Reddit mentions of Inherit the Stars

This is already a great book..

https://www.amazon.com/Inherit-Stars-James-P-Hogan/dp/0345257049/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485010734&sr=8-1&keywords=inherit+the+stars

The man on the moon was dead. They called him Charlie. He had big eyes, abundant body hair, and fairly long nostrils. His skeletal body was found clad in a bright red spacesuit, hidden in a rocky grave. They didn't know who he was, how he got there, or what had killed him. All they knew was that his corpse was fifty thousand years old -- and that meant this man had somehow lived long before he ever could have existed.

A novella from the 70s called Inherit the Stars.

Even though it's old, it's aged pretty well in my opinion and would still be a good read today. It's part of a trilogy, but the subsequent sequels were terrible pseudo science fiction.

I'd detail more about the first novel but don't want to spoil the climax in case you want to read it. It's set in the near future, and emphasis is really on some nifty detective work via evolutionary theories. There's no real hero or a villain or faster than light spaceships or light sabers, just core physics and biology, but nothing remotely complex.

I read it in the 90s when I was 13, and when I got to the end, I spent an hour walking in circles in my bedroom, mind blown.

I'll recommend three!

An exploration of how biology affects culture, framed in a hard science first contact story:
The Mote in God's Eye


In the near future scientists discover a dead astronaut on the moon... who died 50,000 years ago.
Inherit the Stars


A sci-fi classic with great characters along the way. The over-crowded Earth is heavily reliant on the food created by a prison colony on the moon, which decides to declare its independence, with the help of the first A.I.
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

You might like the Giant Series by James Hogan, the first of which is called Inherit the Stars. I love the cover illustration.

http://www.amazon.com/Inherit-Stars-James-P-Hogan/dp/0345257049/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Here's a good read that assumes no decomposition would take place.

Inherit the stars, 1978

http://www.amazon.com/Inherit-Stars-James-P-Hogan/dp/0345257049