Jungle: How Tropical Forests Shaped the World—and Us

National Geographic explorer Roberts traces in his comprehensive if cumbersome debut the evolution of the world’s forest ecosystems. “Tropical forests are often ignored in discussions of our human story and the history of life on Earth,” writes Roberts, and to that end, offers a detailed explanation of how trees altered Earth’s environment as the first ones emerged during the Devonian period, increasing the amount of oxygen in the air and creating life-nurturing soil. Roberts covers the seasonally dry jungles of the southern lowlands, where urban forms “took off” during the Classic period; the “frosty forests” of New Guinea, which housed early groups of humans; the isolated forests of the Pacific Islands where humans migrated 4,000 years ago; and considers how tropical forests impacted the life forms that lived within them (including dinosaurs). Taking issue with the theory that savannahs nurtured human evolution, Roberts provides evidence—including his work in Sri Lankan forests studying fossils of human teeth—that jungles were “the vibrant cradle” for the earliest apes and hominins. Unfortunately, many of Roberts’s points (such as discussions of tropical forest farming) can get buried in academic nitpicking. Fans of anthropology will have their work cut out, and those hoping for a lush tropical adventure will be disappointed. (Sept.)