Christopher G Janus

This was, in some ways, a fascinating adventure story, and a case study in the mid-20th century, as it traces the missing type fossils of Peking Man from their discovery in the 1920s, their loss in the chaos of WWII China, and attempts to find them later, culminating in Janus' own efforts in the 1970s at the request of the Communist Chinese Government.

Unfortunately, the bulk of the book turns out to be about how Janus, the Elite White Man, is going to spend money like water and swan around making things better by being an Elite White Man. He repeatedly comes off as some combinations of arrogant and naive, as he fails to understand why Chinese nationals might be reluctant to get mixed up in the affairs of the government, or why the Nationalist Chinese might be suspicious of someone working for the Communists, or why anybody might be suspicious about anything at all, or think there were anything whatsoever at stake except Science! By halfway through the book I had entirely lost patience with him - it might be the way the book was written, rather than the personalities themselves, but it was simply exceptionally frustrating.

On the other hand, I did like getting filled in on the details of the Peking Man mystery story that still turns up in cryptozoology and unsolved mysteries books - especially the reprints of the Empire State Woman photos, and the detailed follow-up of her story, as well as the meticulous account of what is know to have happened to the fossils the year they were lost.… (more)