Becoming Human

One of the traits that distinguishes us from our nearest relatives is our curiosity about our origins. Here, Ian Tattersall discusses human uniqueness, investigating the origins of the characteristics and processes that distinguish human beings, such as creativity, language, and consciousness.

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One of the traits that distinguishes us from our nearest relatives is our curiosity about the origins of our species. In this new paperback, Ian Tattersall (author of The Fossil Trail) discusses human uniqueness, investigating the origins of those characteristics and processes that so clearly distinguish human beings, such as creativity, language, and consciousness. Taking the reader around the world, stopping in France to examine 30,000-year-old cave paintings, in Africa to see where our earliest ancestors left their bones, and in remote forests to spy on our closest living relatives, the great apes, Tattersall uncovers what it is that makes us really different and what the future might hold for our species.