£60.00

Majosta Elaine Morgan ~ 100 Years Towards Origins

Price data last checked 63 day(s) ago - refreshing...

View at Amazon

Price History & Forecast

Last 28 days • 28 data points (No recent data available)

Historical
Generating forecast...
£60.00 £57.00 £58.20 £59.40 £60.60 £61.80 £63.00 26 January 2026 01 February 2026 08 February 2026 15 February 2026 22 February 2026

Price Distribution

Price distribution over 28 days • 1 price levels

Days at Price
28 days 0 7 14 21 28 £60 Days at Price

Price Analysis

Most common price: £60 (28 days, 100.0%)

Price range: £60 - £60

Price levels: 1 different prices over 28 days

Description

This is my celebration of Elaine's very full and impressive life. It recounts the relatively modest origins of a Welsh heroine in the Rhondda Valley in South Wales. It’ll rejoice in how she won her place at Oxford University, knocking ‘em cold with her wit. Whilst pointing out that her degree was accomplished during the Second World War, I’ll note how she got involved in politics along with several famous peers, such as Tony Crossland and Roy Jenkins.Just as the war was coming to a close, she met her life partner Morien, and Elaine Floyd became Elaine Morgan. We’ll trace their journey up to Burnley where they started a family and then back down to the English-Welsh Borders before settling into a cosy refuge near Aberdare to raise three boys.In the days when it was very rare for a woman to “have it all”, I’ll pinpoint how Elaine found a way to begin a writing career without sacrificing any of her motherly dedication. I’ll record how she spotted a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get into the brand-new niche of television playwriting. I’ll chart the rise of Elaine’s career as one of the most successful post-war writers of TV dramas and documentaries and list out the sheer breadth and depth of her work.Elaine’s background gave her a bit of a feisty edge and when she read Desmond Morris’ best-seller “The Naked Ape” and its male-centred view of human evolution, it made her livid. We’ll enjoy the timing of her own best seller, “Descent of Woman”, almost exactly 100 years after Darwin’s “Descent of Man” and how it railed against the “tarzanists”.I’ll share the tale of how Elaine’s flirtation with anthropology almost ended there, and how it might have done if it had not been for the letter writing of an American policeman, Chuck Milliken. Thanks to him, Elaine did write that second book, and more. I’ll summarise their arguments and the disappointing response to them from the experts of palaeoanthropology.Throughout the story, you’ll read some amazing adventures of Sir Alister Hardy, the man who was responsible for first planting the meme about some kind of “aquatic ape” in the head of Desmond Morris, the one idea of his Elaine liked. There will also be a few cameo appearances from the “great and good” such as Phillip Tobias and Sir David Attenborough who also contributed to the book with his own tribute, as did Daniel Dennett. Having the privilege of narrator, I’ll also weave in some of my own family history and my research into the wading hypothesis too.As Elaine roared into her 70s, she became prolific on the world wide web. She bravely took on scores of cyber-bullies. “What was wrong with ‘the aquatic ape’”? she asked. It infuriated them, but they couldn’t quite explain what it was.Some of us also read her work, participated on those internet newsgroups, and came to very different conclusions. It seemed to make so much sense to us. We began to see how thin and ad hoc the counter-points were and were determined to do our bit to find out for ourselves. So, I’ll describe some of the contributions of those who have followed in Elaine’s footsteps Sadly, footsteps that stopped in the summer of 2013.The backdrop to Elaine’s century is the consensus view of human origins. I’ll describe the view before she was born and how Darwin and Wallace’s ideas shook the world. Throughout the tale, I’ll point out the fossil finds and their impact on the views of the field. Just after the half-way mark of the story, Elaine herself started chipping into the debate herself. These contributions were at first ignored, and then sneered at by those “in the know”. But a growing band of supporters started to test the predictions of Elaine’s “aquatic ape hypothesis”. I’ll end by giving my own opinion, that Elaine’s ideas, which she promoted so so well for 40 years, need only be tweaked and rephrased a little, to be what may prove to be best idea on human evolution since Darwin’s theory of natural selection. How fitting would that be!

