The origin of the species

THE Incredible Human Journey is the book accompanying the BBC television series of the same name. It’s written by Alice Roberts, who also presented the series, and investigates how human beings colonised the planet.

Roberts travels to far-flung places and examines the archaeological record, the genetic evidence, even folklore and ancient climates, to assemble the pieces of a complex jigsaw puzzle. Her approach means that this is a travel book as well as a book of popular science. It’s a clever idea, because the exciting travel to exotic places livens up the science and gives the book a second story.

Alice Roberts is by no means a scientific light weight. She’s a qualified medical doctor, on a sabbatical from her job as a lecturer in anatomy at Bristol University. She has an interest in evolutionary anatomy, the study of how the human body came to be the shape it is today, and she’s not afraid of expressing her own opinion.