'In Settling the Earth, Clive Gamble reconfirms his status as the finest mind working in Palaeolithic studies. He presents a radical reimagining of the global sweep of human history by rejecting the progress-bound divisions of previous summaries in favor of a partitioning based on brain expansion and population dispersal. The result is brilliant.' Thomas Wynn, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
'Eclectic and authoritative, Gamble's engaging new book provides a fresh take on the evolution of the human brain, navigating the reader through the changing landscapes, minds and societies of our ancestors and revealing the complex physical and cultural dynamics behind our ultimate colonization of the Earth.' Danielle Schreve, Royal Holloway University of London
'… we desperately need books like Settling the Earth and we need researchers like Clive Gamble who can write about the deep human past in a way that integrates archaeological evidence and interpretation so elegantly and with so much enthusiasm. This is a massive contribution to the understanding of the human past. It is impossible to properly assess it in a few words. It is a bold attempt to understand the structures of 10 million years of global human history … it is a book that provides a dazzling wealth of ideas, hypotheses and explanations, which are not presented as solid facts but rather are intended to be tested, revised and reformulated. It is unquestionable that this book is a milestone on our journey to improve our understanding of the human past and present.' Martin Porr, Antiquity
'… an excellent, well-written and deeply erudite book …' Peter Bellwood, Journal of Anthropological Research