Wolves Where?

A Dog in the Cave: The Wolves Who Made Us Human by Kay Frydenborg
Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017.
ix, 246 p. : ill. (some col.), maps (some col.) ; 24 cm. 

The details (pages, illus, etc) above are for the print version which we have in our library, though the version I read was the eBook edition through the Axis360 collection that our library provides. Yes, that means I read it on my little cell phone - and it's not a bad experience.

This book offers a lot to think about.  Probably the most interesting thing about A Dog in the Cave, is how it really got me to see how incredibly unique the human-dog relationship is in the history of animals on the planet.  Here the author introduces us to the mutually beneficial relationship between two sentient apex-predators and how that relationship has shaped - though evolution - who we both are.  It's a pretty crazy thing to think about. 

A for instance?  Well, consider that humans and dogs both experience the endorphin pleasure in their brains from gazing at each other.  Or consider that unlike the extremely intelligent wolf, only dogs can solve a guessing game by following the glance cues of humans.  Essentially, Frydenborg is arguing that by entering into a cooperative alliance with humans some 40,000 years ago the original wild proto-dog wolf began evolving traits that made it more suitable to be with humans, AND humans began evolving traits that make us ideal companions to dogs.  Pretty neat stuff.

There's a lot of ground that gets covered in this book and anyone interested in dogs, paleontology, evolution or human-animal relationships will find something to enjoy here.

Evolution Even a Caveman Could Understand

The Rough Guide to Evolution by Mark Pallen
London ; New York : Rough Guides, 2009.
vi, 346 p. : ill., maps ; 20 cm. 

This is a wonderful book - interesting, comprehensive, thoroughly researched, and engaging.  It serves as a great introduction to Charles Darwin, to the principles of evolution, and to the many ways in which Darwin's groundbreaking work has shaped modern intellectual and cultural life.

Frankly, the most refreshing thing about this book is that it demolishes the spurious and intellectually bankrupt tenets of creationism and creationism's reemergence under the guise of "Intelligent Design." Pallen meticulously reviews the veritable ocean of scientific evidence supporting evolution - showing clearly that that those who deny evolution have as much scientific standing as someone who believes the sun circles the earth. The book also does an admirable job of detailing how the majority of religious thinkers and leaders accept the factual nature of evolution and do not see it as a threat to theism. Sadly, the book points out that it is in the United States that anti-evolution ignorance has developed it's deepest roots.

The book succeeds in explaining in clear language the current understandings of evolutionary theory, but the explanations are not always simple or easy to follow.  I found myself having to read and reread sections on cladistics and genetics.

The book is really enjoyable in that it is broken into sections that can be read solely for their content, e.g. Human Origins.  I would recommend this book to any student curious about Darwin, evolution, human origins, and creationism - or to any student researching these topics.