In 1960, a young woman with no formal scientific training ventured into the forests of Gombe, Tanzania, and forever changed how we understand our closest living relatives—and ourselves. In the Shadow of Man is Jane Goodall’s groundbreaking account of her early years studying wild chimpanzees, a narrative that reads like adventure and discovery while revolutionizing primatology. Through patient observation and radical empathy, Goodall revealed that chimpanzees make tools, wage war, form complex social bonds, and experience emotions we once thought uniquely human. Her decision to name rather than number her subjects, and to see them as individuals with distinct personalities, challenged the scientific establishment and opened new pathways for understanding animal behavior and cognition. As our first read of 2026, we honor Goodall’s extraordinary legacy by exploring the questions at the heart of her work: What separates humans from other animals? How does empathy inform scientific discovery? And what responsibilities do we bear toward the species with whom we share this planet? This is more than a book about chimpanzees—it’s a meditation on what it means to be human.