When Humans Nearly Vanished: The Catastrophic Explosion of the Toba Volcano

by Donald R. Prothero Narrated by Qarie Marshall

Overview

Some 73,000 years ago, the Mount Toba supervolcano in today's Indonesia erupted, releasing the energy of a million tons of explosives. So much ash and debris was injected into the stratosphere that it partially blocked the sun's radiation and caused global temperatures to drop for a decade. In this book, Donald R. Prothero presents the controversial argument that the Toba catastrophe nearly wiped out the human race, leaving only about a thousand to ten thousand breeding pairs of humans worldwide. Human genes today show evidence of a “genetic bottleneck,” an effect seen when a population of organisms becomes so small that their genetic diversity is greatly reduced. This group of survivors could be the ancestors of all humans alive today. Prothero explores the geological and biological evidence supporting the Toba bottleneck theory, revealing how the explosion itself was discovered and offering insight into how the world changed afterward and what might happen if such an eruption occurred today.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

07/09/2018
Despite the title, the Toba volcano makes not much more than a cameo appearance in this slim volume. Prothero (The Story of Earth in 25 Rocks), a paleontologist and geologist, describes Toba’s eruption on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia, around 74,000 years ago, as the “largest volcanic eruption in the past 28 million years,” and briefly touches on the theory of how it decimated humanity, leading to a population bottleneck that partly explains the relative lack of genetic diversity in humans today. He also touches on the process by which scientists discovered the eruption had ever occurred, which only became apparent with new findings in 1993. The bulk of this book, however, is a primer for related topics: brief summaries of the geology of volcanism, the structure of DNA, the evolutionary relationship between humans and primates, and the fossil evidence for the evolutionary origins of Homo sapiens. Prothero writes clearly and at a level accessible to the lay reader, but he presents no new material and is unlikely to satisfy anyone looking for more than a precis of the current state of knowledge in these diverse fields. (Oct.)

From the Publisher

Prothero (The Story of Earth in 25 Rocks), a paleontologist and geologist, describes Toba’s eruption on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia, around 74,000 years ago, as the “largest volcanic eruption in the past 28 million years,” and briefly touches on the theory of how it decimated humanity, leading to a population bottleneck that partly explains the relative lack of genetic diversity in humans today. He also touches on the process by which scientists discovered the eruption had ever occurred, which only became apparent with new findings in 1993. Prothero writes [...] a precis of the current state of knowledge in these diverse fields.” —Publishers Weekly

“Prothero’s enthusiasm is infectious, and his boundless curiosity will draw in readers who may have only the lightest of knowledge about volcanoes, especially one as obscure as Toba. Prothero is a valuable guide.” —Booklist

“Donald Prothero takes us on a journey through the complex evolution of scientific fields—including volcanology, biology, and archaeology—that converged to form the controversial idea that an enormous eruption of the Toba volcano, in today’s Indonesia, may have caused a population bottleneck. This is a tale of discovery, exploring how large explosive eruptions capture our imagination and why the answers to scientific inquiries often begin with ‘It’s complicated.’” —Janine Krippner, volcanologist, Concord University

“A passionate examination of a controversial subject. Prothero traces how one of the largest eruptions in the history of our species may have irrevocably changed the evolution of Homo sapiens, delving into both volcanology and anthropology and how they are intertwined.” —Erik Klemetti, Associate Professor and Chair, Geosciences, Denison University, and author of Discover’s “Rocky Planet” blog

“Prothero takes the reader on a breathtaking tour of volcanoes and human evolution. By deftly weaving together tales of discovery in many realms, from supervolcanoes to DNA, Prothero shows how a supervolcano nearly brought an end to the human race 74,000 years ago.” —David M. Pyle, Professor, Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, and author of Volcanoes: Encounters through the Ages

“Prothero has done a very fine job of assembling information from many disciplines, including geology, genetics, and anthropology, and weaving it into a coherent and eminently readable account of the possible impacts of the gargantuan eruption of the Toba volcano in Sumatra some 74,000 years ago. There is something for everyone in this eclectic and lively piece of popular scientific writing.” —Martin Williams, Adjunct Professor in Earth Sciences and Emeritus Professor, University of Adelaide

Product Details

BN ID:	2940175395915
Publisher:	Dreamscape Media
Publication date:	10/16/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged
Sales rank:	1,150,825

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