''Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors: A Search for Who We Are'' is a 1992 book by

Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on ext ...

and

Ann Druyan Ann Druyan ( ; born June 13, 1949) is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning American documentary producer and director specializing in the communication of science. She co-wrote the 1980 PBS documentary series ''Cosmos'', hosted by Carl Sagan, w ...

.Copyright information page
''Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors''. The authors give a summary account of the evolutionary

history of life The history of life on Earth traces the processes by which living and fossil organisms evolved, from the earliest emergence of life to present day. Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago (abbreviated as ''Ga'', for ''gigaannum'') and evide ...

on Earth, with particular focus upon certain traits central to human nature and the discussion of where their precursors began to develop in other species. In the final chapters, they examine

primates Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter including huma ...

in detail, comparing the details between anatomically modern humans and the

extant Extant is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Extant taxon, a taxon which is not extinct, ...

species most closely related to them. The book was the basis for an episode of the same name in the 2020 series '' Cosmos: Possible Worlds'', written by Druyan and

Brannon Braga Brannon Braga (; born August 14, 1965) is an American television producer, director and screenwriter. Best known for his work in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, Braga was a key creative force behind three of the franchise's live action series. He la ...

Publication data

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shadows Of Forgotten Ancestors (Book) 1992 non-fiction books American non-fiction books Random House books Ballantine Books books English-language books Works by Carl Sagan