Millar tells the story of this famous fraud/practical joke/whatever by going back to the days before Darwin, before Lyell even, and tracing the development of geology and palaeontology, both here and on the Continent, as the scientists concerned tried to free themselves from theological constraints. He then recounts the finding of the Piltdown remains, their acceptance and their final debunking. It reads almost like a suspense-detective story in parts.

The story is full of vivid personalities - I particularly liked poor Philip Gosse, who in response to Origin of Species, published Omphalos, in which he claimed that fossils had been created simultaneously with living organisms, and that God has faked annular tree rings to test faith in Genesis. Millar puts forward a suggestion as to the perpetrator and his motive, which I won't reveal here; more recent accounts suggest a more likely candidate. This is one of the clearest and most entertaining accounts of the business I've read. Shame it's out-of-print but still around second-hand. 271pp. paperback; maps, graphs, b/w illustrations, references and index.