A very nicely written book which kept my interest. The subject is the search for human origins, mainly in Africa, which the author tells in chronological order starting about the time of Darwin. Leading characters including the Leakeys (Louis, Mary and Richard), Donald Johanson, Tim White, Raymond Dart and Robert Broom. A number of points stand out. First, the field has been contentious since the first Neanderthal specimens were found in Europe, as researchers have often reached diametrically opposed conclusions about the same specimens. This diversity of interpretation has caused classification to be contentious, as for example whether to classify a specimen as belonging to genus Homo or to Australopithecus. Ecological and evolutionary theory has probably been as much a hindrance as a help; for example the idea of competitive exclusion was used to deny the possibility that more than one hominid species could have been living in the same place at the same time, despite fossil evidence to the contrary. Finally, although paleontologists may not like molecular methods of determining relatedness among groups, or the timing of when groups diverged, the molecular results tend to stand the test of time.