Week 2

Our Evolution Over 20 Million Years

We lost our tails about 20 million years ago. We lost our small brains a few million years ago. Humans are unique, just like every other species. The idea that chimps are our cousins NOT our ancestors is emphasized again and again – maybe someday someone will understand this.

The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection and The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex
by Charles Darwin 1859 and 1871, republished as Darwin 49 Britannica Great Books, University of Chicago, Chicago

Guns, Germs and Steel: the fates of human societies
by Jared Diamond, 1997, Jonathan Cape, London

Sapiens: a brief history of humankind
by Yuval Noah Harari, 2015, Harpur Collins, New York

Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the new science of the human past
by David Reich, 2018, Pantheon, New York

The Neolithic revolution is the transition from hunting and gathering to...