A Natural History of the New World

A Natural History of the New World PDF Author: Alan Graham
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226306801
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description
A Natural History of the New World traces the evolution of plant ecosystems, beginning in the Late Cretaceous period and ending in the present, charting their responses to changes in geology and climate.

A Natural History of the New World

A Natural History of the New World PDF Author: Alan Graham
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226306801
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description
A Natural History of the New World traces the evolution of plant ecosystems, beginning in the Late Cretaceous period and ending in the present, charting their responses to changes in geology and climate.

New World Monkeys

New World Monkeys PDF Author: Alfred L. Rosenberger
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691143641
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
"This book is a broad synthesis of new world monkey evolution, integrating their unique evolutionary story into the bigger picture of primate evolution and Amazon biodiversity. Capsule For more than 30 million years, New World monkeys have inhabited the forests of South and Central America. Whether these primates originally came from Africa by rafting across the Atlantic or crossing overland from North America, they soon flourished. This book tells the story of these New World monkeys. Integrating data from fossil and living animals, it explores the evolution of the three major New World monkey lineages as well as how they fit into the broader story of primate evolution and Amazon biodiversity. After providing readers with necessary background in primate taxonomy and systematics, Rosenberger shows that the notion of adaptive zones is central to our understanding of primate evolution. The idea of adaptive zones can explain how radiations evolve, morphological adaptations appear, and communities form. From here, Rosenberger synthesizes what is known about New World monkeys' unique ecological adaptations, including those involving feeding and locomotion, as well as their social behaviour. The book's concluding chapters explore theories of how primates first arrived in South America and what their future looks like given the threat of extinction. Biography Internal Use Only Alfred L. Rosenberger is Professor Emeritus of Biological Anthropology at Brooklyn College. An expert on the origin and evolution of New World Monkeys, Rosenberger has contributed numerous articles in edited volumes and his work is published in journals such as Nature, Journal of Human Evolution and American Journal of Primatology . Audience The audience for this book is scholars and graduate students in biological/physical anthropolog and primatology, and to a lesser extent conservation biology, evolutionary biology, and behavioral ecology . Rationale - no copy text Other Relevant Info - no copy text"--

The Evolution of Everything

The Evolution of Everything PDF Author: Matt Ridley
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062296027
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 279

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Book Description
“Mr. Ridley’s best and most important work to date…there is something profoundly democratic and egalitarian—even anti-elitist—in this bottom-up approach: Everyone can have a role in bringing about change.” —Wall Street Journal The New York Times bestselling author of The Rational Optimist and Genome returns with a fascinating argument for evolution that definitively dispels a dangerous, widespread myth: that we can command and control our world Human society evolves. Change in technology, language, morality, and society is incremental, inexorable, gradual, and spontaneous. It follows a narrative, going from one stage to the next, and it largely happens by trial and error—a version of natural selection. Much of the human world is the result of human action but not of human design: it emerges from the interactions of millions, not from the plans of a few. Drawing on fascinating evidence from science, economics, history, politics, and philosophy, Matt Ridley demolishes conventional assumptions that the great events and trends of our day are dictated by those on high. On the contrary, our most important achievements develop from the bottom up. The Industrial Revolution, cell phones, the rise of Asia, and the Internet were never planned; they happened. Languages emerged and evolved by a form of natural selection, as did common law. Torture, racism, slavery, and pedophilia—all once widely regarded as acceptable—are now seen as immoral despite the decline of religion in recent decades. In this wide-ranging, erudite book, Ridley brilliantly makes the case for evolution, rather than design, as the force that has shaped much of our culture, our technology, our minds, and that even now is shaping our future.

New World New Mind

New World New Mind PDF Author: Robert Ornstein
Publisher: Malor Books
ISBN: 9781949358957
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
Robert Ornstein and Paul Ehrlich explain that we are causing our own problems because we have created a world where our basic mental functions are no longer suitable. We evolved over a period of millions of years to survive in small tribal families on the wild grassy plains of East Africa. Now the way we live has nothing to do with that time and place, but the mental tools that were developed to survive on the savanna have remained unchanged. These instincts were wonderfully adapted to the environment that shaped them. But that world, the world that made us, is gone. Now these same instincts are causing us to destroy the world that we made. The threats we face are of our own making, and we can unmake them. If people learn how we have come to this point, we can restore our hope for the future. NWNM describes the way our minds have evolved, and offers suggestions for how to cope with who we are in the world we live in now. Recent decades have seen remarkable progress in many areas. For example, while not overlooking the abject suffering of millions of people, it is nonetheless true that there has been unprecedented alleviation of poverty and disease for the world's poorest people. There are so many promising and astonishing advances in medicine, technology, and the social and physical sciences that if we give ourselves a chance to survive, our species could enter a golden age.

