Being Human
  • Published: 6 June 2023
  • ISBN: 9781847926715
  • Imprint: Bodley Head
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $40.00

Being Human

How our biology shaped world history

Formats & editions
Paperback
15 Oct 2024
Tr. Paperback
6 Jun 2023
Hardback
1 Jul 2023
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A unique reframing of human history as shaped by our physical abilities and limitations - by the Sunday Times-bestselling author of Origins

Being Human is history made flesh. It will change the way you see the world.

We are a wonder of evolution. Powerful yet dextrous, instinctive yet thoughtful, we are expert communicators and innovators. Our exceptional abilities have created the civilisation we know today.

But we're also deeply flawed. Our bodies break, choke and fail. Diseases thwart our boldest plans. Our psychological biases have been at the root of terrible decisions in both war and peacetime.

This extraordinary contradiction is the essence of what it means to be human. And history has played out in the balance between them: from our reaction to caffeine shaping Islamic religious practices and the Black Death ending feudalism to haemophilia undermining royal families across Europe and scurvy inadvertently giving rise to the Mafia, we are the sum of our frailties and faculties.

Now, for the first time, Lewis Dartnell tells our story through the lens of this unique, capricious, and fragile nature. He explores how our biology has shaped our relationships, our societies, our economies, and our wars - and how it continues to challenge and define our progress.

Praise for Lewis Dartnell's Origins and The Knowledge:

'Stands comparison with Yuval Harari's Sapiens ... A thrilling piece of big history' Sunday Times on Origins

'The most inspiring book I've read for a long time' Independent on The Knowledge
  • Published: 6 June 2023
  • ISBN: 9781847926715
  • Imprint: Bodley Head
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $40.00
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About the author

Lewis Dartnell

Lewis Dartnell is an astrobiology researcher and professor at the University of Westminster. He has won several awards for his science writing, and contributes to the Guardian, The Times and New Scientist. He has also written for television and appeared on Horizon, Sky News, and Wonders of the Universe, as well as National Geographic and History channels. A tireless populariser of science, his previous books include the bestselling The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World from Scratch.

Also by Lewis Dartnell

Origins
The Knowledge
See all

Praise for Being Human

An illuminating journey through history using our bodies as the vehicle. It's quite a ride!

Tim Marshall, author of Prisoners of Geography

Wide-ranging, comprehensive and refreshing

Thomas Halliday, author of Otherlands

A wild ride through science, history and prehistory, full of unexpected connections and delightful insights

Tim Harford, author of How to Make the World Add Up

A revolutionary account of human progress. This is history as you've never read it before: a gripping, red-blooded narrative from a master storyteller

Jo Marchant, author of The Human Cosmos

A sublime, mind-expanding exploration of who we are and how we got here

Richard Fisher, author of The Long View

Brilliantly entertaining and beautifully written, Being Human forces you to see the world in a totally new way. Interdisciplinary history at its best

Jonathan Kennedy, author of Pathogenesis

A spirited canter through the ways our biology has inescapably affected world history that'll open your eyes and stretch your mind

Henry Gee, author of A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth

Bursting with scientific stories, this is a fascinating exploration of how our flawed biology shapes how we live, love, thrive and die. Being Human will make you think in a new light about yourself and your species

Kat Arney, author of Rebel Cell

A brilliant, super-informative and enjoyable read

Dr Camilla Pang, author of Explaining Humans

Lewis Dartnell has a well-deserved reputation for engaging writing on big themes. Being Human is so engrossing that it's hard to put down

Martin Rees, author of If Science is To Save Us

Dartnell has done it again. Full of surprising, vivid and profound lessons, this book is quite literally wonderful

Ed Conway, author of Material World

I’ve always liked Dartnell’s books for their factiness

Sunday Times

Always an interesting and engaging writer, Dartnell ... finds fascinating nuggets in familiar stories

Guardian

[A] revealing survey ... Biology determines more than personal destiny

New Statesman

[A] fascinating lucky dip of a book

Mail on Sunday