Who Ate the First Oyster?
The Extraordinary People Behind the Greatest Firsts in History
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Who wore the first pants?
Who painted the first masterpiece?
Who first rode the horse?
This madcap adventure across ancient history uses everything from modern genetics to archaeology to uncover the geniuses behind these and other world-changing innovations.
In this book, writer Cody Cassidy digs deep into the latest research to uncover the untold stories of some of these incredible innovators (or participants in lucky accidents). With a sharp sense of humor and boundless enthusiasm for the wonders of our ancient ancestors, Who Ate the First Oyster? profiles the perpetrators of the greatest firsts and catastrophes of prehistory, using the lives of individuals to provide a glimpse into ancient cultures to show how and why these critical developments occurred, and educate us on a period of time that until recently we've known almost nothing about.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Science writer Cassidy (And Then You're Dead) profiles prehistoric milestones and the individuals responsible for them in this illuminating and entertaining survey. Interviewing experts across a variety of fields, Cassidy details plausible scenarios for the first bow and arrow, the discovery of the Americas, the first beer, the first case of smallpox, and the first joke, among other turning points, and sketches the anonymous originators' probable backgrounds and the causes and effects of their contribution to human history. The ancient hominin mother who invented the baby sling three million years ago, Cassidy writes, "removed the evolutionary governor" on human intelligence by allowing helpless infants more time to develop synapses in their brains. The rise of agriculture in Neolithic Europe led to income inequality and specialization, which in turn granted the first surgeon (Cassidy names him "Dr. Zero") the authority to cut into a man's skull to relieve pressure from a head injury. The Polynesian who first set foot on Hawaii 1,500 years ago sailed an 80-foot "double-hulled catamaran" and had the equivalent of a PhD in astronomy. Cassidy humanizes prehistory with wit and a firm grasp of the science behind these anthropological case studies. Enthralled readers will develop a new appreciation for the ancient past.
