Them and Us: How Neanderthal Predation Created Modern Humans

For starters, I really can't remember any other book that I've read in recent memory that at first held so much promise, and I initially enjoyed reading so very much, that by the 65% mark had started sounding so totally like a pseudo-scientific broken record. Author Danny Vendramini's fervent assertion that Neanderthals most likely looked quite different from the way they've been portrayed in scientific circles for many years now, is actually what originally attracted me to read Them and Us. So naturally, there was at first quite a big payoff in reading this book - because the first two thirds is mostly pretty compelling stuff.Granted, I'm not an expert, but I'd wager that much of the scientific meat of Them and Us could probably be gleaned from reading a few well chosen Wikipedia articles about evolution and early human and Neanderthal anthropology. But then you'd have to know what to look for, and you wouldn't get Vendramini's two big claims to scientific fame. The first is that he apparently thinks his vaunted "NP (Neanderthal Predation) theory" explains just about everything, and secondly, he posits that, in addition to Darwin's theory of evolution, "a second evolutionary process also exists that regulates the evolution of innate behaviours, instincts and emotions in multicellular animals."First off, NP theory can be summed up pretty much like so: Neanderthals, despite being shorter than their prehistoric hominid counterparts (us), were actually physically more imposing, with a heavy bone structure topped off by an exceptionally large skull. However, even though they were great with a spear, they definitely weren't like US. No way, Jose! Nope! Never! Neanderthals weren't the mostly hairless, animal skin wearing cousins of early humans that they've long been depicted to have been, but rather, they were a vicious apex predator that swept down from their Ice Age European and Eurasian homelands to terrorize the Skhul and Qafzeh hominids (our ancestors) who inhabited the Levant. In other words, they were hairy, scary, sexually voracious upright walking primates who hunted, raped, killed and just generally predated early humans to almost total extinction.Okay. Easy. Got it. So, according to Vendramini's NP theory, WE were the hunted. IN THE BEGINNING, we humans were so docile and herbivorous that we were unable to defend ourselves from the brutish, carnivorous Neanderthals (who even often ATE us), and our population experienced a "bottleneck," or rather, a near extinction. Therefore, at one point, the evidence strongly suggests, there were as few as 50 to 100 homo sapiens left alive, and the only way that we managed to survive was to jump start our evolution and become hyper intelligent, hyper vigilant, hyper aggressive and truly vengeful early modern humans (Cro-magnons) that spread out across the globe and killed everything and anything in their path that looked or behaved even remotely like those pesky, predatory Neanderthals who'd nearly wiped us all out!Okay. Up to that point, I was totally with the author. Good stuff. Made complete and total sense to me. The problem is that the last 1/3 of the book started to go dramatically downhill for me. NP theory, the author continually asserts, is such a revolutionary new idea that it pretty much explains... well... JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING ABOUT MODERN HUMAN BEHAVIOR! And I mean EVERY BLESSED THING! Well, not quite everything, but, Verdramini argues, this near extinction event that turned our forebears against their hominid brethren explains why, even after we'd managed to finally exterminate the Neanderthals, we just couldn't call it quits in the killing urge department. Yes, after we'd not only narrowly managed to survive the predation period AND turned the tables on the species that nearly took us all out, we used our newly acquired homicidal urges against one another. And we've been wiping those "others" that we always label "them" out in droves ever since.Sounds like quite a book, right? And it is! Mostly.You see, where the author really lost me was when he sorta, kinda, maybe hinted with his numerous examples of bad modern human behaviors, that this NP theory thing is supposedly why there are now Republicans and Democrats. Well, he doesn't mention them exactly, but he does strongly suggest that NP theory is why there are now those righteous ones on the left, and there are those nasty ones on the right. Me? I'm not political and do not enjoy parties, so don't get any funny or adversarial "Them and Us" ideas, buster! You see, I tend to stay the hell away from the polarized fringe thinkers on either side of the political divide (because, call me highly evolved, but I don't really like thinking in "Them and Us" terms most of the time), but the author sure does seem to know a thing or two about the subject. Lots and lots, actually.Okay. Fine. Basically, for the most part (well, the first 2/3 anyway), Them and Us is a very engrossing, well written, thoroughly researched and well crafted work of modern, more or less scientific thought. The last third gets rather bogged down however, as the author attempts to reinforce his NP theory and ideas about "teemosis" with all sorts of additional examples of how pretty much all forms of human behavior can be traced directly back to the supposition that Them (Neanderthals) originally preyed on Us and forced us to very suddenly evolve into homicidal, predatory maniacs who eventually took over the world.And what's wrong with all that Neanderthal induced human violence, right? Well, of course that's all bad. Very, very, very bad. So near the end of the book, the author cites former US president George W. Bush (not once but TWICE), Roman Catholics (at least twice) and US involvement in the Vietnam war (more than once, even though Australia, where Vendramini resides AND also South Korea were right there with US - something you can also find out on Wikipedia, by the way) and a slew of other events and people he considers negative in the history of mankind, to bolster his fancy NP theory that... well... the devil (those hairy scary Neanderthals) may have originally made us do it, but them (us Americans) really need to learn how to just tame down, like the English and German troops did for that famous Christmas Truce on Christmas Eve in 1914. Well, that is, before they resumed killing each other en masse for several years after that. But hey! He among us who is without sin, right?Okay. Fine. Basically, for the first 2/3 of this book, I was thinking five stars, but then Mr. Vendramini sort of came off as rather preachy. Okay. Fine. It's all about Them and Us, right? There are the American English speakers and there are the Commonwealth English speakers. Sort of... US and them. Or them and US. Or something like that. I suppose it depends on where you were born and on just how much you want to paint the United States (or ANY other group of 99.9% genetically similar modern humans) as the bad guy and ignore any and all wrongdoings in British history (even though the United States is obviously an English speaking country that rose to prominence at exactly the same time that the British Empire was waning, and is clearly an extension of globalized British-American civilization). But look at old dopey me! When I shelled out my money for Them and Us, I thought it was a book about Neanderthals, not a pseudo-political sermon. I could handle the sermon, I suppose, but then Vendramini spends much of the last chapter comparing himself to Charles Darwin. And that takes some serious ego there, buddy.To summarize, there's a lot of interesting content in this book. It's a very fascinating read in many ways, but in other ways it's an over-hyped, ego driven new spin on a lot of scientific data that's already been put forth. That's why Vendramini can put nearly 800 references in his book, you see. The only thing really revolutionary about what he's saying that I can see, is that he thinks that Neanderthals were hair covered and more ape-like than they've been depicted by the scientific community for quite some time now. Cool! I'm down with that! Oh, and also, of course, he's pushing his very possibly, quite astute ideas about "teemosis," or roughly speaking, how predation induced stresses can be passed down to offspring who, despite never encountering the deadly animals that terrorized their ancestors end up having the instinctive fear of those predators literally bred into them. So, the teemosis process is micro-evolutionary, as opposed to macro-evolutionary, in nature. So... if the US is currently an aggressive country (that has troops in many of the places that the British either still do or formerly did have), maybe it's because of the way our ancestors were treated by... them. Hmm.Nah! See... I like the British. Despite being an American, I actually have Scottish, Irish and Welsh ancestry (and German - those OTHER Vikings who stayed on the other side of the Channel), so sorry, no "Them and Us" mentality for me, brothers and sisters from across the seas! Peace out to you, one and all.Lastly, a BIGFOOT SIZED word of warning to anyone who might be interested in buying this book because they heard about it on Bigfoot Hotspot Radio (www.blogtalkradio.com/bigfoothotspot). Vendramini does not appear to believe in Sasquatch, Yeti or any of those other bipedal hominds that are still sighted by all sorts of people in various places around the world to this very day. In fact, here's exactly what he has to say about it: "But, while it is amusing to hear that Mesopotamians 4000 years ago believed in a legendary crocodile-like dragon with wings, claws and fiery breath called an Enuma Elish, it is somewhat more disconcerting to realise that up to 3 million Americans believe they have had a personal encounter with an alien. And, despite scientific investigations that have produced not one actual yeti (sic), Sasquatch or abominable snowman, millions of people around the world still firmly believe in their existence."Schucks! Us Americans is so gullible! Believin' in aliens and all them extant hominids that obviously ain't out there anyways. Thank you, Mr. Vendramini, for enlightening all us poor dumb people. I is ever so grateful that you decided to write your enlightening book. Ta da! Cue the god beams piercing down from the clouds. And then there was light! Vendramini light, that is. All hail the book of Vendramini.

