The third and last of the books by this author in my collection. Before reading it, I had a look at the debunking site discovered on the internet which pours cold water on the aquatic ape theory, as it is known, which originated with a scientist called Alistair Hardy, mentioned in this volume. The site is able to debunk the AAT, as it refers to it, but not always so successful in providing alternative more convincing explanations.

The book shows no sign of the quirky style of the author's first and most famous ('The Descent of Woman') but instead is written in a very 'straight', bordering on academic style, perhaps chosen because she wanted to be taken seriously. The author develops some information from a previous work, regarding isolation of a particular area of Africa cut off by water ingress for millions of years which would have led to adaptations by species trapped there. This, she argues, led to various humanoid characteristics developing which led eventually to our own species which inherited them.

The author had abandoned her speculations about large brains and an aquatic origin by the time she wrote this, probably because evidence from the 'Lucy' skeleton revealed that bipedalism (walking on two legs) predated the development of a large brain or tool use by millions of years. But her speculations about loss of hair, development of particular types of fat deposit, retention of child features (neoteny) and other factors pertaining to humans and humanoid ancestors are interesting. As she says, attributing these to a move to the savannah doesn't convince when primates such as baboons did not develop them. So I remain open minded about this book until more compelling evidence is presented from the other viewpoint. Hence a middle of the road 3 star rating. ( )

Brilliant and bloody interesting. Nicely written, lots of science and differentiation between what is fact, speculation and just accepted conjecture. ( )

If I were to judge this book solely on the writing and the interesting substance, it would get many more stars. Alas, I cannot do that, for this is a non-fiction book and must also be judged on its merits as non-fiction. The author, not a scientist, proposes a hypothesis that sounds fascinating and believable from the evidence she presents. Unfortunately, much of her evidence is simply not factual. The author misrepresents, miscontextualizes, and in some places just plain makes up facts to fit her preferred thesis, known in the scientific world as the Aquatic Ape Hypothesis. She accuses other scientists of ignoring her important new approach, which can be, but is not always, a mark of pseudoscience. In this case, the anthropologists and evolutionists both agree that she is simply wrong. Read it for curiosity, because I think it's fascinating - and important - to know about the ways in which people get science wrong. But keep your mind open to the fact that scientists may actually know the science, and fact check the book thoroughly. Don't be so open minded your brains fall out. ( )

Morgan argues, among other things, that the vagina (and the monthly menstural cycle) are designed to prevent sperm from reaching the egg. Sperm, in her view, are foreign invaders, and only the strongest get in. ( )