The First Human

In what must be a faintly galling development to those who subscribe to the counter-evolution theory known as intelligent design, paleontologists are peering back even further in time for evidence of our earliest ancestors. In fact, recent fossil discoveries suggest that 3.1 million-year-old ”Lucy,” long thought to be the earliest human, might be predated by hominids who walked the earth another 3 million years earlier. With great flair (and a real gift for explaining a somewhat dusty science), Ann Gibbons recounts a recent tale of four research teams in The First Human — each with its share of gigantic brains, egos, and competitive drive — locked in a thrilling race to establish nothing less than the dawn of humankind.