First Steps: How Upright Walking Made Us Human

4.6 | 358 ratings

Price: 22.04

Last update: 05-15-2024

About this item

Blending history, science, and culture, a stunning and highly engaging evolutionary story exploring how walking on two legs allowed humans to become the planet’s dominant species.

Humans are the only mammals to walk on two, rather than four legs - a locomotion known as bipedalism. We strive to be upstanding citizens, honor those who stand tall and proud, and take a stand against injustices. We follow in each other’s footsteps and celebrate a child’s beginning to walk. But why, and how, exactly, did we take our first steps? And at what cost? Bipedalism has its drawbacks: Giving birth is more difficult and dangerous; our running speed is much slower than other animals; and we suffer a variety of ailments, from hernias to sinus problems.

In First Steps, paleoanthropologist Jeremy DeSilva explores how unusual and extraordinary this seemingly ordinary ability is. A seven-million-year journey to the very origins of the human lineage, First Steps shows how upright walking was a gateway to many of the other attributes that make us human - from our technological abilities, our thirst for exploration, our use of language - and may have laid the foundation for our species’ traits of compassion, empathy, and altruism. Moving from developmental psychology labs to ancient fossil sites throughout Africa and Eurasia, DeSilva brings to life our adventure walking on two legs.

Delving deeply into the story of our past and the new discoveries rewriting our understanding of human evolution, First Steps examines how walking upright helped us rise above all over species on this planet.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

David H. Watkins

Fascinating overview of how we came to be bipedal

Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2024

This is an interesting and well-written history of how we came to be the only ape who walks on two legs. The book also suggests that our bipedalism may have accounted for our ultimate dominance as a species. It is difficult to imagine that humans could have achieved our superiority without first freeing up our arms and hands for uses other than traveling from one place to another. This is an extremely accessible and understandable book for the non-scientist. I highly recommend it!

amachinist

"Walk like a man": The Evolution, Pluses and Minuses of Bipedalism

Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2021

The author of this outstanding book is a paleoanthropologist who teaches at Dartmouth College. He is a specialist in the bones of hominids, especially feet. The reader accompanies the author to caves, dry lake beds and dormant lava fields to hunt for fossils. There is a review of the major human fossil finds beginning in1891 in Indonesia to the most recent discoveries. The majority of these archaeological sites are in Africa, but hominid fossil remains are found throughout Europe and Asia. Indeed, our ancestors migrated far and wide on two feet.

Though bipedal hominids gave up speed and an arboreal life, the author emphasizes they gained abilities too. Some of these included the ability to gather food with both hands, to forage while holding a child, to carry tools (or weapons) while walking, and the ability to scan the grassland horizon in all directions to detect and evade predators. Gathering more and a greater variety of foods, led to better health and a bigger brain. Though a bigger brain expanded cognitive skills like controlling fire and the development of speech, it made childbirth more difficult and at times deadly for mother and child.

The author suggests that modern man walks far less than his ancestors and with that, has lost bone density. Between the shoes humans choose to wear (i.e.high heels) and some of the activities humans partake in like sports, bipedalism can put humans at a disadvantage for torn ACL's, sprains, tendinitis and arthritis. DeSilva suggests that "evolution does not create perfection." Modern humans continue both to fine tune and to abuse ambulation on two feet.

Finally, the author makes a strong case that bipedalism promoted a sense of cooperation, trust and generosity. Certainly, there is both modern and fossil evidence of human savagery. But based on observations of preserved hominid footprints, in a lava bed, there is also evidence of group activities and even assistance to others "limping along" with more able bodied peers. It is believed the group activity of midwifery probably predated bipedalism. Perhaps it is man's ability to "walk in another's shoes" that helped the survival of the bipedal hominid. The author's empathy is palpable as he writes, "I love fossils. I travel far to see them ...for the first few minutes of every visit with a new fossil ...I just sit, alone, with the remains of my ancestors. I appreciate the color, texture, and curve of every piece. I wonder not only about the species but also about the individual whose death and preservation allows us to understand our own place in the story of life. I let myself be moved." And so too will any and all readers of this wonderful work.

Lane P Johnson

A lovely amble through the field of walking on two legs.

Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2021

Meticulously researched, but delightfully written, I felt I was walking and talking with a good friend. Might be a bit detailed for some, but I never felt I was being talked down to, or patronized. A book of enormous breadth, and just enough depth.

G. Black

The Pathway to Bidpedalism

Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2022

On page 236 is the following quote: "Even the best adapted survivors, including humans, are junkyards of preexisting forms, modified by the hands of natural selection and rich the echoes of the past." Love that statement which reflects the intent and style of the author.

The text begins with the divergence of the line of monkeys and apes and then the divergence of apes from the ancestral line producing the various members of the homo genius. At times, as many as 5 members of the homo lineage were sharing and competing for the resources that the landscape provided. We visit numerous individuals and localities to receive input from the experts in the fields of related studies. Conflicting interpretations are presented and strengths of each are given in detail. The positive and negative aspects of science are depicted by various experts.

The final 6 of 15 chapters looks specifically at how our "junkyard" of anatomical compromises reflects improving adaptations to aid in bipedalism but with limitations. Issues with thinning musculature on the abdominal wall, curvatures of the spine, weaknesses of the ankles and imperfections of the knees have led to a myriad of physical issues which plague us today. The wounds of our evolutionary past is perhaps the most enlightening part of the book.

I highly recommend this if you are a fan of Stephen Jay Gould's essays, Johanson and Edey's Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind and Lone Survivors by Stringer or other similar sources. If you aren't familiar with any of these then, I believe, you will find DeSilva's First Steps even more enriching. The book is copyrighted in 2021 so it provides the most current areas of research.

Anjelica

A must-read for budding anthropologists and people interested in humankind

Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2024

fantastic book; came perfectly wrapped with no damage.

Gregory J. Auger

Why We walk....

Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2021

By now, most every knows that walking is good for you. It's exercise, sure. But it's many other things as well. All beneficial. Not only is this book authored by a well-known scientist in this field -- but it's also fun. If you're wondering whether this book is readable by a lay person, and whether a lay person will find it both interesting and understandable, consider a few of the chapter titles: "Migration to Middle Earth," "Why Walking Helps Us Thank." If that weren't enough, the author begins the book by letting us know that at no time throughout his childhood did he ever dream of becoming a paleontologist. He had, however, considered being a point guard for the Celtics and/or a center fielder for the Red Sox. So he's not one of those born-again dinosaur guys. He just found out later in life that he liked the work. For anyone who has ever dreamed of walking the Applachian Trail or of even just walking through a new neighborhood, this is the book for you.

MGO

Great read about our origins

Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2021

In a very conversational form the author tours us on his area of expertise with passion and understanding.
Worth read. A bit technical in some moments.

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