Phillip Vallentine Tobias (1925-2012) was one of South Africa’s most honoured and decorated scientists. Best known for his pioneering work at South Africa’s famous hominid fossil sites, in the course of his career he developed the reputation of being one of the world’s leading authorities on the evolution of humankind. He was also justly proud of his ‘10 000 children’, the medical and dental students he taught at the University of the Witwatersrand between 1945 and 1993. The original edition of Into the Past focused on the first 40 years of Tobias’s life, from his troubled childhood in Durban and Bloemfontein to his intense student days at Wits University, and the prolific research, correspondence and travels of his early career. It also contained vivid accounts of his interactions with some of the great names in twentieth century science – such as Raymond Dart, Robert Broom, Wilfrid LeGros Clark and Theodosius Dobzhansky – as well as their impact on him.