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The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being: Evolution and the Making of Us
by
Alice Roberts takes you on the most incredible journey, revealing your path from a single cell to a complex embryo to a living, breathing, thinking person. It's a story that connects us with our distant ancestors and an extraordinary, unlikely chain of events that shaped human development and left a mark on all of us. Alice Roberts uses the latest research to uncover the e
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Paperback, 392 pages
Published
July 14th 2015
by Heron Books
(first published September 2014)
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Start your review of The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being: Evolution and the Making of Us

Thanks goes to Netgalley!
This book tries to do a couple of things, and while I have no direct issue with any of its aims in any one particular, I kept asking myself a very important question, and asked it often, namely: "Who is this author writing to?"
At the opening, I got the impression that this was going to be a grateful pat-on-the-back for all evolutionists and those who believe in science and reason, and indeed, this is what happens, but instead of a few long focuses on a few of the pieces ...more
This book tries to do a couple of things, and while I have no direct issue with any of its aims in any one particular, I kept asking myself a very important question, and asked it often, namely: "Who is this author writing to?"
At the opening, I got the impression that this was going to be a grateful pat-on-the-back for all evolutionists and those who believe in science and reason, and indeed, this is what happens, but instead of a few long focuses on a few of the pieces ...more

"There's a deep history hidden in your anatomy" (p.339)
A nice easy going book that drags the reader on a double journey through the human body, firstly from conception on wards, secondly a more traditional tour round the limbs and functionality of the human body. Enroute Alice Roberts discusses human evolution, how the body came to be the way it is and some of the pitfalls and hazards associated with our current specifications.
The style is chatty and easy going, more detailed than I remember fro ...more
A nice easy going book that drags the reader on a double journey through the human body, firstly from conception on wards, secondly a more traditional tour round the limbs and functionality of the human body. Enroute Alice Roberts discusses human evolution, how the body came to be the way it is and some of the pitfalls and hazards associated with our current specifications.
The style is chatty and easy going, more detailed than I remember fro ...more

Jun 30, 2016
Caroline
rated it
did not like it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
did-not-finish,
ho-hum,
so-much-potential,
get-smart,
lost-interest,
science,
nonfiction,
she-wrote-it
***NO SPOILERS***
(Full disclosure: book abandoned at page 106 [out of 354 pages].)
I'm discontinuing this in favor of Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body, to be read at a later date. Roberts focused a great deal on the nitty-gritty details of biology, with--in one of the sections I read--a great deal of attention given to jawless fish, such as the lamprey. Some parts are fascinating, and science nerds will revel in all of it, but the lay reader will tire ...more
(Full disclosure: book abandoned at page 106 [out of 354 pages].)
I'm discontinuing this in favor of Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body, to be read at a later date. Roberts focused a great deal on the nitty-gritty details of biology, with--in one of the sections I read--a great deal of attention given to jawless fish, such as the lamprey. Some parts are fascinating, and science nerds will revel in all of it, but the lay reader will tire ...more

A great book about the human anatomy, complimented with evolutionary explanations for the quirks or mistakes of the complex machines we are. Loved the writing, endlessly fascinated with the subject.

Summary: An evolutionary account of human embryological development from even before conception through birth and of human anatomy and its evolutionary antecedents.
This review should probably come with a “trigger warning”. The book I am reviewing here may offend some of the Christians I count friends whose beliefs about human origins exclude any form of evolutionary explanations. Alice Roberts unashamedly advocates a thoroughly evolutionary explanation for human origins, embryology, and anatomy. ...more
This review should probably come with a “trigger warning”. The book I am reviewing here may offend some of the Christians I count friends whose beliefs about human origins exclude any form of evolutionary explanations. Alice Roberts unashamedly advocates a thoroughly evolutionary explanation for human origins, embryology, and anatomy. ...more

I would probably never have heard about this book had it not been for a Goodreads recommendation I came across, but I’m glad I got a chance to read it. The writing style is clear, the many drawings are helpful and informative, and even people who are decades away from their last biology class will be able to follow along.
Evolutionary biology is a fascinating topic, as body forms shift over time and species come and go in response to environmental conditions and opportunities. Sometimes anatomica ...more
Evolutionary biology is a fascinating topic, as body forms shift over time and species come and go in response to environmental conditions and opportunities. Sometimes anatomica ...more

From a British anatomist, this is excellent popular science writing, exploring the precarious collection of parts that is the human body and what, with very minor changes in normal development, can go wrong with it. Roberts climbs into MRI machines, uses 3-D printed versions of her own parts and offers lively examples from many years of teaching to illustrate how astounding it is we function at all (and the attractive life of the sea squirt).

I bought this book for my grandson, based on a review in the WSJ. I read it in a few days, and loved every minute of it. It explains, in layman's terms, the development of us, not only from the minute of conception (or just preceding it), but from the first life on the planet. How every living embryo resembles a human embryo. It is illustrated, so you can follow her explanations with an image. And it is fun to read. I am sure my grandson will love it.
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Alice Roberts is the Professor of Public Communication of Science at Birmingham University and boy, does it show. This book is jaunty enthusiasm from start to finish. She has a very amiable and pleasant style. Ideal for TV, I thought to myself after a few pages and lo and behold it turns out she is a well-known science populariser on the BBC. A sort of British Degrasse-Tyson - biology version.
That's not to diminish her, She knows her stuff.
We are treated to an in-depth examination of the human ...more
That's not to diminish her, She knows her stuff.
We are treated to an in-depth examination of the human ...more

