Brief thoughts on The First Human

Even though I still have less than 100 pages left to go, I thought I would share a few thoughts about Ann Gibbons' recent book The First Human (specifically since Pierce asked for my thoughts on it). I do have a few criticisms, but outside of a few minor points of contention the book is highly enjoyable and serves as a good primer for anyone interested on catching up on some of the major discoveries of fossil hominids in the last two decades.

Prior to a class about African prehistory last fall I had never heard the names Ardipithecus, Orrorin, Sahelanthropus, or Australopithecus anamensis, and if such names are unfamiliar to you as well then Gibbons' book is a good place to start. "Lucy" (Australopithecus afarensis) casts a long shadow over paleoanthropology despite her small size, but I am glad that Gibbons spends plenty of time on important discoveries that have yet to penetrate the public consciousness.

The First Human is a vividly-written nonfiction page-turner; even though I knew much of the story already Gibbons' technique of weaving summaries taken from popular books with interviews & meetings with paleoanthropologists keeps the narrative from getting bogged down. Her anecdotes about how journals like Nature reacted to discoveries of fossil hominids is particularly interesting (Gibbons, after all, has covered paleoanthropology stories for Science), and the author definitely makes the most of her experience as a science journalist.

Parts of the book are slightly marred by repetition, however, as in the common restatements of the commanding presence of Richard Leakey in the public's perception of paleoanthropology. While this technique might be helpful to people without much (or any) previous knowledge of paleoanthropology, such short sections are like little bumps in the road for those who are more well-acquainted with the discipline. Speaking as such a person, I was disappointed to see Robert Broom get such short shrift in the book, especially since he did so much to try and support Raymond Dart during a time when Dart took a break from paleoanthropology. Likewise, Dart's later hypotheses about "murderous ape-men" and the South African caves go essentially undiscussed, an oversight that I feel is unfortunate.

I was also disappointed to see the textbook cardboard surrounding Eugene Dubois carried on. As is usual, we are told that he became so distrustful and paranoid that he locked away "Java Man" (Homo erectus) for years and would not let anyone see the fossils. It is true that Dubois was wounded by reactions to his discoveries, but during the years that his fossils were hidden away he did a lot of work on the correlation between brain and body size. These studies would be key to his attempt to keep "Pithecanthropus" as a human ancestor by saying that it looked like a gibbon. Rather than being an acknowledgment of defeat, Dubois knew that if his discovery had the body form of a gibbon it would have a larger brain size compared to body size than if it had the body form of our species, and by reshaping "Java Man" Dubois felt that he had defended the place of his discovery as a transitional form.

Such errors are unfortunate, but they do not necessarily detract from the main theme of the book; the race to find our earliest ancestors. This book is about scientists more than it is about the creatures that they seek, and while the picture that emerges is somewhat different from the classic National Geographic imagery the intense rivalry between researchers is a pervading theme. No particular group is favored and everyone comes out with some amount of mud on their faces, especially researchers who worked before some of the ethical standards now in place became accepted. There is certainly more to paleoanthropology than what is recorded in the book, but ideas about our earliest ancestors have changed so much so quickly that it is impossible to avoid the conflict and controversy surrounding the topic.

My criticisms aside, The First Human is a well-written and entertaining book that I have certainly enjoyed. Gibbons is a gifted writer and she aptly covers the complicated tangle of discovery and argument surrounding some of the most important discoveries of fossil humans in recent years. If you are generally unfamiliar with paleoanthropology the book serves as an excellent starting point, and it is certainly entertaining enough to keep the attention of people who are already familiar with the discoveries described within it. Unless the concluding chapters radically change my mind, I certainly recommend the book and think it is an excellent choice for anyone's summer reading list.

[Update: I just finished the book; aside from a minor error involving Hesperopithecus the last chapters were certainly enjoyable. I was expecting there to be more (I can never quite keep track of where things are going to end when I'm enjoying a book), but the work comes to a comfortable conclusion.]