I chose to read this book because of the subject matter, I took Anthropology in university and was always fascinated be the idea of the Maeve leakey and her husband out in Kenya making amazing discoveries and generally making world-view changing discoveries. This book certainly delivered to my expectations and was a fascinating read. The only reason for giving it a 4 star instead of a five star is that I found the author made a lot of assumptions about the readers knowledge about ML's work. I did study her work, but even I was left wondering, 'where are we know? what's known already, what not?' An exciting read that could have benefitted from a little overview structuring.

Somewhat late to reading and reviewing, wished I hadn't delayed. There was another book in a similar vein the life of a paleo-anthropologist, which I had some difficulty thus trepidation of the same with this one. How wrong I was, this book is fantastic!

Part memoir and part science with the evolution of hominids. Leakey starts with her beginnings, born during WWII, but doesn’t linger long on her childhood, it was just enough. Although the book is a mix, it feels more an autobiography, as it keeps going back to her life but there is a ton of science, as that was a huge part of her life and what she is deeply involved in.

Meave's husband Richard came from the famous Leakeys and is quite an amazing person in his own right. He overcame many medical issues, first his kidney then a plane crash, which he survives but caused more medical issues. His perseverance to survive is extremely strong.

The children are mentioned, and they follow in the family business of becoming scientists and help on digs, they aren’t mentioned very much. A little surprising since one daughter is co-author of this book. Most of the book discusses the finds and discoveries in the field, and how that fits into what we know and have learned about the evolution of these ancient hominids. It is fascinating and the journey takes you places that may seem unrelated at first, but no, it all fits together.

I very much enjoyed this book, and feel awful I waited so long, apologies to the publisher.

I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book, I loved this book I have always been interested in the subject and learned a lot.

As a budding archaeologist, this book's blurb caught me from the beginning. As I turned the pages, the story caught me. It was nice to get a first hand accounting of what the field is like for a woman. It made me want to make my own mark that much more. Dr. Leakey's experience has been invaluable to the field and her telling of it keeps your interest as she brings a human approach to her story.

I learned a lot reading this book and was fascinated by the life of the author.
She's a talented storyteller and she does an excellent job in explaining how paleo-anthropology works, her discoveries and researched.
I thing it's an interesting and engrossing read that I strongly recommend.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I received an electronic copy of this book for free via NetGalley for an honest review.

This is a well-written and informative book, and while it is an autobiographical account of Meave Leakey's life, it's also very much a discussion of what the field of paleoanthropology has learned from many of the projects she's been involved in over her long career. It does make for interesting reading, though as someone whose knowledge of the field is pretty limited to a single undergraduate course I took as a gen ed about eight years ago, I had to Google things pretty frequently while reading.

Meave Leakey has led an interesting life, and it's certainly enjoyable to read a little bit about it. The first chapters address some of the challenges she faced as a woman in science in the 1960s--she was trained as a marine biologist, but ended up working in Africa because she was repeatedly denied a place on research vessels on the justification that they did not have facilities for female researchers aboard.

The book admittedly gets a little deep in the evolutionary biology weeds for me now and then; as I said, it is well-written and it's an interesting topic, but I occasionally had to remind myself that I will not be taking an exam on changes in dentition related to diet in a changing climate, and it's okay if I don't retain all this information. For someone who has a little bit more background in this area than I do, however, I suspect these sections would be especially fascinating.

Part memoir, part autobiography, Leakey opens her book with her birth and moves through her life until now. In between she speaks her mind on many topics not the least is climate change.

While I would imagine that most readers want to know about her life as a paleoanthropologist, but they must first wade through the details of her early life to get to the “good stuff.” There are portions where she goes into great detail about what she was doing as when she talks about when she takes over the field operations from Richard Leakey, her husband. Some of what she talks about may be above most readers’ interest level, like when she talks about the various eras the fossils she was interested in fell, i.e., the period where the apes and humans became separated, the science diverted from her story.

While the publisher calls this a “thrilling, high-stakes memoir,” there was neither “thrilling” nor high-stakes” anything until she actually she took over from her husband and became a fossil hunter. It was then that the hunt for another “Lucy” was at play and her story got really interesting.

If you love paleoanthropology and the hunt for fossils, you’ll undoubtedly immensely enjoy this book.

My thanks to Houghton Mifflin and NetGalley for an eARC.

What an incredible life the author has lived! it's almost like a real life Indiana Jones. Her adventures, her discoveries, her relationships, she has really packed a lot into one lifetime. This book is a wonderful summation of the discoveries she, and her esteemed family, has made. I am in awe of her knowledge and dedication. There is a wealth of information and science in this book. At times I was getting overwhelmed and had to set the book aside and digest it for a bit. All in all, it is a great book.

Meave Leakey had a truly adventurous life. Her distinguished career may be one of very rare occasions when someone benefited from sexism: after earning her degree in marine biology, she found it impossible to get a job, because nobody wanted a women on a ship... Fortunately, this wasn't a problem in a desert camp, and in Africa Mrs Leakey found not only her true scientific path but also love.

There are many such fascinating stories in this book and I read anecdotes about her fieldwork with delight. Descriptions of scientific discoveries were sometimes a little dry and too detailed, but I am sure that anyone who is truly passionate about paleontology will find them fascinating.

Thanks to the publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and NetGalley for the advance copy of this book.

Thank you Net Galley for the free ARC. Excellent summation of hominid history and the amazing fossil finds by the Leakey family, Yohannes Haile Selassie and Donald Johansen. The ever growing evidence of our evolution and descendancy. Fascinating.

Thanks NetGalley and Meave Leakey for the opportunity to read this advance reader copy! This brilliant memoir/autobiography is thought provoking, engaging, well-written, and I read it in one go, even though it is not a short or quick read. I have followed what the Leakey family do for years, and was therefore excited to see that Meave is coming out with a book about her, and our (humans) lives.

It begins with her childhood and takes the reader through her and her family’s life, as well as all the scientific progress that has happened during her lifetime. There are many memorable moments and stories, which is why I could not stop reading the book. Meave’s life has been so rich and fulfilling that she does not go into detail about everything in her life, which I appreciate. She is sharing some of the toughest moments in her life, for example her husband Richard’s health problems and how they bravely plowed through them.

There is quite a bit of science in the book, and a lot about human bones and how she and her colleagues around the world have uncovered pieces of human history and our ancestors. There is still so much to be discovered, but everything written in this book that has already been discovered is fascinating. I do not want to discourage anyone from reading this book, but for a memoir it has more scientific facts and figures than expected.

I would definitely recommend this book to readers interested in human history, the Leakey family, science, Africa, primates, fascinating discoveries, and life in general. I think anyone who enjoys a good memoir with a lot of content will enjoy this book as well!

The name Leakey is synonymous with the study of the origins of humanity. Now, readers can journey along with Meave Leakey and her daughter as they recount not only some of the most important discoveries about our origins but also their own personal stories of sacrifice, tragedy and courage. In an age when scientists are our new superheroes, this is a book to embrace and take heart from