This engaging book tells the story of human evolution, asking if man is indeed the “chosen species” or merely an evolutionary accident. Written by world-renowned paleoanthropologists who are co-directors of the excavations at Atapuerca---a World Heritage Site and Europe’s oldest known burial site---where a new human species, homo antecessor, was discovered Discusses various hypotheses of human evolution, drawing conclusions from verifiable facts and well-founded argument Offers a compelling narrative written for nonspecialists and students of human evolution Includes over 60 illustrations Sold over 100,000 copies in the original Spanish-language edition

Scientific rigor is combined with an entertaining narrative to link the origin of life on Earth and the development of the human brain, covering such topics as how Aristotle and Galileo disagreed and how jellyfish and airplanes have the same navigational systems.