The elusive Elvanelan culture foretold the drowning of Atlantis to its skeptical governors, warning that misuse of power and division would bring about downfall of its proud civilization. And the Elvan were right. Twelve-thousand years later, those responsible for the Atlantaean demise are back, with opportunity to choose a path different than the catastrophic road of an earlier time. Somewhere in Century Twenty-One: fossil fuels are nearly exhausted, rising sea levels flood coastal cities, and some suspect the weather isnt all that is shifting on Earth.
The elusive Elvanelan culture foretold the drowning of Atlantis to its skeptical governors, warning that misuse of power and division would bring about downfall of its proud civilization. And the Elvan were right. Twelve-thousand years later, those responsible for the Atlantaean demise are back, with opportunity to choose a path different than the catastrophic road of an earlier time. Somewhere in Century Twenty-One: fossil fuels are nearly exhausted, rising sea levels flood coastal cities, and some suspect the weather isn't all that is shifting on Earth.
"Will have kids mesmerized from the get-go . . . Gorgeously illustrated . . . A stirring and thought-provoking reflection on the essential part stories play in making us human." —Kirkus STARRED Review From the creators of Drawing Outdoors, which was praised as "full of wonder" (Kirkus STARRED Review) and a "fanciful intermingling of art, science and nature" (New York Times). This almost wordless picture book set in the dawn of human life imagines how art and storytelling were born from the power of one young girl’s observation. Once upon a time, during the Pleistocene, somewhere between two-and-a-half million and ten thousand years ago, small groups of people traveled their known world, hunting for food, seeking shelter, and slowly becoming more like the people we are today. As far back as 40,000 years ago (and maybe even earlier) people began drawing pictures on cave walls. And a bit later, they carved images onto stones. Some pictures are of humans, usually drawn as stick figures, but most are of animals. We don’t know their purpose, though in some cases, evidence seems to suggest they were used for storytelling. But when we look at these pictures, we can’t help but admire the extraordinary talent of the first artists. They aren’t just scratches on the wall. They are great art. In this book of few words, we follow a young girl who notices everything that happens around her as her people search for a cave to shelter for the winter. And we can believe that she feels the absolute necessity to draw what she has seen and to tell stories. Afterward, Everything was Different features: Backmatter explaining what we know—and don’t know—about cave drawings. Stunning black and white illustrations of life during the Pleistocene. An Aldana Libros Book, Greystone Kids
"When we grasp fully that the best expressions of our humanity were not invented by civilization but by cultures that preceded it, that the natural world is not only a set of constraints but of contexts within which we can more fully realize our dreams, we will be on the way to a long overdue reconciliation between opposites which are of our own making." --from Coming Home to the Pleistocene Paul Shepard was one of the most profound and original thinkers of our time. Seminal works like The Tender Carnivore and the Sacred Game, Thinking Animals, and Nature and Madness introduced readers to new and provocative ideas about humanity and its relationship to the natural world. Throughout his long and distinguished career, Paul Shepard returned repeatedly to his guiding theme, the central tenet of his thought: that our essential human nature is a product of our genetic heritage, formed through thousands of years of evolution during the Pleistocene epoch, and that the current subversion of that Pleistocene heritage lies at the heart of today's ecological and social ills. Coming Home to the Pleistocene provides the fullest explanation of that theme. Completed just before his death in the summer of 1996, it represents the culmination of Paul Shepard's life work and constitutes the clearest, most accessible expression of his ideas. Coming Home to the Pleistocene pulls together the threads of his vision, considers new research and thinking that expands his own ideas, and integrates material within a new matrix of scientific thought that both enriches his original insights and allows them to be considered in a broader context of current intellectual controversies. In addition, the book explicitly addresses the fundamental question raised by Paul Shepard's work: What can we do to recreate a life more in tune with our genetic roots? In this book, Paul Shepard presents concrete suggestions for fostering the kinds of ecological settings and cultural practices that are optimal for human health and well-being. Coming Home to the Pleistocene is a valuable book for those familiar with the life and work of Paul Shepard, as well as for new readers seeking an accessible introduction to and overview of his thought.
Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.
