Everyone knows that man evolved from apes, but this is where most people's knowledge of human evolution ends. A magical transformation (and it really is magical) seems something like this - a monkey descended from a tree to the ground, stood on its hind limbs, picked up a stick and ... became a man. But there are so many questions and controversial points along the way that anthropologists still cannot solve!Why did the monkeys need to descend from the trees? At what point did the fateful transformation of apes into humans take place? Why didn't all apes turn into humans? Where is the ancestral home of mankind? How is sexual selection different from natural selection? Why did the foremother of mankind Eve live sixty thousand years earlier than the forefather Adam? What are the benefits of sweaty palms? Who are Neanderthals and how do they differ from Denisovans? Who are we - the crown of evolution or an intermediate link? This book provides a complete history of human evolution, the rise of the genus Homo, and the changes that accompanied our ancestors over the millennia. Combining the ease of presentation of serious scientific material with the encyclopedic breadth of outlook, the book reads like a fascinating adventure novel. A novel about our evolution!