A Story of Us

A Story of Us PDF Author: Lesley Newson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190883227
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
It's time for a story of human evolution that goes beyond describing "ape-men" and talks about what women and children were doing. In a few decades, a torrent of new evidence and ideas about human evolution has allowed scientists to piece together a more detailed understanding of what went on thousands and even millions of years ago. We now know much more about the problems our ancestors faced, the solutions they found, and the trade-offs they made. The drama of their experiences led to the humans we are today: an animal that relies on a complex culture. We are a species that can and does rapidly evolve cultural solutions as we face new problems, but the intricacies of our cultures mean that this often creates new challenges. Our species' unique capacity for culture began to evolve millions of years ago, but it only really took off in the last few hundred thousand years. This capacity allowed our ancestors to survive and raise their difficult children during times of extreme climate chaos. Understanding how this has evolved can help us understand the cultural change and diversity that we experience today. Lesley Newson and Peter Richerson, a husband-and-wife team based at the University of California, Davis, began their careers with training in biology. The two have spent years together and individually researching and collaborating with scholars from a wide range of disciplines to produce a deep history of humankind. In A Story of Us, they present this rich narrative and explain how the evolution of our genes relates to the evolution of our cultures. Newson and Richerson take readers through seven stages of human evolution, beginning seven million years ago with the apes that were the ancestors of humans and today's chimps and bonobos. The story ends in the present day and offers a glimpse into the future.

When the Soul Awakens

When the Soul Awakens PDF Author: Nancy Seifer
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780982004708
Category : Spiritual life
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"A book for contemporary seekers. It illumines the eternal quest for spiritual truth in the context of our time--a time of crisis and paradox. Even as threats to human civilization intensify, a new wave of universal spirituality is quietly breaking upon the shores of our planet"--P [4] of cover

New Consciousness for a New World

New Consciousness for a New World PDF Author: Kingsley L. Dennis
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1594778094
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
A call for a paradigm shift in human thinking in recognition of the interconnectedness of all things--a new mind for a new world • Explains how the instability of our current time is part of a larger cycle of human evolution that will soon turn toward renewal and regeneration • Reveals how to participate in the process of conscious evolution to maintain resilience during these transitional times • Examines new findings in quantum physics and quantum biology on the interconnectivity of all life and how to utilize this for conscious evolution For centuries, indigenous wisdom traditions have talked of an epochal shift on the horizon, of a spiritual renaissance for the earth and her living family. Now the timelines are converging and the potential for an energetic “upgrade” for humanity is here, but first we must survive and evolve through the current period of transition. Explaining that evolution is not a gradual process but more like a “shock to the system”--radical waves of transformation after a period of dormancy--author Kingsley Dennis reveals that we are currently undergoing an evolutionary leap and shows not only how to survive but also thrive in this period of global upheaval and change. Examining the nature of evolutionary cycles, he explains that the instability we are now experiencing--climate change, economic meltdowns, and increasing political polarization--is the convergence of complex systems that have reached a critical state. What we need in order to push through to the coming spiritual renaissance is a paradigm shift in human thinking and perception, a conscious evolution in recognition of the interconnectedness of all things--a new mind for a new world. Examining new findings in quantum physics and quantum biology on the interconnectivity of all life as well as opportunities for us to reawaken our slumbering souls, this book offers a glimpse of the new global society to come, a renewed humanity for the 21st century, and how each of us can best participate during the process of planetary transformation.

The Evolution of a Nation

The Evolution of a Nation PDF Author: Daniel Berkowitz
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691136041
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
The book also examines the effects of early legal systems.

New World Primates

New World Primates PDF Author: Warren G. Kinzey
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
ISBN: 9780202367507
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 460

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Book Description
Enth.: Most papers presented in a symposium on Nov. 19, 1988 at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association in Phoenix, Ariz.

The Adventures of Ibn Battuta

The Adventures of Ibn Battuta PDF Author: Ross E. Dunn
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520243854
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 395

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Book Description
Ross Dunn's classic retelling of the travels of Ibn Battuta, a Muslim of the 14th century.