For my second book that made an impact on me, I’m sharing Jean M. Auel’s “The Clan of the Cave Bear”. This is another book that my Mom read in sections, and then told me about (so even though I didn’t physically read it when it came out — it feels like I did!).
“It is the first book in the Earth’s Children book series which speculates on the possibilities of interactions between Neanderthal and modern Cro-Magnon humans.”
The following books, in order: The Valley of Horses, The Mammoth Hunters, The Plains of Passage, The Shelters of Stone, and The Land of the Painted Caves.
CotCB may not be as historically accurate about the neanderthals now as it was considered then (expected as research teaches us more and more about the past), but it is still a very interesting and engaging look at how two very different versions of humans started to come together.
For me, this first book in the series is the most engaging, followed by The Valley of the Horses. The final book in this series — I’ve only made it through once. Sadly, it’s really lacking a lot of the intensity that the first two books had.
If you can ignore the fact that some of the research Auel did for this book is outdated (the book came out in 1986, after all!), I think you will find this book to be a good read. It is one of the reasons I became so interested in history. The way history was taught in K-12 years really dulled my interest in it in the classroom, but with these books? The more to learn, the better!
In college, I would finally find a professor who could, and did, teach history in a way that was just as engaging as CotCB (and my first book, Pillars of the Earth). That would lead me to earn a third of my BALS in History.
I still have my first copy of this book, but it is getting very fragile — even though I take very good care of my books. 
Facebook Comments