Afarensis is a 3.5-2.8 million year old hominin from the Kada Hadar member of the Hadar formation in the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. He is approximately 41 inches tall, weighs approximately 60 pounds and has a cranial capacity of a whopping 410 cc (approximately). Afarensis is currently considered to be transitional between apes and humans and displays some traits of both. Since he spends a lot of time on the couch watching monster movies, some observers question whether he is an obligate biped (although no one has observed him climbing a tree). He also has a blog called 
Okay, I'm back. My haul is below, in no particular order.
Shattering the Myths of Darwinism by Richard Milton. Apparently this is the second edition. Basically creationist mumbo jumbo
Now for the science:
A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes by Stephen Hawking
In Search of Deep Time: Beyond the Fossil Record to a New History of Life by Henry Gee. Creationists have created a cottage industry centered around quotemining this one.
The Shark: Splendid Savage of the Sea by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Philippe Cousteau. I miss Jacques almost as much as I miss Carl Sagan...
The Serengeti Lion: A Study of Predator-Prey Relations by George Schaller Schaller is also known for his studies of the gorilla.
Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life by Daniel C. Dennett. Also frequently quotemined by creationists. Now maybe I will be able to figue out what all the fuss is about.
Mountain of the Condor: Metaphor and Ritual in an Andean Ayllu by Joseph W. Bastien. An ethnography on the Aymaras.
Indians and Archaeology of Missouri by Carl and Eleanor Chapman. Carl was the dean of Missouri archaeology. This is more of a popular science kind of boo, but he also has a three volume series on Missouri archaeology that I would give my left arm for...
The Origins of Order: Self Organization and Selection in Evolution by Stuart Kauffman. I'm looking forward to reading this one. I've heard a lot about Kauffman but haven't read anything by him.
Atlas of Speech and Hearing Anatomy by Joel Kahane and John Folkins. Anatomy and physiology books are always good.
Fossils: The Evolution and Extiction of Species by Niles Eldredge, photographs by Murray Alcosser. A coffee table book similar to the one I reviewed recently.
Total cost for the above books: $24.50
My one disappointment is that I was unable to find any books by Dr.∞ Dembski, maybe I should have looked in the religion section...
Comments
Totally agree on Cousteau. I will always remember the thrill of seeing his films and reading his books. Seems to be no one occupying his place of expression now.
Posted by: decrepitoldfool | May 3, 2008 7:29 PM
Total Cost $24.50??!111
My Mom would be so pround of you! Excellent.
Some day you'll have to figure out how much per lie in the Creo Books.
Posted by: J-Dog | May 3, 2008 10:10 PM
Not a bad haul! Fossils is a very pretty book, and although the text isn't anything you probably haven't already seen, it's a quick read (I got through it in an afternoon). The Serengeti Lion is a good read, too, although it's a bit data-heavy and dry at times. Still an important book, though.
As for Darwin's Dangerous Idea I started it but haven't finished. What I've read hasn't been too bad, although I know I should finish it eventually. From what I've been able to glean, however, all the bickering between Dawkins/Dennett and Gould/Eldredge isn't that important. They two sides seemed to have more in common than they let on, and most of the argument seemed to do with how to write about Darwin than actual evolutionary science.
Posted by: Laelaps | May 3, 2008 11:19 PM
@Laelaps - if you want a good overview of the Dawkins/Dennett vs. Gould/Eldredge debate (or Dawkins ingrained distaste and Dennett's jumping on the bandwagon, as always), then I recommend Kim Sterelny's book Dawkins vs Gould (amazon, and an overview review by Daniel Nettle).
--Simon
Posted by: Simon G. | May 3, 2008 11:42 PM
Posted by: Bob O'H | May 4, 2008 12:33 PM
$24.95 for all those books????? Wow! That's my kind of book place. I wish I was closer to St. Louis. Then I'd go, too!
Anne G
Posted by: Anne Gilbert | May 4, 2008 6:18 PM
Simon G. Thanks for the link to the review regarding Dawkins and Gould. As the reviewer says, "the key differences between the two men are in their philosophy of explanation, which stems in part from the paradigm within which they developed". And this is true of everyone. The paradigm in which we evolve sets us up for what we believe. I believe this is why those brought up in a creationist household cannot get their heads around the concept of biological evolution. Feel sorry for them, folks.
Posted by: terryt | May 4, 2008 11:46 PM