Includes bibliographical references and index.

Beginnings -- A change in track -- Racing against the clock -- Changing of the guard -- Water, water everywhere -- A brave new world -- Nine lives -- A new early biped -- Another piece of the puzzle -- Open country survivors -- A friend for Lucy? -- Early homo : a horrible muddle -- Becoming grandmas -- Growing brains -- The ice house -- The first explorers -- A very good Hominin -- Through thick and thin -- Migrating mutants.

"Meave Leakey's thrilling, high-stakes memoir-written with her daughter Samira-encapsulates her distinguished life and career on the front lines of the hunt for our human origins, a quest made all the more notable by her stature as a woman in a highly competitive, male-dominated field"-- Provided by publisher.