The Book of Humans: 4 Billion Years, 20,000 Genes, and the New Story of How We Became Us

Rutherford (A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived), a science journalist and BBC radio host, assembles an enlightening “compendium of that which unequivocally fixes us as animals, and simultaneously reveals how we are extraordinary.” He focuses primarily on three broad topics—tool usage, sex, and communication—looking closely at the myriad ways that other animals resemble humans. By describing instances of crows who “manufacture and use hooked tools to fish out fat grubs” and works of art created by Neanderthals over 64,000 years ago, among other topics, Rutherford teaches a great deal about the basics of evolutionary relationships, while cementing homo sapiens’s position as just another member, among many, of the animal kingdom. But Ruth­er­ford also looks beyond those similarities to explore what makes humanity unique, concluding that while there is a continuum of types of cultures across the animal kingdom, humans reside at one end of that spectrum. He observes: “we stand apart most significantly... in cultural accumulation and transmission,” since “many animals learn” but “only humans teach.” Rutherford’s entertaining work offers a refreshing and perspective-altering view of the complex history of life on Earth. (Mar.)