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Human Origins opens to us the 'big history' shaping the Universe's violent arc through deep geological time. Earth Scientist John S. Compton integrates the latest advances from disciplines as diverse as archaeology, climatology and genetics to weave a rigorously scientific but compelling and accessible narrative stretching from the Big Bang to a planet supporting more than seven billion humans facing an uncertain future.
Human Origins is the work of a writer as much as it is an integrated overview of 'everything' – painstakingly crafted by a scientist. Focusing on the last million years and the origins of our and other hominids' evolutionary responses to fast-changing geological and climatic evironments, John S. Compton's prose displays surefooted elegance as it steps lightly across the complex tapestry of time to leave large, indelible footprints on its readers' minds. Tracing our deep history through the latest, most up-to-date research in many fields of scientific endeavour, Human Origins is an immensely rewarding read for laypeople and an invigorating reference for scholars.
John S. Compton is an associate professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Cape Town (UCT). He received a PhD in Earth Sciences from Harvard University in 1986 and taught marine geology at the University of South Florida until 1996 before moving to UCT. John has published more than 50 papers and, in 2004, authored the popular The Rocks and Mountains of Cape Town, a user-friendly guide to the geology of much of the Cape Floral Region Protected Areas World Heritage Site.
