A number of people made suggestions and provided information that was incorporated into this book. Dr. Willard W. Olson deserves thanks for his keen observations and original ideas on the evolution of man. His vast knowledge of biology, and of fossil skulls in particular, was immensely helpful and his blunt and honest opinions are appreciated.
    A number of people on the “e-l” and “ARlist” Yahoo Groups also made sagacious comments and brought information to my attention. The book had its origin with posts by a self-educated ex-Marine, Ronald A. Fonda, on those two Yahoo Groups, where he repeatedly explained why he believed that the Out-of-Africa theory of human origins was wrong. Although he maintains a web site on that subject which documents his position in detail, I thought it was in rather technical language and difficult for a layman to comprehend. Convinced that he was on to something, though, I encouraged him, and others who agreed with him, to write a book that would make his ideas clear to an ordinary person. When, after several months, I realized that no one was going to start writing that book, I offered to be the editor. I saw myself as making sure that the writing was easy to understand and did not leave any gaps that could undermine the arguments. But still no one produced anything for me to edit, so I began researching and writing myself, first as “editor” then, when I was doing almost all the writing, as co-author with Ron.
    Ron and I were already sticking our necks out by arguing that modern man did not arise in Africa, but only in Eurasia. That was contrary to both scientific theories of human evolution, the Out-of-Africa (“OoA”) theory and the Multiregional theory. As the book progressed, Ron, somewhat reluctantly, and I agreed that there were good reasons for believing that man’s evolution from a primitive mammal did not occur in Africa either, and that man had descended from a lineage that was closer to the Asian orangutan than to the African chimpanzee. But that was Ron’s limit on taking speculative positions.
    By the time Chapter 24 was seriously discussed, I had become convinced that biology was not that different from physics in that it, too, was constrained by laws or rules. Genetic and fossil data gave dates for the origin of the races of only about 65,000 years ago (“ya”), but those rules implied that the races began more than 2 million years ago (“mya”). Since Ron and I could not agree on how to resolve these and other difficulties, we amicably parted ways.
    This book contains material I find absolutely fascinating, especially since one is unlikely to easily find it elsewhere, particularly in a single book. To put it together, widely different specialties had to be studied (e.g., genetics, physical anthropology, sociology, fossils, psychology), digging through controversial and contradictory information, some of it mistaken or even fraudulent. Making sense of it all was so overwhelming a task that many times I was tempted to give up. Fortunately, Ron had already acquired a good knowledge of these disciplines, had thought through the implications of all the information he had gathered, and was able to keep me on track.
    To Ronald Fonda therefore belongs not only credit for being the impetus of the book, but for many of the ideas scattered throughout the book. Section III is almost entirely based on his web site and he is responsible for many of the ideas in Section IV as well.

    I am not oblivious to the fact that the theory of human origins proposed in this book contradicts a vast literature supporting the Out-of-Africa (“OoA”) theory. However, there are good reasons for believing that OoA is not correct and that modern man did not evolve in Africa. I hope the reader will impartially judge the case presented while I anxiously remain in the dock, awaiting the verdict.
    As always, any errors or misstatements are mine. Comments and corrections, preferably without cuss words, may be sent to me HERE.