Svaante Paabo recently won the Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology for his work on the evolutionary genetics. Paabo discovered techniques to read DNA from bones that are 40,000 years old. These techniques resulted in a new field of study, paleo-genomics.
Paabo is the author of Neanderthal Man: In Search of Lost Genomes.
For kids, there’s an excellent book that explains many of these discoveries in a clear, concise way with superb illustrations.
Turner, Pamela S. How to Build a Human in Seven Evolutionary Steps.
Learn about the evolutionary steps that led to the development of humans.