The recent discovery of the diminutive Homo floresiensis (nicknamed "the Hobbit") in Indonesia has sparked new interest in the study of human evolution. In this Very Short Introduction, renowned evolutionary scholar Bernard Wood traces the history of paleoanthropology from its beginnings in the eighteenth century to today's latest fossil finds. Along the way we are introduced to the lively cast of characters, past and present, involved in evolutionary research. Although concentrating on the fossil evidence for human evolution, the book also covers the latest genetic evidence about regional variations in the modern human genome that relate to our evolutionary history. 

最近在印度尼西亚发现的身材矮小的佛罗伦萨人（昵称“霍比特人”）引发了人们对人类进化研究的新兴趣。在这篇非常简短的介绍中，著名的进化学者伯纳德·伍德追溯了古人类学的历史，从18世纪的起源到今天最新的化石发现。一路上，我们被介绍到生动的角色，过去和现在，参与进化研究。虽然集中在人类进化的化石证据，这本书还涵盖了现代人类基因组中与我们的进化历史有关的区域变异的最新基因证据。