Lucy's legacy : sex and intelligence in human evolution
by Alison Jolly
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Description
Alison Jolly believes that biologists have an important story to tell about being human--not the all-too-familiar tale of selfishness, competition, and biology as destiny but rather one of cooperation and interdependence, from the first merging of molecules to the rise of a species inextricably linked by language, culture, and group living. This is the story that unfolds in Lucy's Legacy, the saga of human evolution as told by a world-renowned primatologist who works among the show more female-dominant ringtailed lemurs of Madagascar. We cannot be certain that Lucy was female--the bones themselves do not tell us. However, we do know, as Jolly points out in this erudite, funny, and informative book, that the females who came after Lucy--more adept than their males in verbal facility, sharing food, forging links between generations, migrating among places and groups, and devising creative mating strategies--played as crucial a role in the human evolutionary process as "man" ever did. In a book that takes us from the first cell to global society, Jolly shows us that to learn where we came from and where we go next, we need to understand how sex and intelligence, cooperation and love, emerged from the harsh Darwinian struggle in the past, and how these natural powers may continue to evolve in the future. show lessTags
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Author Information
14+ Works 270 Members
Alison Jolly was a world-renowned primatologist and conservationist. A portion of recently restored forest in Madagascar is named after her, as well as a new species of mouse lemur. She died in 2014.
Awards and Honors
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Lucy's legacy : sex and intelligence in human evolution
- Original publication date
- 1999
- People/Characters
- Charles Darwin [Charles Robert: 1809-1882]; Jane Goodall; Robert Trivers; E. O. Wilson
- Important places
- Gombe Stream Reserve, Tanzania
- Epigraph
- I must put things in shape.
I wonder why.
Surely there's shape enough
In earth and sky?
I have to tidy rooms, fix flowers,
Paint, and phrase verses,
number hours,
change, meddle, analyze, reject, propound... (show all).
I have to bind things, even as
I am bound.
A.M.K.B. - Dedication
- For Richard B., Arthur, Susan, Margaretta, as ever, Richard, and in memory of my mother, Alison Mason Kingsbury Bishop.
- First words
- Prologue:
Beyond the Copper Beech Tree
Female ringtailed lemurs wholly dominate their males.
1
The Evolution of Purpose
We evolved. We have only to look at the pouting face of a young chimpanzee to laugh at its reflection of ourselves. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Gaia is not our mother. She could be our daughter.
- Blurbers
- de Waal, Frans; Haraway, Donna; Hrdy, Sarah Blaffer; Johanson, Donald C.
Classifications
- Genres
- Science & Nature, Anthropology, Nonfiction, General Nonfiction, Sexuality and Gender Studies
- DDC/MDS
- 599.93 — Natural sciences & mathematics Animals Mammals Homo sapiens Genetics, sex and age characteristics, evolution
- LCC
- GN281 .J6 — Geography, Anthropology and Recreation Anthropology Anthropology Physical anthropology. Somatology Human evolution
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 64
- Popularity
- 484,440
- Rating
- (3.00)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 3
