Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors: A Search for Who We Are (1993) is a non-fiction book by the late Carl Sagan and his wife, Ann Druyan.
[edit] Cover Blurb
World renowned scientist Carl Sagan and acclaimed author Ann Druyan have written a Roots for the human species, a lucid and riveting account of how humans got to be the way we are. Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors is a thrilling saga that starts with the origin of the Earth. It shows with humor and drama that many of our key traits — self-awareness, technology, family ties, submission to authority, hatred for those a little different from ourselves, reason, and ethics — are rooted in the deep past, and illuminated by our kinship with other animals.
Sagan and Druyan conduct a breathtaking journey through space and time, zeroing in on critical turning points in evolutionary history, and tracing the origins of sex, altruism, violence, rape, and dominance. Their book culminates in a stunningly original examination of the connection between primate and human traits. Astonishing in scope, brilliant in its insights, and an absolutely compelling read, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors is a triumph of popular science.
[edit] Chapters
- Introduction
- Prologue: An Orphan's File
- On Earth as It Is in Heaven
- Snowflakes Fallen on the Hearth
- "What Makest Thou?"
- A Gospel of Dirt
- Life is Just a Three-Letter Word
- Us and Them
- When Fire Was New
- Sex and Death
- What Thin Partitions...
- The Next-to-Last Remedy
- Dominance and Submission
- The Rape of Caenis
- The Ocean of Becoming
- Gangland
- Mortifying Reflections
- Lives of the Apes
- Admonishing the Conqueror
- The Archimedes of the Macaques
- What Is Human?
- The Animal Within
- Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
- Epilogue
- Notes
- Permissions Acknowledgements
- Index
[edit] See also
[edit] References
