This book by leading geneticist Svante Pääbo chronicles a personal bet: to sequence the genome of the Neanderthal, one of our closest evolutionary relatives.

Starting with the study of DNA in ancient Egyptian mummies in the early 1980s, Pääbo describes the entire chain of pleasant and unpleasant surprises, collaborations, intrigues, failures, and research achievements that led to the publication of the entire Neanderthal genome in 2010.

Through this description, he poses and answers a series of critical questions, such as what we can learn from studying the genomes of these evolutionarily close relatives, why modern humans survived while Neanderthals went extinct, and whether Homo sapiens interbred with them.

However, Pääbo does not stop there. His narrative is not merely a straightforward account of a scientific and research triumph: he also sheds ample light on what it means to conduct cutting-edge research in our times, how it is organized and funded, what the daily life of a professional researcher is like, but above all, what cost it has for him in terms of personal life, friendships, and interpersonal relationships.

The book describes a scientific race that is, in every respect, fascinating!