Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution

The Eves in the book are the first female individuals in humanity’s history to present each of the important traits developed in female human evolution. They are called Eves after the biblical character Eve in the Book of Genesis, who is created by God from Adam’s rib and is the first woman on Earth. She is also the mother of all humans. Bohannon, however, rejects the notion that there is a single Eve of humanity and that this Eve is derived from man. Instead, she theorizes that there were many first female pre-humans and humans and that they not only contributed to human evolution but also led the path to it. She explains, “We don’t have one mother; we have many” (19). She lists the various Eves that she will mainly explore, including Morgie, Donna, Purgi, Ardi, Habilis, and Erectus. These Eves all act as original developers of humanity’s destiny. Later in the book, she adds that the Eves were not just in humanity’s past; as long as humanity continues to exist, it will evolve, and as long as humanity evolves, there will be many Eves who create and contribute to humanity and the world. She states, “I am an Eve, as are you, just like every single living human today.