What can we learn from the genes of our closest evolutionary relatives? "Neanderthal" tells the story of geneticist Svante Pääbo and his mission to answer this question, starting with the examination of DNA in Egyptian mummies in the early 1980s and culminating in his sequencing of the Neanderthal genome in 2009. From Pääbo, we learn how Neanderthal genes provide a unique insight into the lives of our hominin relatives and may hold the key to solving the mystery of why humans survived while Neanderthals went extinct. Using genetic and fossil evidence, Pääbo explores what is known about the origins of modern humans and their relationship with Neanderthals, and describes the heated debate over the nature of interactions between the two species. A captivating story about a visionary researcher and the nature of scientific inquiry, "Neanderthal" offers profound insights into the fundamental question of human evolution.