When We Became Humans: The Story of Our Evolution (Volume 2) (Incredible Evolution, 2)

Secular! Well written, with beautiful illustrations. A wonderful addition to our homeschool family library.

Perfect for my needs. Even better than I was expecting. It's hard to find books on human evolution for kids that are presented in ways that they'll understand without skimping on information.I like that the book has illustrations rather than photographs because my 9 year old is senstive about seeing bones and skeletons. Very nice presentation with lots of attention to detail. Showing illustrations of actual cave paintings was a nice touch.

My daughter is super interested in human evolution and was so excited to get this book. She ended up being disappointed because the laungage is kinda sexist at times. Why keep saying "he" when talking about a group of people as a whole? A little ridiculous in 2021, and discouraging to girls who are into science.

Excellent book. My 6 year old and I read a page every night and he thought it was the most interesting book he’d ever recommend. I love that it is simple but not overly so. Perfect for learning the basics.

This book is a great introductory for children. It opens up many conversations and helps establish a foundation in human history.

I’m sure the book is great but the book and box arrived wet and with a strong chemical smell, like winded or disinfectant. Must have JUST happened too, as both are wet, like something must have spilled in the deliverey truck. Really annoying.

When We Became Humans: The Story of Our Evolution, by William Bright, is a nicely detailed and thorough overview of human evolution from our earliest primate ancestors through to Homo Sapiens. Following the arrival of our species, Bright continues the story by showing how human culture evolved through such developments as agriculture, art, and more.This is one of those text-heavy books becoming more common in this golden age of children’s non-fiction. As such, and due as well to some of the vocabulary, it’s best read by older children, probably around ten at the earliest, though certainly parents could read it aloud and explain meanings to a younger child.The early section on pre-hominids is clear and hits the highlights on differences as well as some theories of evolutionary development, such as the shift to bipedalism offering the survival benefit of seeing farther on the developing grasslands or color vision helping select ripened fruit. As one would expect of a modern book on the topic of human evolution, Bright highlights how the old “direct-line” theory has gone by the wayside, replaced by the more “bushy” version, with various hominid species living at the same time and even interbreeding, as he points out occurred between Home Sapiens and both Neanderthals and Denisovans.As he notes physical changes, such as height, brain size, etc. Bright also points out various stages of cultural development, such as the taming of fire, the first tool use and how tools were later improved upon. As noted, he continues in this vein beyond the advent of Sapiens into domestication of animals, farming, shelter and clothing, and more. The end section briefly ponders whether or not humans are still evolving and if so, what that might look like. Finally, there’s a nice visual presentation of the chronology at the end.The artwork is well done and does a nice job of conveying the information presented or going a bit beyond it, even if most of the illustrations are relatively small (I wouldn’t have minded a few pictures that has more space to work with).Overall this is an excellent look at the topic for the age range, though a few quibbles. One is that there were several typos which I assume those will be fixed either before publication or in a second printing. The other is that sometimes it felt a few more modern views were glossed over. For instance, where agriculture began or the first big towns—there has been some questioning of older views on those that could have been covered. And finally, a few moments of narrative wonder might have added a lift here and there in terms of tone/style, such as describing the discovery of a particular hominid fossil rather than simply giving us the information. But really, these were quite small issues. Strongly recommended.

Lovely quality, great illustrations. This is a complete history of human evolution, very comprehensive. Lots of information even I didn’t know, my ten year old is really enjoying.

A simple but non patronising guide to human evolution, well written and beautifully illustrated throughout

The book is good but the packaging was not up to the mark. Book was just put without any bubble wrap or cardboard packaging and hence corners are damaged.