How did humans come to be who we are? Foster explores three pivotal moments in the evolution of human consciousness in order to understand perhaps the strangest animal of all: the human being. Readers will experience the Upper Paleolithic era as a Cro-Magnon hunter-gatherer, living in makeshift shelters without amenities in the rural woods of England. For the Neolithic period, when humans stayed in one place and domesticated plants and animals, they...

From the most celebrated heir to Darwin comes a groundbreaking book on evolution, the summa work of Edward O. Wilson's legendary career.

Nick Lane expertly reconstructs the history of life by describing the ten greatest inventions of evolution (including DNA, photosynthesis, sex, and sight), based on their historical impact, role in organisms today, and relevance to current controversies.

A fascinating, far-reaching study of how our species' innate capacity for culture altered the course of our social and evolutionary history.

"Many animals and plants eke out seemingly unremarkable lives. Passive, constrained, modest, threatened. Then, in a blink of evolutionary time, they flourish spectacularly. Once we start to look, these "sleeping beauties" crop up everywhere. But why? Looking at the book of life, from apex predators to keystone crops, and informed by his own cutting-edge experiments, renowned scientist Andreas Wagner demonstrates that innovations can come frequently...

Examines mammals morphed into lots of new earthlings. Explains the evolution of life on Earth, from the dinosaurs to the rise of modern humans, in the form of a letter written by the thirteen-billion-year-old universe itself to an Earthling.

"From acclaimed writer and biologist Sean B. Carroll, a rollicking, awe-inspiring story of the surprising power of chance in our lives and the world. Why is the world the way it is? How did we get here? Does everything happen for a reason or are some things left to chance? Philosophers and theologians have pondered these questions for millennia, but startling scientific discoveries over the past half century are revealing that we live in a world driven...

In this landmark book of popular science, Daniel E. Lieberman—chair of the department of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and a leader in the field—gives us a lucid and engaging account of how the human body evolved over millions of years, even as it shows how the increasing disparity between the jumble of adaptations in our Stone Age bodies and advancements in the modern world is occasioning this paradox: greater longevity...

Fossil Men is the riveting science-adventure story of the brilliant team who discovered the "Ardi" skeleton, a human more than a million years older than the famous Lucy, and their 20-year quest to redefine our understanding of human evolution.