From the tens of thousands of books and papers on human evolution, where should one start? I would recommend Robin Dunbar’s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Dunbar) 2014 introduction Human Evolution: A Pelican Introduction. The past 12,000 years represent the only time in the sweep of human history when there has been only one human species. How did we alone survive? And why did we emerge capable of thinking, planning and complex communication? The tale of our origins has inevitably been told through the ‘stones and bones’ of the archaeological record, yet Robin Dunbar shows it was our social and cognitive changes rather than our physical development which truly made us distinct from other species. This is a cracking good entry to the subject.
Enquire at your local library or available at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Human-Evolution-A-Pelican-Introduction/dp/0141975318/ref=pd_sim_b_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=1WCR9YKS5W23Z6TR0KWB
432 pages in Pelican paperback edition
First published 2014
ISBN 978-0141975313
Robin Dunbar