I can consider this book as an average popular science book about human evolution and human embryo development for a wide range of people. Narration is quite ubiquitous: the book begins with conception and further divided by chapters where particular part of the body develops such as brain, skull, etc. Although book is mainly about human, there are also correlations with other animals, frequent mentions of apes and primates, less – about mammals, in places very interesting and full of informativ
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This book covers the fascinating story of how a human body develops, from gametes to fully formed baby. Each chapter covers a specific segment of the body, explaining how it forms (in terms of genes and structure) and gives an evolutionary background for why it developed like that and not some other way, and also sometimes how that particular body part works (especially in terms of feet and hands). Roberts has a lovely writing style and clearly explains what happens when; with minimal intrusions
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Very poor book. Badly written and chaotic, doesn't signpost well (mentions things sixty pages after they're first mentioned and expects the reader to remember without a prompt) and repeats words a lot within a couple of lines, for example "natural selection doesn't seem to be quite as 'in charge' of the direction of evolution as we might have imagined. It has a limited selection to select from" (pg345) and "Natural selection can only select among possible varients, and variation is already limit
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A highlight of my love of reading was picking up this particular book, which I only encountered by chance- so I am very grateful for that luck factor...
Prof. Alice Roberts is a world renowned scientist whose embryology tutorials are a massive hit on YouTube- but this book is no less. Embryology will either put you to sleep (oops sorry!) or keep enthralled- this book did the latter. Each and every chapter is woven into its evolutionary basis with plenty of focus on Human side of things. It also i ...more
Prof. Alice Roberts is a world renowned scientist whose embryology tutorials are a massive hit on YouTube- but this book is no less. Embryology will either put you to sleep (oops sorry!) or keep enthralled- this book did the latter. Each and every chapter is woven into its evolutionary basis with plenty of focus on Human side of things. It also i ...more

A really interesting mixture of anatomy, embryology and discussions of evolution. The author explains it all reasonably well and the in-text illustrations really added to the explanations.
The main point the author gets across is that humans are not in a category of their own separate from the rest of the animals and apes. We are not some special being with a purpose and destiny to fulfill. We are just animals with big brains. The author was probably pushing against an open door with this point ...more
The main point the author gets across is that humans are not in a category of their own separate from the rest of the animals and apes. We are not some special being with a purpose and destiny to fulfill. We are just animals with big brains. The author was probably pushing against an open door with this point ...more

Alice Roberts writes with pace and style about the evolutionary background of the human body, mixing personal stories with scientific investigation not unlike a forensic pathologist. The content might be a bit too technical at intervals (even to me the arytenoid cartilages sitting on the larynx cricoid were new), but to the reader able to digest (or skip) such details, the reward is profound: you emerge with a deeper understanding of yourself (says Richard Dawkins). This is the book I should hav
...more

I learned quite a lot about where humans lie on the Tree of Life. Dr. Roberts is very anti-creationist (and rightly so) but she uses terms like 'tinkering' and 'invention' in relation to evolution and these don't seem to be words to be used if everything is 'natural' with no outside interference.
I had hoped to read about how some parts of our anatomy like blood, proteins, muscle, etc have come about through evolution or how images and sounds came to be converted into electrical signals in the b ...more
I had hoped to read about how some parts of our anatomy like blood, proteins, muscle, etc have come about through evolution or how images and sounds came to be converted into electrical signals in the b ...more

this was a very interesting read and I learnt a lot I didn't know about human anatomy/development and human evolution. There were a lot of technical terms (names of different muscles and other things I have a hard time remembering) which almost made me keep it at a four star. Ultimately though the feeling of wonder at how lucky we all our to be here and the amazing process that has lead to that (both in evolutionary terms and in the womb) meant that I couldn't really give it anything other than
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Very enjoyable, educational book. Highlights for me are the idea that we and many other species might not have begun to evolve at all if it were not for the infinitesimally small chance of an asteroid hitting the earth and causing the demise of the dinosaurs. This sums up the title of the book in a nutshell. It is also fascinating to read about the far from perfect, one might say hit and miss, process by which we and other species develop from conception up until birth and beyond. The fragility
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There is not a more charismatic, passionate and likeable "science popularizer" in the field right now, and anyone who comes close (deGrasse Tyson, Greene, et al) are in physics. Biology, with all of its political hangups and global, interdependence implications, is more pertinent. This book answers for all of the wonder and awe we confront in witnessing the depth of biology as a whole as well as what makes us human, and in doing so, very subtly meets creationism on it's own ground.
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This book makes me geek about anatomy, biology and genetics. It appeals into my mediocre secondary school knowledge on biology because it never overwhelms me with too much sciency jargon, anyone can enjoy it. Its amazing to see how the human body functions similarity to unlikely organisms you would associate our genetic likeliness to.

I don't think the title really matches the content. It was more of a look at each major human body part.
After a while it felt like work to get through it all.
Plus I didn't find the diagrams that helpful, and the writing needs more of them. They have a small, difficult to read font.
Overall it was a good read, but not as good as I'd hoped. ...more
After a while it felt like work to get through it all.
Plus I didn't find the diagrams that helpful, and the writing needs more of them. They have a small, difficult to read font.
Overall it was a good read, but not as good as I'd hoped. ...more

Really enjoyed this one! Learnt about how we are descended from sea squids, how our thorax is like a spider monkey and our hands have larger digits and a separate thumb unlike chimps!. I also leant that our gestation is long for an ape and that this is probably because of our hips being too narrow for a longer pregnancy!
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Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Alice May Roberts is an English anatomist, osteoarchaeologist, physical anthropologist, palaeopathologist, television presenter and author.
Roberts studied medicine and anatomy at Cardiff University, qualifying in 1997 as a physician with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MB BCh) degree, having gained ...more
Alice May Roberts is an English anatomist, osteoarchaeologist, physical anthropologist, palaeopathologist, television presenter and author.
Roberts studied medicine and anatomy at Cardiff University, qualifying in 1997 as a physician with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MB BCh) degree, having gained ...more
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