Customer Reviews

The First Human: The Race to Discover Our Earliest Ancestors

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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

As a student of paleoanthropology, I was slightly wary of reading another popular account of fossil hunting in Africa. After finishing "The First Human," however, I can say with certainty that not only did Ann Gibbons do her homework, but that she was able to deftly weave together both the science and the politics in one of the most fascinating narratives I've read in some time. One really begins to understand both the hardship of paleoanthropological fieldwork and the thrill of discovery. But that of course is only the beginning. Her descriptions of the ensuing scientific cross-fire, often tainted by personal and political conflict, are clear and engaging. All in all, a well-written and up-to-date chronicle of the science of human origins.

This book is really the story of a few teams looking for "breakthrough" early hominid fossils. As such it is episodic, and fails to give a broad picture of what has been learned about human evolution how it was learned. While generally well written and up to date, the concept of the book prevents it from being either a good overview of "The First Humans" or a compelling story. Past books written by paleoanthropologists themselves (Leakey, Johanson, Falk, and Shipman come to mind) have both explained more science and displayed far more passion for the quest, but at the cost of being expressions of one person's viewpoint rather than an attempt to deal with the subject objectively. It's been several years since I've found a really compelling book on this subject, so this one may be as good a choice as any for an up to date popular book. But it would be nice to see some more "insider" books hit the shelves with some real passion!

First of all, let me say that I enjoyed reading The First Human. I thought Ann Gibbons managed to do a good job sifting through the newest material in the field of paleoanthropology. However, as with most areas of science, by the time new discoveries make it into a book the information has become passe to those most interested in it.

I thought Before the Dawn by Nicholas Wade was more cutting edge than The First Human and made more solid connections. Gibbons book explores a great deal about the research being conducted, what discoveries have been made in the last decade and what they mean. Some of this information is very interesting. She also honestly reports on the researchers pushing the envelope on what we know about our ancestors. A few of them are just difficult, spoiled and weird. In fact, a thought that kept creeping into my head as I read The First Human is that I'm not sure evolution is working out. Humankind, if judged by some of the characters included in Gibbons book makes one wonder. Maybe the monkies new something we didn't when they got off the evolutionary escalator.

Gibbon's looks at the continuing race to find the oldest human ancestor. To the scientist who makes the discovery goes international fame and perhaps riches as well. And it is this prize that drives the researchers efforts and perhaps makes them so strange and difficult.

I highly recommend The First Human. Ann Gibbon's style of writing is great and she does manage to lace together a wonderful read.

+++++

This book, by science writer Ann Gibbons, chronicles the race to find when and where the "missing links" between apes and humans first appeared. Why did this race begin? Answer: In 1871, Charles Darwin proposed in a book that there must have been earliest ancestors of humans and proposed where they probably lived.

Gibbons describes her book eloquently:

"This book is not a comprehensive history. It is my perception of the quest for the earliest ancestors during the past fifteen years, as I covered the science of human origins for [the publication] "Science." I have focused on the leaders of four teams that found the earliest members of the human family. There are many other researchers whose work on the origins of humans is equally worthy but whom I could not mention for the sake of the narrative...[S]ome researchers urged me to stick [only] to the science and to avoid writing about the politics and personal rivalries [involved in the quest]...I found it impossible, however, to separate the human story of the quest from the scientific results...In the end , I decided to include personal details where they influenced the science or revealed the motivations of the scientists [involved in the quest]. My intent was to show the triumphs of the science of paleoanthropology [the study of the human fossil record and archaeology] and Darwinian evolution [evolution through natural selection] in the past century, despite personal battles and intense rivalries, false starts, and mistakes. The science lurches forward despite the foibles of the individual scientists [involved]."

Gibbons lays out her book quite well. Before she gets into the introduction, she includes four pieces of information that generally summarize her entire book and that are to be referred to occasionally as you read the main narrative.

The first piece of information is an excellent map that's entitled "The Cradle of Humanity." Here, the reader is presented the twelve sites "where the fossils proposed as the earliest known members of the human family have been discovered in the past century."

The next piece of information is an impressive table entitled "First Human Fossil Finds by Year." The chart includes thirteen entries and spans the years (1891 to 2002). Here's the 1891 entry:

YEAR: 1891; DISCOVERER: Eugene Dubois; SCIENTIFIC NAME: Homo erectus; NICKNAME: Java Man; AGE: 0.8-1.2 million (years old): LOCATION: Trinil, Java; SIGNIFICANCE: First fossil of early hominid. Suggested Asian origin of humankind.

The third piece of information is an interesting chart that puts the discoveries mentioned in the book (as well as some not mentioned) into proper time line perspective. This chart has the title "The Human Family."

The last piece of information entitled "The Fossil Hunters" presents very brief profiles of the almost thirty major people Gibbons mentions in her book. For example, the discoverer Eugene Dubois (mentioned above) is descibed as follows:

"Dutch anatomist and paleontologist [paleontology is the study of the fossilized remains of plants and animals] who discovered the first fossils of a hominid [in this book, this term is used to describe humans and their ancestors, and it does not include chimpanzees, gorillas, or other apes], Java man, in 1891 in Java, Indonesia. He died in 1940 in the Netherlands."

I was surprised how easy this book was to read considering the subject matter. For me, it was so well-written that I literally had a difficult time putting it down. Any science that was encountered was well-explained by Gibbons.

There are almost twenty black and white photographs found in the middle of this book. The majority of these photos are of the main people profiled in the book but there are a few of some discovered fossils.

Something else I found useful was the brief glossary found at the end of the book. The words defined above had their definitions taken directly from this glossary.

