Quantity:

More Buying Choices

4 used & new from �4.54

Have one to sell? Sell yours here

Share your own customer images

Search inside this book

The First Human: The Race to Discover Our Earliest Ancestors (Hardcover)

by Annette Gibbons (Author)

5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

RRP:	�14.99
Price:	�12.74 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save:	�2.25 (15%)
	o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Usually dispatched within 9 to 14 days.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

3 used from �4.54

Other Editions:	RRP:	Our Price:	Other Offers:
Paperback (Reprint)	�9.07	�7.43	17 used & new from �4.66
Library Binding (Reprint)			4 used & new from �25.76
Audio CD (Audiobook,CD,Unabridged)	�17.12	�15.41	11 used & new from �5.84
MP3 CD (Audiobook)	�12.22	�11.01	9 used & new from �8.25

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with Seven Million Years: The Story of Human Evolution (Phoenix Press) by Douglas Palmer

Price For Both: �18.48

One of these items ships sooner than the other. Show details

This item: The First Human: The Race to Discover Our Earliest Ancestors by Annette Gibbons

Usually dispatched within 9 to 14 days.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

Seven Million Years: The Story of Human Evolution (Phoenix Press) by Douglas Palmer

In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

This item: The First Human: The Race to Discover Our Earliest Ancestors by Annette Gibbons
Usually dispatched within 9 to 14 days.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
Seven Million Years: The Story of Human Evolution (Phoenix Press) by Douglas Palmer
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Seven Million Years: The Story of Human Evolution (Phoenix Press)

by Douglas Palmer

3.3 out of 5 stars (6) �5.74

Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors

by Nicholas Wade

4.3 out of 5 stars (6) �8.43

The Last Human: A Guide to Twenty Species of Extinct Human Ancestors

by I Tattersall

5.0 out of 5 stars (4) �22.05

Deep Ancestry: Inside the Genographic Project

by Spencer Wells

4.0 out of 5 stars (3) �4.58

Homo Britannicus: The Incredible Story of Human Life in Britain

by Chris Stringer

4.0 out of 5 stars (20) �5.74

› Explore similar items

Product details

Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell; annotated edition edition (20 Sep 2006)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0385512260
ISBN-13: 978-0385512268
Product Dimensions: 23.9 x 15.5 x 2.8 cm

Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 762,246 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Product Description

Synopsis

An account of the search for the missing link between humans and apes journeys into the competitive world of fossil hunting and the lives of competing scientists determined to uncover the mysteries of human evolution.

Inside This Book (Learn More)

Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

(What's this?)

Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)

paleoanthropolo gy

science

evolution

paleontology

human origins

human evolution

goo

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	52% buy the item featured on this page: The First Human: The Race to Discover Our Earliest Ancestors 5.0 out of 5 stars (1) �12.74
	16% buy Out of Eden: The Peopling of the World 4.3 out of 5 stars (6) �6.47
	13% buy The Complete World of Human Evolution (Complete Series) 5.0 out of 5 stars (2) �15.22
	11% buy The Last Human: A Guide to Twenty Species of Extinct Human Ancestors 5.0 out of 5 stars (4) �22.05

Explore similar items

Customer Reviews

1 Review

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

5.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Bones of Contention" [updated] **, 29 Jul 2006

By	Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

If this book is any indication, palaeoanthropology needs new electives in its curriculum. A course in "Field Combat Tactics" appears useful, while "The Intricacies of Site Permits" seems almost essential - perhaps a requirement. Ann Gibbons may not be certified as a combat correspondent, but she does a fine job of narrating the course anthropology has taken in seeking the "first human" and the conflicts that have arisen over the findings. What is notable about the strife among the members of that community is that Roger Lewin seemed to have covered it in "Bones of Contention" in 1987. Things appear to have heated up instead of calming down.

Opening with an account of French scholar Michel Brunet's work in the desert of Chad, Gibbons explains what's involved in finding human fossils. Darwin, she reminds us, suggested human origins lay in Africa. This idea challenged the received wisdom of Asia being the source of humanity. Gibbons' account of how ideas about human origins became established, challenged and regularly overturned makes gripping reading. She notes that Don Johanson's "Lucy", a pivotal find in tracing the human lineage, held primacy for many years. Lucy's age and location seemed indicative, granting her direct ancestry to modern humans and pinpointing the upper Rift Valley as humanity's starting point. Brunet, among others, has doubts about this scenario. It was too simple, and simple answers have no place in human evolution.

From Piltdown to Pithecanthropus, Gibbons clearly depicts the various ideas, their promoters and their resolution that have occurred during the years. Fossil hunters have roamed over Africa's wild landscapes seeking clues. They are scattered and rarely definitive, usually providing only tantalising and incomplete bits of information. Lucy herself was but 40% complete [if you pair the bones, 20% if you count them against the total], while Nariokotome Boy had 80% of his skeleton retrieved. Gibbons explains why certain bones have importance in determining if a fossil indicates it's a hominid, while others provide clues to environmental conditions when the creature lived. Diet, activity, and other hints can be derived, but the analytical task is arduous. Almost as difficult as the field retrievals themselves.

The competition to find the "first human" is sometimes intense. Finding the fossil is tough enough, with searchers crawling over the ground like penitent supplicants. Getting to the site is more than simply boarding a 4 X 4 or camel train. Since the searchers are mostly Europeans or North Americans, the issue of permits to dig arises early. These often require months of negotiation, sometimes with money changing hands to facilitate the process. Abandoned sites or lapsed permits may require additional resolution. In at least one case, weapons were in evidence. What more could shatter the stereotype of the bumbling academic unable to deal with the "real world"?

The conflicts and contentions are slowly being resolved. "Lucy", once firmly lodged on the track leading to modern humans, is now on a side track. New finds, some not even clearly bipedal, let alone proto-human, need corroborating fossils. The recent discoveries have emerged almost too rapidly to identify or classify them. "Orrorin tugensis", or "Millennium Man" as he was mis-named for having been unearthed in 2000 C.E., triggered a major media event. The label "Our Newest Oldest Ancestor" applied to the find implied that there might be more to come. Such was the case when Michel Brunet's team, working in Chad, far from the Rift Valley, produced "Toumai". This unexpected fossil has become the actual "newest oldest" clocking in at about 6 - 7 million years old. As with all palaeoanthropologists, Brunet isn't satisfied with this revolutionary discovery. He is headed north, into Libya, to see if the Okavango Delta might prove the "Garden of Eden" for ancient humanity. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

** with apologies to Roger Lewin

Comment Comment (1) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all customer reviews...

.jsOffDisplayBlock { display: block; } .jsOffDisplayInline { display: inline; } .jsOffVisibility { visibility: visible; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jsOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jqOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jqOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jqOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jqOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jqOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; }