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  • © 2022

Illuminating Human Evolution: 150 Years after Darwin

  • Presents the current and diverse aspects of human evolution

  • Offers diverse views from psychology, linguistics, genomics, paleontology, artistic expression and sexual selection

  • Contributed by renowned experts

Part of the book series: Evolutionary Studies (EVOLUS)

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Table of contents (16 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-viii
  2. Light Would Be Thrown: Human Evolution 150 Years After Darwin

    • Juli Peretó, Jaume Bertranpetit
    Pages 1-16
  3. The Descent of Man: Darwin and Psychology

    • Ester Desfilis
    Pages 65-79
  4. Human Evolution: The Linguistic Evidence

    • Joana Rosselló, Liliana Tolchinsky, Carme Junyent
    Pages 81-91
  5. Human Evolution: The Genomic Evidence

    • David Comas, Francesc Calafell
    Pages 107-119
  6. The Adaptations That Made Us Human: Morphology

    • David M. Alba, Sergio Almécija
    Pages 121-136
  7. How Do We Humans Evolve?

    • Eudald Carbonell, Policarp Hortolà
    Pages 151-158
  8. Art as a Human Element

    • Inés Domingo
    Pages 159-174
  9. Sexual Selection: Following Darwin’s Legacy

    • Roberto García-Roa, Pau Carazo
    Pages 175-186
  10. Genetic and Cultural Evolution of Mate Choice

    • Mauro Santos, Susana A. M. Varela
    Pages 187-199
  11. How Past Shapes Future: The Biological Future of Humankind

    • Jaume Bertranpetit, Juli Peretó
    Pages 201-217

About this book

This book presents a series of perspectives showing the current knowledge about human evolution. On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Darwin's book, The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, in which he explicitly addresses the natural origin of the human species, this collective work reviews current and diverse aspects of human evolution: from psychology, linguistics, genomics, paleontology, artistic expression or sexual selection. It also offers a historical, social and ideological context of what is often considered to be Darwin's second great work after The Origin of Species.

Although current research is concentrated largely on fossils and genomes, this book also deals with the main points Darwin centered his attention on; comparative morphology and psychology, and sexual selection. It also covers other new aspects, such as the origin of art, social structure and social learning. 

With contributions from leading experts in their respective fields, the book guides readers to the study of the social context of Darwin and his time, and the state of the art of studies on human evolution and sexual selection, considering all aspects that Darwin examined, including those that emerged later and now are important disciplines in our understanding of our own evolution.

The English translation of parts of this book from its Spanish original manuscript was done with the help of artificial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL.com). A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content.

Keywords

  • Charles Darwin
  • The Origin of Man
  • Darwinism
  • Human evolution
  • Evolutionary Psychology
  • Sexual selection
  • Eurasia
  • Genomes
  • Prehistoric art

Editors and Affiliations

  • MELIS-Universitat Pompeu Fabra, IBE, Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (UPF-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain

    Jaume Bertranpetit

  • Institut de Biologia Integrativa de Sistemes I2SysBio, Universitat de València-CSIC, Paterna, Spain

    Juli Peretó

About the editors

Jaume Bertranpetit 


Professor of Evolutionary Biology, Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), Barcelona  


Founder Member of the Institut of Evolutionary Biology (UPF-CSIC)

Juli Peretó 


Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of València 


Member of Biotechnology and Synthetic Biology research group, I2SysBio (UVEG-CSIC) 


Founder co-director I2SysBio (2016-2020) 



Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Illuminating Human Evolution: 150 Years after Darwin

  • Editors: Jaume Bertranpetit, Juli Peretó

  • Series Title: Evolutionary Studies

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3246-5

  • Publisher: Springer Singapore

  • eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life Sciences, Biomedical and Life Sciences (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-981-19-3245-8Published: 07 October 2022

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-981-19-3248-9Published: 08 October 2023

  • eBook ISBN: 978-981-19-3246-5Published: 06 October 2022

  • Series ISSN: 2509-484X

  • Series E-ISSN: 2509-4858

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: VIII, 217

  • Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Evolutionary Biology, Anthropology, Evolutionary Biology, Anthropology

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access