Finally, there are a few problems. The major one concerns the photographs mentioned above. I would have liked to have seen many more photos of the discovered fossils instead of the photos of the scientists involved. However, this problem can be rectified by entering the scientific name of a fossillized hominid into an internet search engine. Some of the internet pages you are directed to have fascinating images.

I also found a few minor problems. First, the first numbered page just before the page titled "Introduction" is untitled and is not even mentioned in the table of contents! At first I was confused by what I read and it was not until I finished the entire book did I understand its significance. Not a good way to begin an interesting book! Second, I feel that the glossary is an important part of this book. But instead of coming right after the main narrative, it comes after the less important acknowledgements. The acknowledgements should be either right at the beginning or right at the end. Lastly, the book's front dust jacket has a picture of a fossil head above people working in a sandy area of land. (This picture is shown above by Amazon.) No where on this dust jacket is the name of this fossil head given. Instead, you have to read through almost the entire book to find the name of this interesting and important fossil.

In conclusion, this is a must read for anyone interested in human evolution and human nature!

(first published 2006; map; fossil discoveries; time line; profile of fossil hunters; untitled page, introduction; 3 parts or 17 chapters; main narrative 245 pages; acknowledgements; glossary; notes, bibliography; index)

+++++

Few are neutral on the subject of human origins. Many find the evolution of the human species a subject that demeans the status of man as a little lower than the angels. Those that accept evolution find themselves on one side or another of the various controversies caused by the new discoveries that seem to appear on a very regular basis. It is this latter ferment that Ann Gibbons describes in her book "The First Human". She has produced an excellent account of the often contentious search for human origins.

It is certainly unfortunate that so many of the people involved in the discovery of human fossils have been egotistical and often vicious in their treatment of anyone they deemed as competitors. The political maneuvering that denied some researchers permits and the often lurid public attacks on rival researchers left paleoanthropolgy with a stained reputation and very possibly did some damage to the research itself. One is reminded of the famous Marsh-Cope feud over dinosaur and other fossil bones. Only medical research may have had as cut-throat a history as paleontology.

Still, either despite the unpleasant fights or perhaps because of them, many fossils have been discovered and our understanding of human evolution has become more solid with time. In fact there are so many fossils (as well as DNA evidence) connecting humans and our closest relatives that human evolution from the same line as apes is more established than ever. An African origin for all of the various "races" is also nearly certain, despite the various multi-origin or Asian origin hypotheses. We are thus all Africans and we are all also very closely related, despite superficial differences, such as skin color or head shape.

If you want a very readable history of the discovery of man's ancestors up to nearly the present, this is a good book to read. Of course it is undoubtedly already out of date in this fast moving field!

Ann Gibbons has covered ongoing developments in paleoanthropology for Science magazine for the past ten years. She possesses an intimate knowledge of both the science and personalities of the field. She also has an ability to explain scientific information so that a lay reader can clearly comprehend it.

For all that, Gibbons is not a great storyteller. She does humanize and enliven this tale of scientific discovery by providing us with behind-the-scenes accounts of the egos and petty feuds of paleoanthropology. But there's little sense of suspense or drama (or even humor) here.

She mentions, for example, that Louis Leakey searched for two decades before discovering anything notable. She doesn't tell us what drove Leakey on this seemingly quixotic quest. Or what drives other paleoanthropologists to suffer inhospitable, and sometimes dangerous, conditions for years just to find a few hominid molars or - if they are lucky - the fragment of an ancient skull or femur. What mysteries haunt these scientists? What passions drive them? And what of our distant forbearers? Gibbons gives us surprisingly little information about what it might have been like to be a hominid 3 or 6 million years ago.

The book could have also benefited from illustrations. For example, when Gibbons discussed the dentition of new discoveries - which she did frequently - I wish I could have referenced photos or diagrams to better understand why the discoverers were excited, or not. Several species of hominids are discussed in the book and I would have understood them much better if I could have seen the similarities and differences with my own eyes.

All-in-all, not a bad book. But not a great one either. Let's call it 3.5 stars.

As best I can tell this is Ann Gibbons first book. And it makes you want to keep an eye out for anything else she publishes.

Nominally this book is a report on the search for our first ancestors. But in reality it is a book on the people doing the searching. Big time science, be it physics or medicine or, as in this case, paleontologists the struggle is only partially one of finding the answer to the problem. The real problems are in getting funded, then when you discover something, going to war against your fellow scientists whole will be attacking your results because if you get more funding, more support, more prizes they will suffer, or at least they think they will.

Ms Gibbons primarily follows four teams who are looking for evidence about our earliest ancestors. Our ancestors didn't conveniently die in nice places that you'd want to visit. Having to go where the fossils are. And in the case of human ancestors, that means Africa. And not the nicest places in Africa but dry hot deserts in Ethiopia, Chad and places like that.

While I suspect that the discoveries described in this book will be replaced by the next finding somewhere else, the interplay of the people will remain constant.

Next, Ms. Gibbons, how about looning into astronomy/cosmology.

I don't have a lot to add to the other glowing reviews of this book. I loved it and put it in the same category as Elizabeth Royte's very fine "Tapir's Morning Bath" for being extremely well-written, as well as providing both scientific information that is useful to the layman and thoughtful reflections on the personalities, methods and motivations of the scientists involved. The subject matter is, or course, fascinating, but it's also a good reminder of how we know what we know about human origins (a lot, but at the same time not much at all) and how contested the details are. It's a book that makes you want to live long to see how things will unravel in coming decades.

The First Human by Ann Gibbons is a good book for any armchair paleoanthropologist. She reviews concisely the history of the search for human origins and reveals in great detail the recent discoveries made over the last few decades.
The book is well written and analytical with in depth reporting from actual interviews with the principals who have made the most recent finds.
I highly recommend this book.