Richard E. Leakey (1944–2022)

Written in 1995, this book was unbelievably ahead of its time. Leaky explains how life started and evolved on earth, how natural events wiped the slate almost clean 5 times in the past, the most recent being 65 million years ago when the dinosaurs were wiped out, and how we're in the midst of a sixth extinction event caused by human activity.

This is a good overview of human evolution, written in such a way that you don’t need to be familiar with technical or scientific terms.

My attention started to waver during the last three chapters, which include analysis of art, plus how and when people first started speaking. I found all this a bit bland and repetitive, but the first three-quarters or so of the book is highly engaging.

Brief overview of the most pivotal moments in the exploration of human origins, intended as an introductory text for the general public, (as was the overall objective of the Science Masters Series). Quick and entertaining read, which, by it's very nature, aged quite quickly!

7/8/22