Piltdown Man: The Secret Life of Charles Dawson

by Miles Russell

The human and animal remains discovered almost 100 years ago at Piltdown, near Lewes in Sussex were at the time hailed as the “missing link” between ape and man. It was not until 1953 that modern analysis conclusively revealed an ingenious hoax. The perpetrator was almost certainly the antiquarian excavator Charles Dawson who, as Miles Russell shows, was responsible for 16 other archaeological forgeries during his lifetime.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

288 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2004

Reviews

[Kaitlynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was very intrigued by this book to begin with, as I knew a little bit about the Piltdown hoax. The book was different than I expected, putting a large emphasis on the history of Charles Dawson's other discoveries. It was an interesting approach and I did enjoy the book. That being said, there were some errors that could have easily been corrected with a bit more editing, and some parts were a tad harder to push through than I had expected. I did step away from this book with a lot more information than I came into it with. I greatly appreciate the way the author laid out their facts and approached it from different angles to let you make up your mind before discussing their personal conclusions.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lot of work and research has gone into this book about an interesting subject.

However the standard of editing is woefully sloppy and detracts severely from enjoyment of the book and undermines its authority.

Examples: The book is strewn with a ridiculous amount of commas, which pop up in the strangest of places. Also at least twice the word "inferring" is used instead of "implying". At one point the word "culpability" sits in the place of "credulity", making a nonsense of the sentence.