What was the most important single step in human cultural
development—language, the wheel, decent plumbing? No, says American
journalist and author Roger Caras. It was taming the goat. In Perfect Harmony
(Simon & Schuster, $23, ISBN 0 684 81100 6) he argues that without
domestic animals, human civilisation would be stuck in the Stone Age. Beginning
with goats, he reviews the impact of animal domestication on human culture. A
quirky and thought-provoking read.
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