The Evolution Man: Or, How I Ate My Father

by Roy Lewis

Book Overview

Here is a typical Stone Age family, reimagined by Roy Lewis in this hilarious novel as characters in some glittering drawing-room comedy. Father, who has a scientific turn of mind, has just discovered fire. Mother makes sure the children finish supper, even when the plat du jour is toad. Uncle Vanya thinks that the species has been flirting with disaster ever since it began to chip flint into tools. While little Alexander has gotten himself in deep...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679750096
• ISBN13: 9780679750093
• Release Date: August 1994
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Extremely Fascinating!

I had this book in the early '90's and loaned it to a friend. This friend gave it to another and that person to another... basically the book went missing. I have been searching for it ever since. I'm so very happy that it's in print again. Of course I had to buy a copy. I don't want to give any details without giving away the story - just believe me when I say that this is the funniest book I have ever read!

A classic tale of love, patricide and cannibalism.

Sweet Jehovah, this is a funny book. The conceit is an obvious one when you think about it - write the story of our evolutionary ancestors from a first-person perspective, but in a language that shows all the sensibilities of a well-read, reflective and slightly pompous late-nineteenth century Englishman. The courtship scenes alone I think I have re-read about fifty times and never without laughing.

Humorous but serious.

Humoristic parable about the transition from ape to Homo sapiens with a pessimistic end.Against the recommendations of his uncle, who defends the old order, the first intelligent anthropoid ape uses the fire he discovers to chase the wild animals and take their holes as a home. He forces his children to exogamy and develops research and technology, which he shares with everybody. The Darwinian evolution is marching on.The evolution stalls when some of his children take power and keep the latest acquired technological knowledge for themselves in order to dominate the world. They do this against the will of their father, but they kill him.A very modern story, sparkingly told. Not to be missed.

Funny and Smart

"The Evolution Man, Or, How I Ate My Father" tells about a normal family in prehistorical times. The main character, Ernest, reminiscences how his family/clan, which was led by his father, discovered fire, domesticated dogs, invented the first bow, drew the first cave drawings, and more. Even though this family lived thousands and thousands of years ago, they weren't so different from us. In fact, what I particularly liked about this book is that the main characters, while still ape-men, are talking and thinking like modern people. Ernest's father and his uncle keep arguing how "Modern Technology" (i.e., fire) is dangerous, and how maybe they should go back to the trees. Despite that, they are STILL ape-men: when Ernest's brother finds a wife, Ernest keeps thinking how amazingly fat she is - meaning, truly gorgeous! Even though this book was very humoristic, it was also intellectually stimulating. It offered some very interesting points about how many things which are the cornerstones of human life started. All this is presented in a truly hilarious way. I wholeheartly recommend this book for anyone, especially if you're a bit interested on how the human species was at the very beginning. Absolutely a wonderful book - I wish I could see this as a movie.

Lewis redivivus

We first read this book in Kenya in the early 60s, while we were working on the archaeology of early man. Subsequently my husband taught anthropology (Plio-Pleistocene archaeology) at U.C. Berkeley and used it as a text to lighten his Introduction to Archaeology classes. As "practitioners" we found it hilarious and amazingly insightful, and it has continued to provide amusement ever since. Our battered paperback has long needed replacement, and is shelved where it cannot be permanently borrowed by an envious reader. PLEASE reprint in English. I always wanted to ask Mr. Lewis if he had modelled Father after Dr. Louis Leakey.... Another light-hearted and well-informed view of evolution is the Larry Gonick "History of Everything, Including Sex"