One of the biggest achievements of ancient peoples is fire. Fire helped them cook food, making it safe to eat and improving its taste. It also made meat easier to digest. Additionally, fire made other achievements possible, as shown in the fiction book I just read by Roy Lewis called “The Evolution Man…or, How I Ate My Father.”

I’ve had this book in my arsenal for quite some time and finally decided to give it a go. The back jacket says that it had been long out of print but now being discovered by readers around the world, “this hilarious novel would make Charles Darwin turn over in his grave.” Needless to say, I found the novel exactly that. Hilarious. And quirky. What adds to that is the fact they all talk to each other in quite regular speech, most of it educational jargon.

The Beginning

Before the fire was found in the book, thanks to Father, or Edward, the leader of their clan, the son Ernest writes on how his family lived amongst the trees. They relied on nuts, roots and berries., with an occasional fat caterpillar that gave them extra protein to help build and maintain their boxy figures.

To eat small game such as rabbits and tortoises they would have to climb out of their trees and go into the grasslands. And, because of lack of fire, they had to eat their game raw, including all the sinewy muscles and raw liver and heart and brains. The bones were used for scraping under rocks for bugs. Nothing went to waste.

However, walking on four legs wasn’t very beneficial, and they found that standing on two legs allowed them to better see over the grasslands and plains for larger game. Game like antelope, gazelle, zebra, and horse became available for them to eat. They needed to work together to chase this kind of prey successfully.

But the transition from being an omnivore into introducing meat into the diet was a very uncomfortable and dangerous time. Eating raw meat was hard to do. Plus if the meat went bad, (for they were taught to eat everything for they never knew when the next meal would come), they’d get severely sick and be open to “gastric disturbances”. Chronic colitis. Among other things.

Finding Fire

The book goes on to where “Father” goes out on an adventure by a working volcano that has lava and fire running down the mountain. He somehow decides to grab a stick and put it to the lava, discovering it would light the stick with this illuminating hot light. He runs down to their cave relighting stick after stick to keep it aflame. He brings the flaming stick and demonstrates how putting the flaming stick to non flaming stick would cause it to light up. Stick after stick and pretty soon they were building campfires.

From then the Pleistocene clan starts experiencing being able to cook the meat they are able to catch,noticing how much better and easier it is to keep down. They are also able to stave off the apex predators by a roaring fire and experience the luxury of keeping warm and relaxing.

Whilst Father was recounting his discovery of fire in front of a blaze, he absentmindedly rubbed a stick on a hot stone, sharpening its end. This eventually led to the creation of spears, making it easier for them to hunt larger game.

This, according to Uncle Vanya, is where the fire technology was the end of their ways. He prefers the old way of life of living in the tree tops. He foresees that fire is an abomination and will lead to tragedy, not something that will aid in their evolution, as Father proffers.

The book also tells of one of the brothers who catches a baby tiger to tame and keep it, while another brother paints scenes from his experiences on the walls of their home, hence cave drawings. Uncle Ian tries to ride a horse hoping to take him to America quicker, only resulting with horrible consequences. They are all starting to experiment with different things now that they have excess time away from trying to keep safe from predators, and now that hunting has become easier.

There are various other experiences this tribe runs into because of their knowledge of fire. The burning of their home and surrounding area, to forcing them to branch out further into other territories where they inevitably run into other tribes.

There is the great debate on if they should keep their knowledge of fire from others, which some say would give them the upper hand over the other tribes. But, Father’s way is Father’s way and what he says is how it goes. The result is a mixture of evolution and one of war.

At the end of the book, the last line reads “THE END OF THE PLEISTOCENE.”

This book was a hidden gem, and I have since reread it. I finished it in one sitting because it was fast-paced, funny, and surprisingly relevant to current sociology. It was a comedic approach to how early man learned many things that has lead us up to our post Pleistocene days.

The book also shows that the boys must look outside their families to find suitable mates to continue their species. In that being said, there is a little bit of love to be found amidst the 214 pages.

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/101116/the-evolution-man-by-roy-lewis