Origins

Hardcover, US, 1st edition.

Origins: What New Discoveries Reveal About the Emergence of Our Species and Its Possible Future is a popular science book about human origins written by paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey and Roger Lewin and first published on 1977-10-28.

I found this book at a secondhand store and thought it looked amazing, so I bought it.

Status

I own a first edition hard cover and am currently reading it.

Review

Good

• The book is fully illustrated with lots of diagrams and photos of the topics being discussed.
• The authors clearly state, multiple times, that a lot of what paleoanthropologists do is interpretation and speculative. They also give multiple examples from tribal humans and other animals which demonstrate the wide variety of possible behaviors to shiw why it's so difficult to describe prehistoric human behavior. I like this because not enough scientists treat their fields with the proper amount of humility.

Bad

• A lot of the book is now outdated. Terms for ancient organisms have changed, lineages have been re-worked, etc.
• While discussing a site with a fig leaf impression, the authors make a joke about Adam and Eve. I'm fine with the joke, but young earth creationists don't need any help with their crazy beliefs and could easily quote mine this!
• For some reason, the publisher chose Rockwell as the typeface for the entire book. Although Rockwell is an attractive typeface, it doesn't read well at the small point size used in the book.

Ugly

• Nothing.

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