An enjoyable look at the history of the human species - or at least what is known of it for now. The book goes into decent depth in terms of controversy surrounding certain aspects of evolution (for instance, bipedalism and why it arose) as well as explaining how paleoanthropologists manage to deduce as much as they do from such small fragments of fossil.

The book was overall enjoyable and a light enough read that it goes by quickly. In particular, the illustrations and photographs were near. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a brief overview of history - possibly to discover which aspect would be most interesting to delve further into. ( )

Like a series of Discover articles, up-to-date, lots of nice photos, graphs, and charts. A useful primer on the topic. ( )

This is a very readable and visually appealing introduction to our evolutionary roots. Packed with illustrations, photographs, and discussions of contemporary theories (example: Did humans and neanderthals interbreed?), it reads fairly fast. I found the actual writing to be a bit choppy though, with a few vagaries and some distracting tangents. Still, it's fairly up to date (it even includes Homo Floresiensis - the so-called "hobbits"). As a general overview of a fascinating science, I'd give it a solid recommendation. ( )

Like a series of Discover articles, up-to-date, lots of nice photos, graphs, and charts. A useful primer on the topic. ( )

Human origins is always a frustrating topic. While the broad sweep of our origins are well established, we are missing much of the information necessary to tell a good story about it. Which skulls represent which wayposts in whose lineages? How did the Neanderthals die? Why did modern Homo sapiens finally burst out of Africa and across the world? What is the relationship between sapiens and ergaster? When did language begin? When and how did any of the interesting things about ourselves come to be? We don't know. Many of our ancestors lived in areas where fossilization happens poorly, and the time spans and population sizes were both small enough that there were relatively few individual ancestors to leave behind remains. We know where we came from, but not the interesting details of how.

That said, for those who can stand the frustration in the incompleteness of our knowledge, this is a lovely book. Evolutionary concepts and research methods are well-explained for laypeople; the history is described in concrete, imaginable terms; the fossils are lavishly photographed; maps and timelines abound. In all, the reader comes away with an accurate and evocative summary of what we know, and what we may yet hope to learn.