. ANNUAL EDITIONS titles are supported by our student website, www.mhcls.com/online.

Deep Ancestry: Inside The Genographic Project

Spencer Wells

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Wells coats his science in political correctness 3 out of 5 stars.
10 of 11 people found this review helpful.

While his books are interesting, one thing that becomes abundantly clear to anyone with a working knowledge of ancestral genetics is that Wells goes out of his way to preach "we are all the same" and "race is meaningless". While both statements have an element of truth to them, they don't tell the whole story. Good scientific writers don't try to push a message. Rather, they lay the facts out and allow the reader to do with it what they will. There are very real, empirical genetic differences between ethnic groups--an indisputable fact embraced by serious medical geneticists. This may make some people uncomfortable and provide ammunition for racial bigotry, but playing a shell game with facts does a disservice to science and humanity.

Editorial Review:

Travel backward through time from today's scattered billions to the handful of early humans who lived in Africa 60,000 years ago and are ancestors to us all.

In Deep Ancestry, scientist and National Geographic explorer Spencer Wells shows how tiny genetic changes add up over time into a fascinating story. Using scores of real-life examples, helpful analogies, and detailed diagrams and illustrations, he explains exactly how each and every individual's DNA contributes another piece to the jigsaw puzzle of human history. The book takes readers inside the Genographic Project—the landmark study now assembling the world's largest collection of DNA samples and employing the latest in testing technology and computer analysis to examine hundreds of thousand of genetic profiles from all over the globe—and invites us all to take part.