The Natural history of man is a pattern woven in time and space by the shaping processes of evolution. Thus, J.S. Weiner examines the evolving populations of man and his precursors in the setting of the total environment, and explains how the interaction between the biological needs of the organism and the stresses of the physical and organic environment produce the struggle for adaptation and survival. Professor Weiner traces man through various epochs--beginning with the arboreal and forest covered environment of his ancestors through his various processes of adaptation in less restricted environments. In addition, he discusses the factors that determine the genetic structure of human populations and that cause geographical diversity in human genetic systems. He refutes the notion of racial characteristics and so, indirectly, the notion of racial superiority.
Editorial Review(s)
For those who seeks a broad view of the biological history of man, and a general understanding for the form and causes of human diversity, there is no better book...more than anyone else [J.S. Weiner] is responsible for the transformation of physical anthropology from a dry and dusty academic byway...to its present focal position in the human sciences, with relevance to almost every aspect of human existence, and engaged with some of the most exciting scientific problems of today." --Nature
About the Author
Joseph Sidney Weiner (1915–1982) was a South African-born British human biologist and environmental physiologist. He was influentialand among other things helped expose the Piltdown hoax. He was President of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 1963-64, and Huxley Memorial Medallist in 1978.
