Life As We Made It: How 50,000 Years of Human Innovation Refined—and Redefined—Nature

“People have been shaping the evolution of the living things around us throughout our history,” writes biologist Shapiro (How to Clone a Mammoth) in this fun-filled survey. Humans are living in an age filled with biotechnology, she writes, and people are worried—but human interference with nature isn’t as new as it may seem. Shapiro draws on a slew of lively examples to prove her point: bison had to adapt to life with humans, for example, and evolved to be smaller and nimbler to run away quicker, while the transition from wolves to dogs was a relationship formed by proximity that turned into mutualism. Shapiro addresses intervention in the form of genetic engineering and GMOs (breaking down the “knee-jerk yuck factor” GMOs can provoke) and highlights farmers attempting to “improve animal welfare... while at the same time improving the economics of cattle farming” with gene-editing. Shapiro’s anecdotes are full of energy, as when Shapiro is with a museum collections manager who drops a pigeon specimen; when the head pops off, Shapiro reacts: “I, of course, did what every self-respecting early career ancient DNA scientist would do. I took a piece of its toepad and extracted its DNA,” she writes. Perfect for fans of Mary Roach, this is science writing with much to savor. (Oct.)