Theories on the Evolution of Man.

So, I finished "Clan of the Cave Bear." I really enjoyed the book, although it seemed to have a rather abrupt ending. The strange mind reading thing in the book was a little spooky, but interresting. It also appears that the author is of the school of thought that Neanderthals disappeared due to interbreeding with Homo Sapiens. This would indicate that they were not actually different species since they are capable of having fertile children. My personal uneducated opinion is that the differences between Neandertal and Homo Sapiens were great enough that interbreeding could not have occured. The differences were real physiological traits, including drastically different brains, not superficial variations in unimportant characteristics. The two lines had diverged long enough ago to have developed superior changes in their brains, but in different ways. That type of genetic distance is likely to preclude interbreeding. So, that part of the book was somewhat unexpected to me. However, I don't think it really took anything away from the story, but rather was an essential part of the plot advancement. As I mentioned before, I love to read of other people's speculations on how other "intelligent" species might differ from ourselves. "Clan of the Cave Bear" did not disappoint in this respect.

"Fantasy books have forests on the cover, and science fiction books have metal with rivets"

OK, I have been listening to several tapes. I completed "Ender's Game," by Orson Scott Card, and also the sequel, "Speaker for the Dead." Most of that was during a road trip to Utah and back. I really enjoy this series. I also have enjoyed listening to the author interviews/commentary at the end of the tapes. It is really neat to hear about how books come to be. Orson Card is LDS, and I have enjoyed his unique perspective coming out in his writings. I think it is interesting that he has a lot of Portuguese and Brazilian references in his works. My suspicions were confirmed when I found out that he served a mission in Brazil. Among the references are a colony of Catholic, Portuguese speaking Brazilians populating the planet that is the setting for "Speaker for the Dead" and "Xenocide," which I have yet to read. Also, in the parallel series he wrote following the life of Bean, from "Ender's Game," Bean and a Catholic nun hide out in a Brazilian town for quite a while. His love of the culture really came out in that section of the book. I thought it was neat. Brazil also becomes the capital country in his new world Hegemony in that series. I always enjoy books about other intelligent life forms, and the speculation of how they may have come to be.

The other book I am now making my way through (thanks to Micaela who is kindly copying it from CD to her iPod each night) is Clan of the Cave Bear which I was reading a while back before my CD player broke and I got a job. It is quite enjoyable still. This is another instance where the author has license to speculate about another intelligent species. However, she is somewhat restricted by real scientific theories dealing with early species of man, I think the author does a good job of filling out the threads of theory in an interesting way. Particularly interesting is the issue of different advanced brain styles. In the book, the ancestors of modern man became advanced due to an enhanced cognitive abilities allowing complex abstract thought and problem solving. The Neanderthals achieved their limited reign of superiority through an over developed instinct structure. Memories of earlier ancestor were passed on as permanent pathways in the brain. This meant that there really would be specialized hereditary lines within the species because their parents and grandparents knew certain things that were passed on to there line only. The species are limited, though, by the size of their brains. After a while, there was no more room for new knowledge to be included in the memory banks and innovation was stagnated. Eventually, the newly arrived, but evolutionarily superior Homo Sapiens advanced beyond them and took over. The differing brain style allowed for only the important things to be relearned by each generation, leaving room in the brain to deal with new, unique situations and develop an advanced culture including written records to deal with the issue of passing on knowledge. At any rate, it makes for a good read.

Let me know your thoughts if you have read any of these books. I am eager for some discussion.