Fire: The Spark That Ignited Human Evolution Audiobook By Frances D. Burton cover art

Fire: The Spark That Ignited Human Evolution

Preview

Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Fire: The Spark That Ignited Human Evolution

By: Frances D. Burton
Narrated by: Michael Scherer
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $17.99

Buy for $17.99

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

The association between our ancestors and fire, somewhere around four to six million years ago, had a tremendous impact on human evolution, transforming our earliest human ancestor, a being communicating without speech but with insight, reason, manual dexterity, highly developed social organization, and the capability of experimenting with this new technology. As it first associated with and then began to tame fire, this extraordinary being began to distance itself from its primate relatives, taking a path that would alter its environment, physiology, and self-image.

Based on her extensive research with nonhuman primates, anthropologist Frances Burton details the stages of the conquest of fire and the systems it affected. Her study examines the natural occurrence of fire and describes the effects light has on human physiology. She constructs possible variations of our earliest human ancestor and its way of life, utilizing archaeological and anthropological evidence of the earliest human-controlled fires to explore the profound physical and biological impacts fire had on human evolution.

©2009 Frances D. Burton (P)2012 Redwood Audiobooks
Anthropology Social Sciences
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Critic reviews

"With great detail and concise arguments, this well-sourced work will fascinate armchair scientists with an interest in anthropology and evolution." ( Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about Fire: The Spark That Ignited Human Evolution

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    10
  • 4 Stars
    6
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    10
  • 4 Stars
    6
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    10
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

More than Fire

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I think the author went off on a few tangents that were not necessary or beneficial to providing more points for the importance of fire in human evolution. It seems like there were a few chapters focusing on fire itself while the others filled in some more details about human evolution like the importance of language and the environment in which adaptations occurred.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Spoiler Alert: humans evolved!

What three words best describe Michael Scherer’s voice?

Clear but dry

Do you think Fire: The Spark That Ignited Human Evolution needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

I'm not sure about a follow-up book but the concepts can definitely expand as more archaeological evidence is found.

Any additional comments?

As a student of anthropology I found this book to be insightful into a field I want to work in. It is by no means a tell all in human evolution but it does look at a small sliver of what lead to the modern human. It is obvious that fire was important but concepts like the impact on melatonin production in the body was a concept I found very interesting.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Title very misleading

The title suggested an anthropological view of the use of fire throughout the ages. The book was very informative as far as anthropology, physiology and archaeology but very little to do with fire and it’s social context. It was a repetition of various other books about human evolution and genetics but not what I was expecting

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Strange title

This book is mainly about primate behavior, not the effect of fire on human evolution. If you are interested in the latter, read "Catching Fire" instead.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!