WALKING THE EARTH

Written strictly in sweeping generalities, and illustrated with over-manipulated photos and prints that give way to eye-glazing charts toward the end, this survey of our species’ spread from Africa to every continent is more likely to extinguish reader interest than kindle it. Opening with vague allusions to the combination of physical and behavioral traits that makes us human, the author describes in dry prose how our ancestors prospered thanks to the successive harnessing of fire, food, plants and animals, commerce and finally fossil fuels. She then goes on to speculate about future population trends, and closes with a weakly justified claim that we have all become migrants. There are some factual errors, such as the assertion that language and art were invented at about the same time, but more significantly, in her effort to maintain a worldwide perspective, the author seldom tucks in the sort of specific discovery or fact that might have brought her topic to life. Strictly assignment fodder. (resource lists) (Nonfiction. 11-13)