Product Specifications

Brand
Majosta
Format
Hardcover
Domain
Amazon UK
Release Date
24 August 2022
Listed Since
26 August 2022

Barcode

No barcode data available

Similar Products You Might Like

Elwyn Simons: A Search for Origins (Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects)
93% match

Elwyn Simons: A Search for Origins (Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects)

Springer

£112.29 08 Jan 2026
The Arc of Life: Evolution and Health Across the Life Course
92% match

The Arc of Life: Evolution and Health Across the Life Course

Springer

£67.94 24 Feb 2026
Tavistock Century: 2020 Vision
92% match

Tavistock Century: 2020 Vision

Phoenix Publishing House

£105.34 27 Feb 2026
The Rough Beast: Psychoanalysis in Everyday Life (Psychoanalytic Ideas)
92% match

The Rough Beast: Psychoanalysis in Everyday Life (Psychoanalytic Ideas)

Routledge

£123.54 25 Feb 2026
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2005-2008 (ODNB Print Series)
92% match

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2005-2008 (ODNB Print Series)

Oxford University Press

£58.76 13 Jan 2026
Archaeology: The Widening Debate (British Academy Centenary Monographs)
92% match

Archaeology: The Widening Debate (British Academy Centenary Monographs)

Oxford University Press

£65.00 07 Jan 2026
Creative Lives and Works: Antony Hewish, Martin Rees and Neil Turok
92% match

Creative Lives and Works: Antony Hewish, Martin Rees and Neil Turok

Routledge

£136.27 10 Mar 2026
A Very Personal Method: Anthropological Writings Drawn From Life
92% match

A Very Personal Method: Anthropological Writings Drawn From Life

Sage Publications

£109.05 23 Feb 2026
Morphogenesis and Human Flourishing (Social Morphogenesis)
92% match

Morphogenesis and Human Flourishing (Social Morphogenesis)

Springer

£82.29 10 Mar 2026
Process and Pattern in Culture: Essays in Honor of Julian H. Steward
92% match

Process and Pattern in Culture: Essays in Honor of Julian H. Steward

Routledge

£47.63 01 Apr 2026
Handbook on the Economics and Management of Sustainable Oceans
92% match

Handbook on the Economics and Management of Sustainable Oceans

Edward Elgar Publishing

£151.85 12 Jan 2026
Interdisciplinary Knowledge Organization
92% match

Interdisciplinary Knowledge Organization

Springer

£86.62 23 Feb 2026
Finding Her in History: Confronting the Traditions of Misogyny
92% match

Finding Her in History: Confronting the Traditions of Misogyny

Springer

£59.96 28 Feb 2026
Episodes from the History of the Rare Earth Elements: 15 (Chemists and Chemistry, 15)
92% match

Episodes from the History of the Rare Earth Elements: 15 (Chemists and Chemistry, 15)

Springer

£119.74 06 Feb 2026
Routledge - Robert Chambers of Edinburgh: Victorian Polymath
92% match

Routledge - Robert Chambers of Edinburgh: Victorian Polymath

Routledge

£136.45 18 Apr 2026
No Ordinary Woman: The Life of Edith Penrose
92% match

No Ordinary Woman: The Life of Edith Penrose

Oxford University Press

£43.40 17 Feb 2026
Courtship: An Ethological Study
92% match

Courtship: An Ethological Study

Routledge

£133.40 26 Jan 2026
Springer French Botany in the Enlightenment - History Book 182
92% match

Springer French Botany in the Enlightenment - History Book 182

Springer

£87.61 20 Apr 2026
The Elgar Companion to Post Keynesian Economics, Second Edition
92% match

The Elgar Companion to Post Keynesian Economics, Second Edition

Edward Elgar Publishing

£54.75 22 Feb 2026
The Elgar Companion to Post Keynesian Economics, Second Edition
92% match

The Elgar Companion to Post Keynesian Economics, Second Edition

Edward Elgar Publishing

£127.68 27 Jan 2026
Cultural Evolution and its Discontents: Cognitive Overload, Parasitic Cultures, and the Humanistic Cure (Literary Criticism and Cultural Theory)
92% match

Cultural Evolution and its Discontents: Cognitive Overload, Parasitic Cultures, and the Humanistic Cure (Literary Criticism and Cultural Theory)

Routledge

£112.71 09 Mar 2026
Standards Real Book: the "C and vocal edition"
92% match

Standards Real Book: the "C and vocal edition"

AMA Verlag

£41.52 06 Feb 2026
Springer - French Botany in the Enlightenment - History Book
92% match

Springer - French Botany in the Enlightenment - History Book

Springer

£120.84 19 Apr 2026
The Eye of the Storm - A Quest for Truth Book
92% match

The Eye of the Storm - A Quest for Truth Book

£125.95 15 Apr 2026