The Hobbit Trap

How New Species Are Invented

Maciej Henneberg, Robert B Eckhardt, John Schofield , Phillip Vallentine Tobias

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Hardback

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English

Left Coast Press Inc
15 November 2010

Anthropology; Physical anthropology & ethnography; Human biology

When scientists found the remains of a tiny hominid on an Indonesian in 2004, they claimed they found a totally new species of human ancestor (homo floresiensis), and called it a Hobbit. Film crews rolled in and the little creature took the world by storm, but a group of prominent scientists, including Maciej Henneberg and Robert Eckhardt, smelled a rat. They refuted the data—the size and shape of bones, the inferences about height—and they raised fundamental questions about scientific method, revealing cultural and political pressures that lead to the wide acceptance of unsupported theories. The Hobbit Trap describes how the case against the “new species” theory developed and offers an important critique of the species concept in evolution. In this thoroughly updated second edition, the authors include new data and analysis of the Flores fossils, and expand their important analysis of scientific practice, calling for a new movement to reverse the decline in scientific standards and the rise in scientific politics. This lively and important challenge to conventional wisdom is accessible to the general reader and makes a stimulating addition to courses on the history and philosophy of science, evolution and physical anthropology.

By: Maciej Henneberg, Robert B Eckhardt, John Schofield
Foreword by: Phillip Vallentine Tobias
Imprint: Left Coast Press Inc
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: 2nd edition
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 18mm
Weight: 498g
ISBN: 9781598745719
ISBN 10: 1598745719
Pages: 228
Publication Date: 15 November 2010
Audience: College/higher education , General/trade , Primary , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Chapter 1 Reflecting on Origins; Chapter 2 Thinking Small; Chapter 3 Null Hypotheses and Fairytales; Chapter 4 A Lot to Chew Over; Chapter 5 Random Skulduggery; Chapter 6 Collegiality and Line Management; Chapter 7 The More Things Change; Chapter 8 Degrees of Separation and Laboratory Slaves; Chapter 9 Out of Sight, Out of Mind; Chapter 10 More of the Same; Chapter 11 Pseudo-Science and Bruised Egos; Chapter 12 The Debate That Isn't; Chapter 13 The Sum of the Parts;

Henneberg, Maciej; Eckhardt, Robert B; Schofield, John

Reviews for The Hobbit Trap: How New Species Are Invented

This is the extraordinary tale of the last three years in the history of humankind's evolution. Professor Henneberg is seen to be not only a scientist, but an historian of science, a detective and a philosopher. --From the Foreword by Phillip V. Tobias