>The author theorized that we spent a large amount of time in the water (not
>living in it, but near it and spending a lot of time in it), as evidenced by
>our noses, hairless bodies, fat distribution and other evolutionary
>differences from land-bound primates.

I think this is called the "marine mammal theory" of the origin of
humans.
I remember reading a good essay about it on a Web site somehwere;
sorry, I
didn't bookmark it.  Maybe you could find it with a search engine.  I
tried, and found something similar at:

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/initial.bipedalism/

The theory is that humans were sort of like seals at one time,
spending
much of their lives in the water.  I don't know if I believe it, but
it's
intriguing.

>Hair was not a
>need as well while being in a warm sun.  Give me a nice cover of fur
>in Europe in winter time any day ;-)

Not so fast, Darwin :^) .  Even in the hottest places, most mammals
have a
layer of body hair.  The few hairless mammals on the planet are mostly
marine ones, like whales and manatees, who actually live IN the water.