Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
New York : Oxford University Press, c2011.
Description
There have been many books, movies, and even TV commercials featuring Neandertals--some serious, some comical. But what was it really like to be a Neandertal? How were their lives similar to or different from ours? In How to Think Like a Neandertal, archaeologist Thomas Wynn and psychologist Frederick L. Coolidge team up to provide a brilliant account of the mental life of Neandertals, drawing on the most recent fossil and archaeological remains. Indeed, some Neandertal remains are not fossilized, allowing scientists to recover samples of their genes--one specimen had the gene for red hair and
User reviews
LibraryThing member CGlanovsky
This could've been a much more interesting book if the authors hadn't insisted on leaving out claims they couldn't solidly bolster with evidence. If only they'd been willing to throw caution to the wind and toss out their pesky espousal of moderation. Always taking the conservative view and
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painting the likeliest picture rather than the most astounding possibility, this book offers a sound-minded idea of what the prospects of a transplanted Neandertal would be in the modern world. They touch on such topics as empathy, problem-solving, innovation and even sense of humor and dreaming. As evidence they take the archaeological record and comparative studies of ourselves and our nearest primate relatives, attempting to synthesize this information into a best guess with healthy reservation. As it turns out, a Neandertal would make a great modern-day doctor. Find out why. Show Less
LibraryThing member shmerica
Wicked discussion of what the Neandertal mind could have been like. The two authors are tops in their field and have been engaging in thought experiments for years (with an understandable conservative slant in their conclusions.) Thoroughly enjoyable and totally accessible!
Language
ISBN
0199742820 / 9780199742820