The recent discovery of the diminutive Homo floresiensis (nicknamed "the Hobbit") in Indonesia has sparked new interest in the study of human evolution. In this Very Short Introduction, renowned evolutionary scholar Bernard Wood traces the history of paleoanthropology from its beginnings in the 18th century to today's latest fossil finds. Along the way we are introduced to the lively cast of characters, past and present, involved in evolutionary research.Although concentrating on the fossil evidence for human evolution, the book also covers the latest genetic evidence about regional variations in the modern human genome that relate to our evolutionary history. Wood draws on over 30 years of experience to provide an insiders view of the field, and demonstrates that our understanding of human evolution is critically dependent on advances in related sciences, such as paleoclimatology, geochronology, systematics, genetics and developmental biology. This is an ideal introduction for anyone interested in the origins and development of man.

Bernard John (Bernie) Wood FRS is a British geologist, and Research Professor, at Oxford University.[1] He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union.[2] He has received awards from a number of other learned societies including the Mineralogical Society of America, the Geochemical Society, the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland, the European Geosciences Union, the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung (DE), the Max Planck Gesellschaft (DE), the Deutsche Mineralogische Gesellschaft and the Geological Society of London.