Now that "Neanderthal Thinking" has become a popular meme, after President Biden criticized the governors of Texas and Mississippi for "Neanderthal thinking" in lifting all COVID-restrictions, two recent books by author Gini Graham Scott are especially relevant.  They provide a glimpse into Neanderthal thinking and what modern humans think about this.  One book is The Return of the Neanderthals, about what might happen if they were brought back by DNA cloning, grow up as children, and become adults in modern society. The other is Who Are the Neanderthals, Really?, which features a collection of illustrations and commentary about Neanderthals from Paleolithic times to today.  Scott even has a website on Neanderthals at www.neanderthalworld.com.

             The Return of the Neanderthals features a series of interconnected stories that begin when a paleontologist brings back some DNA from a Neanderthal burial ground discovered in an archeological dig in Northern Europe. He then works in secret with a scientist friend to bring back six Neanderthal babies using stem cell, cloning, and CRISPER techniques, along with the help of some surrogate mothers. After the Neanderthals are raised in a lab with the help of a nursery school teacher, they are placed in a group home, where an unexpected incident leads to their discovery and a media story about them.

             In the next story, the owner of a robot factory learns about the success of the first group of Neanderthals and decides to create a workforce of Neanderthals to replace the robots in his factory and shipping facility. After that program proves successful and word of it spreads, some detectives think the Neanderthals could help them in crime fighting, because of their strength, aggressiveness, and hunting skills. So they recruit and train a team of six Neanderthals to help them find and capture elusive criminals. Once the Neanderthals prove their worth, the team tackles other assignments for the cops, and they face challenges and danger along the way.

            In the third story, a criminal gang leader learns about the Neanderthals working for the cops, and he decides to create his own gang of Neanderthals to commit crimes for profit and revenge and to thwart the efforts of the Neanderthals helping the cops.

            Who Are The Neanderthals, Really? consists of a collection of illustrations and commentary about Neanderthals from Paleolithic times to today.  After an introduction describing how and where the Neanderthals lived, the book features about 100 illustrations divided into five sections:

            - scientific discoveries

            - reconstructions of the Neanderthal's appearance

            - recreations of Neanderthal life and art

            - cartoon images of Neanderthals

            - images of Neanderthal's in today's high tech world.

            Each section of photos and illustrations is introduced with some commentary. 

            These images present an intriguing picture of the Neanderthals from paleontologists, anthropologists, historians, social commentators, and artists.  The book concludes with a short bibliography of books and articles about Neanderthals,

            Given her study of Neanderthals, author Gini Graham Scott has even penned a letter and posted an article on Medium and Substack about "What's Wrong with Neanderthal Thinking?" pointing out that's it's wrong to use the term "Neanderthal thinking" to denigrate someone's thinking. That's because the Neanderthals lived very successfully for over 200,000 years with millions of them spread throughout Europe, the UK, the Middle East, and Asia, before they went extinct about 35,000 years ago in the face of attacks by Homo sapiens. Additionally, most of us have 1-4% Neanderthal genes, which probably includes President Biden. So this statement would be a dig at any of the many millions of people alive today who have a Neanderthal ancestry. 

            Additionally, Scott has criticized Biden's put-down of Neanderthals as a remark that flies in the face of his emphasis on treating everyone equally, including different minority and disability groups and immigrants to the U.S.  This remark inappropriately disparages a particular group,  and if the Neanderthals returned today, they would likely be discriminated against as a disadvantaged minority group, although they could contribute to modern society in their own way.  For instance, they are believed to have had very superior vision and strength, making them especially suited to perform other jobs, where these qualities are highly valued, including helping out as essential workers in health and working in factories, farms, and the military.  Thus, she thinks that Biden owes the Neanderthals an apology for this comment disparaging and demeaning them.

            For more information and to set up interviews

Jana Collins

Jones & O'Malley

Toluca Lake, California

(818) 762-8353

jana@jonesomalley.com

Gini Graham Scott, Ph.D., J.D.

Author of The Return of the Neanderthals, Who Are the Neanderthals Really?

     and other books about Neanderthals

www.neanderthalworld.com

www.changemakerspublishingandwriting.com

Lafayette, California

(925) 385-0608

changemakers@pacbell.net