Shaping Humanity How Science Art and Imagination Help Us Understand Our Origins

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Dec 17, 2013 Regina rated it it was amazing

I won this book and was not sure what to expect. Information technology turned out to be a very interesting and informative book. The pictures are excellent and help to explicate the process used to recreate the "shaping of humanity". I am quite surprised equally to the work, detail, knowledge and devotion needed to accomplish these feats. I recommend this book to anyone who is fifty-fifty remotely curious about humanity! I won this book and was not sure what to expect. It turned out to be a very interesting and informative volume. The pictures are fantabulous and help to explain the process used to recreate the "shaping of humanity". I am quite surprised every bit to the work, detail, knowledge and devotion needed to accomplish these feats. I recommend this book to anyone who is even remotely curious about humanity! ...more

Feb 06, 2014 Lisa rated it it was amazing

I thoroughly loved this book. Such a talented sculptor, anatomist, author, and man existence. I received this book through the Good Reads Firstreads program, and could not exist happier about it.

This is a volume well-nigh the cosmos of sculptures on man origins done for the Smithsonian Found in Washington, D.C. by John Gurche. It's an interesting alloy of science and art. I would have benefited greatly by timelines and comparing skeletons. Each sculpture is explained separately and while is information technology evident that the author is well-informed and comfortable with the various species and their place in the timeline of home sapiens origins, I am not. I would have liked to take all the species a This is a volume about the creation of sculptures on human origins done for the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. by John Gurche. Information technology's an interesting blend of science and art. I would accept benefited greatly past timelines and comparison skeletons. Each sculpture is explained separately and while is it evident that the author is well-informed and comfortable with the diverse species and their place in the timeline of habitation sapiens origins, I am not. I would have liked to have all the species and their dates explicitly stated in the "Interlude" chapter that discussed several early Homo species. These species are non depicted in the Hall of Humans and their dates of existence are not stated.
There are several references to within knowledge about each sculpture. I don't know the artist, nor am I ever probable to meet him. I think he's expecting a lot to remember I'll be able to see his within jokes about each sculpture, especially since I'm reading a book, non seeing the actual sculptures. These are things to which he alludes, merely does not specified.
I found the author'southward description of each species variations from each other thorough. Things like when the sclera of our eyes turned white, why a projecting nose is adaptive, the trade-off in caloric requirements and basal metabolism. All these things were quite fascinating. Less fascinating to me was the nuts and bolts of creating the sculpture and body measurements. All-in-all I thought information technology was an interesting book and I liked it. The sculptures look marvelous and I hope to run across them one day. ...more

May 09, 2019 Kathleen rated it it was astonishing

Long agone, I read Golding's The Inheritors and my imagination was sparked. Later, my teen girl became fascinated past early on hominids, to the extent of acquiring four different skull replicas and maintaining a correspondence with a university professor most them. I began to share her fascination. (Practise get interested in your kids' interests, parents. It can enrich your life.) Now I find this book on her new volume pile and I start learning all about the newly discovered species, reclassifications, Long ago, I read Golding's The Inheritors and my imagination was sparked. Afterwards, my teen daughter became fascinated by early hominids, to the extent of acquiring four different skull replicas and maintaining a correspondence with a university professor about them. I began to share her fascination. (Do become interested in your kids' interests, parents. It can enrich your life.) Now I detect this book on her new book pile and I start learning all well-nigh the newly discovered species, reclassifications, methods of study, and reconstructions. Fascinating once more. She got this volume at the Smithsonian exhibit, only I, who will never see that, am equally enthusiastic about the volume. Drawn by its quality illustrations, and held by its quality of writing and information. ...more than

Jan 26, 2017 Melissa Embry rated it information technology was amazing

I'm with Alice (the girl of Wonderland fame) who wondered what the use was of books without pictures. Or conversations. And paleoartist John Gurche provides plenty of both in his magnificent coffee tabular array-sized book of anthropological art, Shaping Humanity: How Scientific discipline, Fine art, and Imagination Help United states Understand Our Origins.

Gurche'southward sculptures and paintings of humankind's ancestral species (hominins) are on view in the Smithsonian Institution's Hall of Man Origins, also as the pages of Nationa

I'thousand with Alice (the daughter of Wonderland fame) who wondered what the use was of books without pictures. Or conversations. And paleoartist John Gurche provides plenty of both in his magnificent coffee table-sized volume of anthropological art, Shaping Humanity: How Science, Fine art, and Imagination Help U.s. Empathise Our Origins.

Gurche'south sculptures and paintings of humankind's ancestral species (hominins) are on view in the Smithsonian Institution's Hall of Human Origins, as well as the pages of National Geographic and other publications and television receiver specials. In Shaping Humanity, he walks readers through his process in creating the sculptures for the Smithsonian, starting with skull and skeleton casts through the making of their eyeballs.

Yeah, he makes his own eyeballs, explaining "I used to purchase artificial eyes, and when I would sometimes enquire for a size outside the range common in living humans the response on the other terminate of the phone would first be silence, and then, in a somewhat suspicious tone, the question 'Who is this centre for'?

