The Man Who Found the Missing Link: Eugine DuBois and His Lifelong Quest to Prove Darwin Right

Dutch scientist Eug ne Dubois is not nearly as well known as his most important scientific contribution. Dubois's 1892 archeological expedition found the first fossil evidence of Pithecanthropus erectus (what we know today as Homo erectus) or Java man. At the time of its discovery, P. erectus was viewed by many scientists as the evolutionary link between the great apes and humans. In a masterful biography with the narrative craftsmanship of good fiction, Shipman, an anthropology professor at Penn State and author of Taking Wing (a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Award), demonstrates how Dubois was driven by his ambition and by university politics to leave his placid life as a professor in Amsterdam and move to the East Indies in search of a fossil that would confirm Darwin's theory of human evolution. Shipman depicts Dubois as a troubled genius who consistently put his own desires ahead of his family's needs. In addition, Shipman reveals much of the politics that often swirl around important and controversial scientific discoveries; for example, the dominant thinking of the time dismissed evolution as folly and marked Dubois as a reckless romantic hell-bent on his unpopular mission. Even while using the unorthodox (in nonfiction) techniques of re-created dialogue and interior monologue (both of which appear supported by voluminous research and add to the book's drama), Shipman proves herself a virtuoso of the scientific biography. 64 b & w photos. (Jan. 11) Forecast: This title is nicely complemented by Java Man (Forecasts, Oct. 30), which tells how two scientists discovered that Java man was not a precursor of Homo sapiens but another species co-existing with modern humans. Nonscientists who enjoyed Java Man will also want to read top science writer Shipman's outstanding account of the original Java man discovery. Dual shelving of these two titles may increase sales of both.