The Genesis Chronicles

One scientist's conjecture about key events in various stages of the evolution of humankind from Ramepithecus to Homo Sapiens Sapiens, at times controversial but always thought-provoking.

The fifteen stages from Ramepithecus to Homo sapiens sapiens-the story of human evolution.

'Sensing rather than seeing the attack, Yellowtip swung to face Beta, still grasping the branch. At full pelt Beta fell directly onto the straight point of the stick. With little more than a grunt, he wrenched himself back, then fell on the ground twitching and was still. Yellowtip drew himself erect, stick in hand. He had not deliberately challenged Beta but, by destroying him, he should replace him in the hierarchy, though young and inexperienced. Tensely, he stared down at each male in turn, inviting challenge. One by one, they struggled to return his gaze, then dropped their eyes and turned aside. This was triumph-it felt glorious.'

Yellowtip's accidental discovery of weaponry provides the basis for the first chronicle in Glenorchy McBride's personal take on the history of evolution. Like many great discoveries over the history of time, some of the fifteen steps on the long road from Ramepithecus to Homo sapiens sapiens were serendipitous and some the result of trial and error, but all are described with wit and compassion in this entertaining and thought-provoking book.

We squat with Fireboy as he anxiously nurtures the first flickering embers and run with Ton and his beloved wolf-cub. We sit at Roo's feet as she shares her dreams of the first totem spirit; we meet the first artists, the first traders, the first herders and, finally, the Sower of seeds, the visionary who led her people towards our own modern agriculture.

Drawing on his long and distinguished career as an internationally recognised ethologist, Glenorchy McBride illustrates each of his chronicles with detailed scientific background material. The Genesis Chronicles present a picture of the history of evolution, a picture which prompts McBride to ask whether our evolution has fitted us for the world we have created or whether we are irredeemably flawed by our ancestral experiences.