Pioneering paleoanthropologist and winner of the American Book Award, DONALD C. JOHANSON founded the Institute of Human Origins in 1981, now located at Arizona State University in Tempe. KATE WONG has been covering human evolution for Scientific American for more than a decade.
Very engaging, thanks perhaps to popular scientific journalist Wong, [LUCY'S LEGACY] communicates the poignancy of Johanson's occasionally nerve-wracking return to the birthplace of his career with something of the verve and suspense of an Indiana Jones movie. Hooked by that adventurous beginning, and introduced to many of the figures whose work preoccupies what follows, many will continue with the book's real meat, which implicatively but not literally argues that far from there being no missing link between apes and humans, there are several, complicatedly related, with more being found and likely to be found in the foreseeable future. Booklist (starred review) Praise for Donald C. Johanson Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind A fascinating, candid, and scientifically reliable account of one of the most compelling scientific investigations ever undertaken the effort to understand how human beings evolved. New York Times A glorious success . . . The science manages to be as exciting and spellbinding as the juiciest gossip. San Francisco Chronicle A riveting real-life saga of scientific detection. Cosmopolitan Johanson is doing for the earth what Carl Sagan has done for the cosmos. Cleveland Plain Dealer Lucy s Child Superb adventure . . . Lucy s Child burns with the infectious excitement of hominid fever the tedium and doubting, and the ultimate triumph of an expedition that unearths something wonderful about the origins of humanity. Peter Gorner, Chicago Tribune An exciting, fast-moving, nuts-and-bolts narrative. Marvin Harris, Washington Post Book World An authoritative and gripping account . . . brilliant . . . an up-to-date, eloquent story of human evolution. John Pfeiffer, author of The Emergence of Humankind From Lucy to Language A concise and authoritative summary of research techniques and strategies. New York Times Book Review From the Hardcover edition.