From evolution to empire, how biology has steered the course of civilisation.

What if the key to understanding human history lies not in politics, but in our own bodies? In Being Human, astrobiologist Lewis Dartnell reveals how our evolution, physiology and psychology have directed the course of empires and ideas.

From the microbes that triggered pandemics to the chemistry that shaped our diets and brains, this is the story of civilisation seen through the lens of biology. Dartnell's trademark clarity and storytelling turn complex science into a thrilling narrative about what makes us who we are - and how biology will shape what comes next.

'Illuminating' Tim Marshall

'Refreshing' Thomas Halliday

'A gripping, red-blooded narrative from a master storyteller' Jo Marchant

Autorentext

Lewis Dartnell is an astrobiology researcher and professor at the University of Westminster, and also an Honorary Research Associate at University College London (UCL). He is the author of the bestselling books The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World from Scratch and Origins: How the Earth Shaped Human History, which has been translated into 26 languages. He writes for the Guardian, The Times and New Scientist. Copies of The Knowledge exist on the surface of the Moon, and in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.