Ancestral Passions, The Leakey Family and the Quest for Humankind's Beginnings  •  Virginia Morell BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1996 •  PAPER  • 640 PAGES A biography of the Leakey family, documenting their discoveries and their vast contributions to the field of paleontology. Controversial, but dedicated to their science, the Leakeys have been instrumental in tracing human origins to East Africa. The book covers the lives and work of Richard, Louis and Mary as well as successive generations of the family. (EAF76, $38.95)
Becoming Human, Evolution and Human Uniqueness  •  Ian Tattersall ARCHAEOLOGY •  1999 •  PAPER  • 258 PAGES A cultural history of our tribe, Tattersall offers a wide-ranging, thought-provoking tour of human origins and culture from an anthropologist's point of view. His focus is, in part, on the human ability to represent the world in symbol and art. A curator in the department of anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History and popular author, Tattersall is an opinionated, cultured guide to Homo sapiens. (NAT45, $14.00)
Bones of Contention, Controversies in the Search for Human Origins  •  Roger Lewin NATURAL HISTORY •  1997 •  PAPER  • 3605 PAGES Tackling the giants. Lewin, a science writer who has worked with Richard Leakey, outlines the issues, debates and personalities in paleoanthropology this even-handed, fascinating account. (ATP05, $27.50)
Evolution, The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory  •  Edward Larson NATURAL HISTORY •  2006 •  PAPER  • 368 PAGES Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and historian Edward Larson examines the multifaceted history of the scientific theory which has had such an impact on twentieth century thought. Larson begins his study before Darwin, with the scientific breakthroughs of the French Revolution, and then examines Darwin's work and its effects, from the age of Social Darwinism up to present day genetics and evolutionary studies. He focuses on the social and political controversies that have surrounded evolutionary theory, particularly in the United States. (NAT64, $14.95)
Extinct Humans  •  Ian Tattersall  •  Jeffrey Schwartz ARCHAEOLOGY •  2001 •  PAPER  • 224 PAGES An illustrated overview of the origin of our species, rewarding for both the scholar and interested general reader. Tattersall and Schwartz, as knowledgeable as anyone with the six-million-year hominid fossil record, explore the history of our species in this masterly synthesis of archaeological discovery. It features good color photographs of key evidence. (NAT46, $30.00)
From Lucy to Language  •  Donald Johanson  •  Blake Edgar ARCHAEOLOGY •  2006 •  HARD COVER  • 288 PAGES A strikingly illustrated survey of hominid evolution, featuring stunning color photographs of significant fossils, tools, and cave art, revised, updated and expanded for this second edition. Nearly all the early hominid remains are photographed in full color, mostly at actual size. Johanson supplies the concise, admirably clear accompanying text. (EAF85, $65.00)
The Human Career, Human Biological and Cultural Origins  •  Richard G. Klein REFERENCE •  1999 •  HARD COVER  • 810 PAGES An overview of human evolution, first published in 1989, and now substantially revised to reflect the current understanding of paleoanthrolopology. It's a popular textbook for university courses. (AFR74, $55.00)
Human Origins, What Bones and Genomes Tell Us About Ourselves  •  Rob Desalle  •  Ian Tattersall SCIENCE •  2007 •  HARD COVER The companion book by the co-curators of the Hall of Human Origins at the American Museum of Natural History. (ATP19, $29.95)
In the Footsteps of Eve, The Mystery of Human Origins  •  Lee R. Berger SCIENCE •  2001 •  PAPER  • 336 PAGES Berger challenges the orthodoxy on a critical point of debate in the field of paleoanthropology. Based on an important find he made in 1997 -- the oldest footprint of a modern human ever found -- he claims that humans evolved near the Cape of Good Hope, rather than in East Africa as convention holds. With black-and-white photographs and illustrations. (ATP10, $14.00)
Investigating Olduvai, Archaeology of Human Origins  •  Jeanne Septis CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1997 •  AUDIO CD Created for university students, this interactive CD-ROM is divided into three sections: data, analysis and investigation. The data section includes excellent information about East Africa, its geology, wildlife and history in addition to the fossil finds themselves and stratigraphy of the fossil site. The analysis section illustrates issues and controversies surrounding human evolution. For Macintosh or PC. (EAF90, $39.95)
