Through a little research I learned that today, April 7th, we can celebrate two disparate yet exciting events: No Housework Day and the 125th anniversary of the birth of the anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski. How can the two possibly be combined? Easy! Drop the broom and dustpan and spring clean your brain with anthropology! Here are some recommendations:
Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors by Nicholas Wade — An accessible and interesting overview of recent discoveries about human biological and social evolution.
The Dawn of Human Culture by Richard G. Klein and Blake Edgar — Explains the sudden emergence of modern human consciousness 50,000 years ago.
The First Human by Ann Gibbons — Gibbons follows four international teams of paleoanthropologists competing to find the fossils of our earliest ancestors. Don’t forget, Ann Gibbons will be here to discuss her book on April 19th!
John Hawks Weblog — My favorite anthropology blog. Hawks always has something thoughtful to say about new findings in anthropology.
Lucy’s Legacy: The Quest for Human Origins by Donald C. Johanson and Kate Wong — Reflections on the discovery of Lucy, the famous 3.2 million-year-old human ancestor discovered by Johanson in Africa in 1974.
Enjoy!
–Wes
Eleventh Stack 