The World Before Us
How Science Is Revealing a New Story of Our Human Origins
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The World Before Us
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Narrated by:
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John Sackville
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By:
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Tom Higham
About this listen
Brought to you by Penguin.
Fifty thousand years ago, we were not the only species of human in the world. There were at least four others, including the Neanderthals, Homo floresiensis, Homo luzonesis and the Denisovans. At the forefront of the latter's ground-breaking discovery was Oxford Professor Tom Higham. In The World Before Us, he explains the scientific and technological advancements - in radiocarbon dating and ancient DNA, for example - that allowed each of these discoveries to be made, enabling us to be more accurate in our predictions about not just how long ago these other humans lived, but how they lived, interacted and live on in our genes today. This is the story of us, told for the first time with its full cast of characters.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2021 Tom Higham (P)2021 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about The World Before Us
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 19-05-24
Informative and engaging
Detailed description of the latest scientific discoveries in paleo anthropology. Accompanied by a PDF with figures. Very good narrator.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- McKenna
- 18-05-23
Wonderful
Didn’t want it to finish, may start again from the beginning… Well narrated and totally fascinating
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 05-04-22
Quality stuff
I listened to it again straight away and learned more the second time around 🤓
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 10-06-23
Informative and well narrated
The intriguing story of who we, are and where we came from, continues. With every new advance in technology, we further unravel the mystery of our origins. The inherent chronology and unexpected twists and turns make for an absolutely entertaining and very informative discourse.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Richard hall
- 15-01-23
Highly informative and entertaining. I didn’t want it to end.
I recently read Chris Stringer’s The origin of our species, which is little more than a decade old, so I was expecting a lot of overlap here, however it would appear that the field has come a long way.
The information is presented in a way that is both informative and entertaining and I was sad to finish the audiobook. (I have bought the actual book so that I can re-read).
Higham uses personal anecdotes as well as empirical data to take you on a journey of evolution and extinction over the past couple of million years, but is also humble enough to acknowledge the limitations of his assumptions based on the limited database of evidence.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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- Mr Edwards
- 09-04-23
Told well
A good up to date account of human evolution. Glad to have listened to it.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Mr. J. Acton
- 14-09-24
Excellent
Absolutely amazing. Incredible insight into modern genetics. Fab performance. Really enjoyed this have listened to it five or six times. Just incredible what we can now know.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Karl
- 08-10-22
Fascinating
Interesting book. Really got going in the last few chapters, but the back stories at the start provided evidence for such Interesting conclusions.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Brendan Jackman
- 07-08-23
Fascinating topic well covered.
Great survey of modern understanding of the different species of humans among our ancient ancestors. Fair amount of focus on the techniques used to interpret evidence, and also attention paid to the story of the scientific process leading to where we are now.
Overall if you've ever thought this topic is interesting and wanted to explore a little deeper I'd definitely recommend this book.
I appreciated that the author makes it clear when he is stating a belief that is not established by scientific consensus. This book does not appear to have any agenda besides education (and at times boasting about his part in scientific achievements that he is especially proud of).
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- Arthur Pendragon
- 06-03-24
So much to learn about who we are and how we got here
As a teenager, 50 years ago, I was fascinated by seeing paintings of Cro-Magnon man and assumed Homo sapiens had exterminated Neanderthals.
This book explores how we interbred and migrated. The science is fascinating and clearly explained, though you really need a life science background.
Much is hard facts but the book includes informed speculation.
Well worth a read. I hope there will I am able to read and understand the revised reprint explaining new advances in five or ten years time.
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