The Last Human, A Guide to Twenty Species of Extinct Humans  •  Ian Tattersall  •  Kenneth Mowbray  •  Esteban Sarmiento  •  G.J. Sawyer  •  Victor Deak  •  Donald Johanson  •  Meave Leakey NATURAL HISTORY •  2007 •  This illustrated, authoritative overview of the human species from Homo habilis to Homo sapiens, with contributions by Ian Tattersall and other curators at the American Museum of Natural History, is published as a companion to the Hall of Human Origins. Among its feartues are innovative 3-D reconstructiuons of how our ancestors may have appeared over the last six to seven million years. (ATP18, $45.00)
Lucy's Legacy, Sex and Intelligence in Human Evolution  •  Alison Jolly SCIENCE •  2001 •  PAPER  • 528 PAGES Jolly brings the perspective of a sociobiologist -- and of her decades of field work on the female-dominated ring-tailed Lemur -- to this lively account of who we are as a species. She looks particularly at the evolution of gender and intelligence. (AFR104, $18.95)
Lucy, The Beginnings of Humankind  •  Maitland Armstrong Edey  •  Donald Johanson ARCHAEOLOGY •  1990 •  PAPER  • 409 PAGES The original, influential account of the development of human evolution and, especially, of the thrilling discovery of Lucy in 1974. It includes an account of the four field seasons in Hadar, Ethiopia from 1967-1977. (ATP06, $17.00)
The Monkey in the Mirror, Essays on the Science of What Makes Us Human  •  Ian Tattersall SCIENCE •  2003 •  PAPER  • 203 PAGES A lively, literate collection of essays on evolution, evolutionary change and the diversity of hominids by the popular American Museum of Natural History curator and writer. (ATP11, $14.00)
No Bone Unturned, The Adventures of a Top Smithsonian Forensic Scientist and the Legal Battle for America's Oldest Skeletons  •  Jeff Benedict ARCHAEOLOGY •  2004 •  PAPER  • 320 PAGES Both a portrait of one of world's top experts on skeletal remains and an account of the legal battle over the study of the Kennewick Man, oldest human skeleton found in North America. (SCI73, $13.95)
Origins Reconsidered, In Search of What Makes Us Human  •  Richard Leakey  •  Roger Lewin SCIENCE •  1993 •  PAPER  • 400 PAGES A personal account of hominid evolution by paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey with science writer Richard Lewin. They look back at the evidence and conclusions from the original 1977 book "Origins," augmented with a thoughtful consideration of what makes us human. (ATP07, $17.95)
Oxford Illustrated History of Prehistoric Europe  •  Barry W Cunliffe HISTORY •  2001 •  PAPER  • 532 PAGES Dozens of experts contributed essays to this illustrated account of the sweep of early human history in Europe from the Paleolithic to the fall of the Roman Empire, featuring 300 well-integrated maps, photographs and site plans. (EUR32, $31.95)
The Tree Where Man Was Born  •  Peter Matthiessen TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1972 •  PAPER  • 430 PAGES A vivid portrait of East Africa, enthralling in its masterful detail on nature and daily life. Matthiessen ranges from prehistory to modern East Africa, circa 1961, deftly combining the finest of nature writing and sensitive commentary on social and political history. In this far-ranging book, we travel with him to Maasailand, Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania, the Kenyan Highlands and out into the bush to witness the animals. It's an enduring classic, fully as interesting today as when it was first published by the "New Yorker" in 1972. (EAF27, $17.00)
The Wisdom of the Bones, In Search of Human Origins  •  Alan Walker  •  Pat Shipman SCIENCE •  1997 •  PAPER  • 368 PAGES A dramatic account of the discovery, in 1984, and significance of a remarkably intact skeleton of Homo erectus in northern Kenya. (ATP09, $15.00)
The World from Beginnings to 4000 BCE  •  Ian Tattersall ARCHAEOLOGY •  2007 •  HARD COVER  • 176 PAGES In this lively and readable introduction, renowned anthropologist Ian Tattersall thoroughly examines both the fossil and archeological records to trace human evolution from the earliest beginnings of our zoological family Hominidae, through the emergence of Homo sapiens, to the Agricultural Revolution. He begins with an accessible overview of evolutionary theory and then explores the major turning points in human evolution: the emergence of the genus Homo, the advantages of bipedalism--the trait that most strongly distinguishes humans from other primates--the birth of the big brain and symbolic thinking, Paleolithic and Neolithic tool-making, and finally the enormously consequential shift from hunter-gatherer to agricultural societies 10,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent and elsewhere. Focusing particularly on the pattern of events and innovations in human biological and cultural evolution, Tattersall offers illuminating commentary on a wide range of topics, from early intimations of symbolism in Africa to our earliest known artistic expressions--the exquisite Cro-Magnon cave paintings and 30,000 year--old flutes made from vulture bones-to ancient burial rites, the beginnings of language, the likely causes of Neanderthal extinction, the relationship between agriculture and Christianity, and the still unsolved mysteries of human consciousness. (WLD133, $60.00)