While this not a book about Sasquatch, YES they are real, but rather a book about human evolution in a specific area of the world, in the new research uncovered by the author, Neanderthals we're not just our big dumb cousin, but an Uber-predator very much inline with modern Sasquatch witness testimony. Imagine being stalked by an upright-walking gorilla on steroids with the intelligence to craft weapons & utilize fire FOR 50,000+ YEARS! In a small area(relatively) from what is now modern-day Greece ovdr to Lebanon and around to Libya, a vulnerable population of early proto-humans, according to the author, actually evolved life-saving genetic features in a very short time, in as little as 10 generations; like less body hair, to more easily distinguish friend-from-foe from a safer distance. Female ovulation became an internal cycle, hidden under increased pubic hair, the opposite of other primates, whose genitals become red & engorged, plain to see by all, including the predatorial Neanderthal! There are stories of Sasquatch abducting human females going back into time immemorial in virtually EVERY aboriginal tribe, world-wide, earning them the nickname "woman stealers". The correlations between new Neanderthal research results and Sasquatch research literally goes on and on...I don't know if the author realized that his work on human evolution would extrapolate SO WELL to the study of these REAL hominids that are found virtually EVERYWHERE. They are NOT just a Northern California, Pacific Northwest, Canada phenomenon! East Texas, for example, is home to a particularly aggressive species. Florida has its "skunk ape". In many areas of the South they call them "boogers", as in 'the boogey man'. Big motion sensor lights out by the barn? They call em 'booger lights'. Now you know why.

This is an incredible book filled with intriguing concepts and hypotheses. I have over 20 sticky notes flagging different pages so I can go back and reread specific passages or subjects. The entire book is fascinating! I highly recommend this book if you are interested in the topic.

The possibilities, if one excepts this theory, is endless but leaves you wondering at the development and advancement of the oldest organized modern humans, the Australian Aboriginal without Neandertal interference . A very entertaining and thought provocative book that I read with an open mind.

Threw everything I thought I knew about Neanderthals...and made me very uncomfortable. Really interesting theories about how predation by Neanderthals made us who we are today. And has made me think differently about our evolution and why we behave as we do.

The book was delivered promptly and in perfect order

Bought this book as a gift. It arrived in time and excellent quality. My husband was very satisfied. Very happy with my purchase.