Almost Human by Lee Berger *****

Lee Berger is a paleoanthropologist; he studies humanoid fossils and has made two extraordinary discoveries: Australopithecus sebida from two million years ago, and Homo naledi from a half million years ago. This memoir tells his story from raising pigs in Georgia in the 1970s to uncovering human ancestors in South Africa in the 21st century.

With recent discoveries, scientists have uncovered over a dozen distinct species after human evolution split off from chimpanzees and gorillas. These species share some attributes of modern humans, but not all.

"Experts looking as such a fossil, even today, consider three basic questions: How big was its brain? Did it stand upright? Are its teeth humanlike?"

Many other questions might also be relevant, including hand structure, artifacts, and culture, but hands, artifacts, and culture rarely survive time periods measured in millions of years. The basic questions are a compromise between the essence of humanity and the available data.

Recent explorations have raised many questions with the discovery of extensive skeletal remains from the distant past. That is much of the story of this book.

The secondary story from these discoveries chronicles the impact of technology on research. In the past such research belonged to gentlemen educated at Oxford and Cambridge and sponsored by the British Museum and the National Geographic Society. This was a closed club and discoveries often were withheld for over a decade.

Lee Berger introduced  many innovations. He reported fieldwork daily on social media. He published fossils to be reproduced by 3-D printers. He opened research to dozens of scientists and students. He demonstrated how research could be open and efficient. As with other scientific revolutions, this created tension and conflict.

The third layer of this memoir is the joy and ethos of science. This book shows the tedious dedication of scientists, and their eagerness to separate truth from assumption.  The careful analysis, consideration of all possibilities, and skepticism of easy answers is well demonstrated, such as when the team considers whether they have discovered a tomb or a natural collection of remains. This thread alone makes this a great book for anyone considering a career in science.

Two anecdotes bear repeating.

The first of these important discoveries was found by the author's nine-year-old son.

"Now, we were walking up to a place where a nine-year-old had found a hominin fossil in under a minute and a half. How hard could it be? The mood was boyant.
...
Our party scattered, turning over every loose rock, clambering down into the pit, intensely searching the area. Yet we found nothing definitive."

The second discover was retrieved by a team of six women. They were the best ones with the skills, conditioning, and body size to navigate the tight access to the cave.

...my assistant, Wilma Lawrence...sounded unnerved.
"What are you doing?" she asked, her voice a bit tense.
"Why, what's the problem? I queried, wondering what had got her upset.
"I have a bunch of messages from women giving me their body dimensions!"

A tiny, but telling, detail of this saga of science in the 21st century...the species names for these discoveries are not Latin. Sediba means "natural spring" or "well" in the Sotho language. Naledi means "star" in the Sotho-Tswana languages.

Almost Human by Lee Berger delivers the thrill of paleoanthropological  fieldwork, the ethos of science, and the conflicts of academic research. Anyone interested in scientists or evolution will enjoy this book.

Book recommendations: https://www.amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075