Summary

Dr. Wood discusses what we can actually know in paleoanthropology — something that’s difficult and important when you’re looking at very old, very small, and very skewed samples. The professor then meditates on why it’s important to study paleoanthropology in the first place. He also gives some great advice to students along the way.

Book recommendations

• What to read to learn more: Human Evolution: A Very Short Introduction by Bernard Wood
• What he’s reading for work: The Descent of Man by Charles Darwin
• What he’s reading for fun: Darwin, His Daughter, and Human Evolution by Randal Keynes
• BONUS – What I was reading: On Call in the Arctic by Thomas J. Sims

Reference articles

• Smith, Richard & Wood, Bernard. (2017). The principles and practice of human evolution research: Are we asking questions that can be answered?. Comptes Rendus Palevol. 16. 10.1016/j.crpv.2016.11.005.
• Wood, Bernard. (2017). Evolution: Origin(s) of Modern Humans. Current Biology. 27. R767-R769. 10.1016/j.cub.2017.06.052.