Man on Earth

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Human beings are the most adaptable animals in the world. We successfully occupy every corner of the globe, from the tundra to the rain forest, from the high Andes to the blazing Kalahari. Nearly hairless, small of tooth and weak of limb, we human beings have nevertheless made ourselves at home everywhere. The reason, explains John Reader in this provocative study of human ecology, is that humans uniquely possess the most effective adaptive mechanism of all: culture. Moving into all kinds of environments, human beings have devised sets of beliefs, rules, and technologies specifically designed to ensure survival in the face of whatever obstacles the land, the weather, and that particular environment raise. This timely and important book provides heartening evidence of the resourcefulness with which human beings, everywhere and at all times, have responded to the challenges that have faced man on earth.