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Books : HOMO BRITANNICUS: The Incredible Story of Human Life in Britain
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HOMO BRITANNICUS: The Incredible Story of Human Life in Britain by: Chris Stringer Vegetarian Books Price: £25.00 Prices subject to change. |
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Binding: Hardcover EAN: 9780713997958 ISBN: 0713997958 Label: Allen Lane Manufacturer: Allen Lane Number Of Pages: 319 Publication Date: October 05, 2006 Publisher: Allen Lane Studio: Allen Lane Sales Rank: 77194 Related Items:
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Curate's EggDespite the celebrity reviews I found the text on the science of the story of human life in Britain rather thin. Of the 142 pages of the book just over 100 are on peripherals - 34 pages of a potted history of what mistakes people made in the 19th & 20th centuries (Piltdown again!), 14 pages on a very superficial review of what drives ice ages, 27 pages (!!!) of apologia on climate change and how we all have to try harder and 28 pages of thoughts from the team - so not much left to cover the meat of the subject. It is a pity as I think AHOB have a lot to offer and I would have liked to have read much more about their work and results. Rating: - What happened at the end?I was very happy with the Homo Britannicus until the final chapter. All of a sudden, it stops being about prehistory and becomes yet another tiresome rant about global warming. If I wanted to be hectored about the evils of coal then I'd be reading Jonathon Porritt, George Monbiot or any other colossally wealthy enviromentalist. If Chris Stringer wanted to write about the environment, then where are the dendrochronoligical discussions in his book, talking about the wholesale deforestation of Britain during the Neolithic and early Bronze ages? What about megafaunal extinction? Why skip 6,000 years? Whilst the rest of the book is good, the last chapter sours the whole experience. Rating:  - AHOB advances an alertFor a good many schoolchildren [too many, IMV], the history of Britain begins with Julius Caesar crossing the Channel. Confronted by resistance by the "blue people", he forcefully pushed the Island Kingdom into the historical arena. This outlook is regrettably shortsighted, as Chris Stringer makes vividly clear in this stunning account of pre-historic Britain. Although the first early human finds didn't occur there, the concept of "Stone Age" was vigorously debated in Britain as the artefacts and fossils emerged in view, particularly in the 19th and early 20th Centuries. Moreover, it was British scholars like John Hutton and Charles Lyell who took the lead in extending the age of the Earth. That extension led to speculation and investigation ... Read More: Rating: - Not an easy read but worth itBuy this in hardcover, the paperback (which i ordered by mistake) is too small and the pictures are rubbish. Its not exactly good reading, I personally dont like his writing style- bit erratic and jumpy, but the book is definately worth persevering with if you want the most up to date work in this field- and Chris Stringer is most definately the major star in this field at the moment (i exclude a big bunch of frankly loony Americans and the equally looney but eminantly loveable Francis Prior) Its all a bit BRITAIN orientated, which seeing as we were just a peninsular of europe for most of our history is a tad weird, why set boundaries anachronistically?? It passed the test though- I put it down and wanted more, which is all i can ask really. Rating:  - Enjoyable but SlightOver the last half-million years, the climate of Britain has swung back and forth many times between ice ages and warmer, lusher inter-glacial periods. During several periods of warmer climate, early humans came and settled here, but when the ice returned they either died out or were driven out. The story of early humans in Britain is one of repeated re-colonisation. Miraculously, these early occupations have left traces that can still be found, almost all of them in the south-east of England - traces further north and west having been erased by the ice sheets. This amazing fact illuminates the whole of this little book. This story, though, is only the intersection of two much bigger stories. The first is the shaping of our landscape ... Read More: |
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