New discoveries are constantly changing our understanding of human evolution. In 2004, researchers in Indonesia found the remains of hominids that stood only three feet tall and had brains the size of our own — igniting one of the fiercest controversies in the study of human origins. What are the implications of this new knowledge? And what can our own DNA tell us about our past that fossils could not? As we enter a new phase in the study of our evolution, Carl Zimmer sheds light on these questions and more in this illuminating re-examination of our ancestry.

CARL ZIMMER’s Soul Made Flesh: The Discovery of the Brain and How It Changed the World was named one of 100 Notable Books of 2004 by The New York Times Book Review.