"The eyes, more than any other area, must carry the illusion of life, or the sculpture will exist dead, a silicone and acrylic anatomical model with no life or magic," he writes. "There must be a sentience in the eyes, a feeling that in that location is someone in there."

And although casting the acrylic optics is a time-consuming project, total of room for mistakes, the results are worth the endeavour. Any defective eyes, he notes, make great Halloween decorations!

A regular at fossil excavations, with extensive dissection experience, Gurche uses the most current scientific available for his reproductions. But scientific discipline tin only go so far, leaving the creative person to brand judgments about details such equally skin colour, pilus covering, even ear lobe placement, for which no fossil information is bachelor.

And then, of course, there are toes, those modest bones that are apt to go lost over the millennia that passed betwixt the death of the hominin and the time its remains are discovered by modern humans.

Exactly what did the toes of Human being erectus, for example, the first hominin species known to accept left the bequeathed African homeland, await like? Following the scientific literature, Gurche made a best guess during the creation of his bronze statue of a female Homo erectus for the Smithsonian.

Lacking direct bear witness, he used examples from what was believed to exist a related species to construct feet with the big toes slightly shorter than the residual, only to have new research upset that model. The statue'due south toes got chiseled to make way for a thoroughly modern-looking pes for a more than than i meg-yr-onetime woman.

Gurche leads readers through both science and fine art in his reconstruction of nearly a dozen man ancestral and related species. And although the language of Shaping Humanity is amid the most accessible I have found in books on human evolution aimed at lay readers, he includes a helpful glossary, as well as extensive bibliography for those interested in further research. In all, information technology'south a book both gorgeous and thought-provoking.

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Mar 07, 2014 Maxine rated it it was amazing

I have always been fascinated past the evolution of man. I read anything I come beyond almost Lucy, the tiny Australopithecus afarensis woman, idea to be about 3 1000000 years old. Of course, she is only ane, although probably the best known, of the many discoveries of early hominids both earlier and since her discovery back in the 1970s, some even older than Lucy. Simply most of these discoveries have consisted of a few bones, maybe some teeth. A complete skeleton has been a rarity so how exercise we kno I take always been fascinated past the evolution of human. I read annihilation I come across about Lucy, the tiny Australopithecus afarensis woman, thought to be nearly 3 million years old. Of course, she is only i, although probably the best known, of the many discoveries of early hominids both before and since her discovery back in the 1970s, some even older than Lucy. But most of these discoveries have consisted of a few bones, maybe some teeth. A complete skeleton has been a rarity then how do we know what these early hominids looked like? What differentiated them from other apes or from each other? What made them start venture out of the tree tops and what happened over the millions of years to make them, well, u.s.a.?

In his volume, Shaping Humanity, paleoartist John Gurche answers these and other questions for the states in hands accessible linguistic communication and with dozens of multi-coloured illustrations. He explains how he is able to reconstruct early hominids from these $.25 of basic using his forensic noesis, his understanding of anatomy and not a small amount of imagination. This book is beautifully illustrated with examples of his work, ofttimes from beginning to cease showing the painstaking work required to accurately reproduce these long extinct faces and physiques from tiny shards too as with easily understandable explanations of how he works his magic. But his sculptures are non just just portraits of our early ancestors; he takes into business relationship the geography in which they are establish and any tools, bones, shells, etc. plant on or nearly these shards to give united states of america a glimpse at what their lives may have been like.

I won't say this is an easy read but it is certainly an interesting 1. I give it a high recommendation for anyone interested in human being's long journey from our commencement tentative steps out of the jungle, peculiarly for those like me, with the involvement but without the scientific groundwork, to follow in their footsteps.

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Dec 04, 2015 Gary Dargan rated information technology it was astonishing

I take put it bated for the moment while I catch upwardly with other piece of work.

I am however working through it. John Gurche is a palaeoartist and describes the techniques he used to create anatomically correct reconstructions of fossil hominids in the Hall of Human being Origins in the Smithsonian. Each chapter covers a different species. The prologue includes a vignette "humanising" the remains of a long deceased human and his kin and establishes our connection with this individual and his now extinct kin from ou

I have put information technology aside for the moment while I catch up with other work.

I am still working through information technology. John Gurche is a palaeoartist and describes the techniques he used to create anatomically right reconstructions of fossil hominids in the Hall of Man Origins in the Smithsonian. Each chapter covers a different species. The prologue includes a vignette "humanising" the remains of a long deceased human and his kin and establishes our connection with this individual and his at present extinct kin from our homo past.

This richly illustrated volume is more than dry science. While it depicts the process of the reconstructions and outlines the science supporting them information technology besides tries to connect to them every bit living beings by discussing seemingly mundane bug such as the size, shape and placement of an ear. The dedication to accurateness is shown by describing the labour intensive process of making and giving the individual its eyes. The artist describing his feeling of another intelligence looking back at him when these are installed emphasises our human connection to these extinct ancestors.

For anyone seeking an answer to the merits that the study of human evolution reduces humanity to mere bones and flesh and dehumanises man, I highly recommend this book.

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