What do you think?
Rate this book
Humans: Perspectives on Our Evolution from World Experts
How did humanity evolve? And what does our evolutionary history tell us about what it means to be human? These questions are fundamental to our identity as individuals and as a species and to our relationship with the world. But there are almost as many answers to them as there are scientists who study these topics.
This book brings together more than one hundred top experts, who share their insights on the study of human evolution and what it means for understanding our past, present, and future. Sergio Almécija asks leading figures across paleontology, primatology, archaeology, genetics, and many other disciplines about their lives, their work, and the philosophical significance of human evolution. They reflect on questions that are both fun and What set you down your career path? Are humans special? Where and when would you travel in a time machine? Does human evolution offer lessons for society? Is evolution compatible with spirituality and religion?
Humans features a remarkably accomplished cast of contributors, including Kay Behrensmeyer, Frans de Waal, Nina Jablonski, Richard Leakey, Robert Sapolsky, and Richard Wrangham. Together, they provide a refreshing, personable, engaging, cross-disciplinary, and thought-provoking exploration of different―even diametrically opposed―ideas about our nature and evolution, what makes humans unique, and what our future might hold. This book also offers practical suggestions for readers seeking to embark on a scientific career.
This book brings together more than one hundred top experts, who share their insights on the study of human evolution and what it means for understanding our past, present, and future. Sergio Almécija asks leading figures across paleontology, primatology, archaeology, genetics, and many other disciplines about their lives, their work, and the philosophical significance of human evolution. They reflect on questions that are both fun and What set you down your career path? Are humans special? Where and when would you travel in a time machine? Does human evolution offer lessons for society? Is evolution compatible with spirituality and religion?
Humans features a remarkably accomplished cast of contributors, including Kay Behrensmeyer, Frans de Waal, Nina Jablonski, Richard Leakey, Robert Sapolsky, and Richard Wrangham. Together, they provide a refreshing, personable, engaging, cross-disciplinary, and thought-provoking exploration of different―even diametrically opposed―ideas about our nature and evolution, what makes humans unique, and what our future might hold. This book also offers practical suggestions for readers seeking to embark on a scientific career.
- GenresScienceNonfiction
520 pages, Paperback
Published May 23, 2023
7 people are currently reading
122 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 4, 2023
Humans edited by Sergio Almécija is a collection of responses of roughly 100 experts in the field of human evolution (anthropology, paleontology, genetics, behavior, etc), who respond to the same set of open-ended questions. Almécija, an assistant anthropology professor, asks these experts about their intellectual foundations (i.e. how they became interested in their field and who their influences are), opinions about human evolution past and present (e.g. game changing discoveries, predictions, amazing facts, etc), and advice to young intellectuals.
This casual survey of human evolution experts is unsurprisingly interesting given the obvious salience and impact of the topic. Unfortunately, I worry it may only be accessible to those who are already familiar with at least a portion of these experts or have some background in fields related to human evolution. Apart from the book's prelude, which provides a very condensed primer of human evolution 101, this book doesn't provide significant depth on any given body of work. It's a mixed and superficial grab bag that's often bogged down by ultracrepidarian cultural and political commentary, which Almécija's question set regrettably encourages. The format of the work is also fatiguingly repetitive. The work would be greatly improved if accompanied by some sort of quantitative or qualitative summary of the response and/or additional editorial remarks from Almécija.
On the plus side of things, Humans does provide exposure to a wide variety of different ideas in human evolution, which I guess is the main purpose of the effort. For the most part, it appears mostly mainstream ideas in these fields are represented. It would have been interesting to have elicited more heterodox and speculative models and compelled defense and attacks. There are also just domains that are neglected. So again, this isn't a great text for learning more or deeply about human evolution but it has some interesting content plus a novelty angle (peaking into the unvarnished thoughts of experts).
In justifying the book project, Almécija asserts that the book should function as an "encyclopedia of stories (and theories) about us," humanize research scientists, illustrate the broad relevance of human evolution, and provide "a new way to learn about human evolution." The work generally accomplishes the first two goal, though it is debatable whether the humanizing of research scientists will be appealing to reader given some of their grating perspectives. However, I would not recommend this book to reader looking to get a high-level perspective on human evolution. There are a lot of superior options in this regard some of which are recommended within Humans itself. Humans does indeed function reasonably well as a good suggested reading list. So if someone is inclined to pick up this book, I suggested flipping to your favorite researchers' responses and then go directly to the bibliography of readings.
This casual survey of human evolution experts is unsurprisingly interesting given the obvious salience and impact of the topic. Unfortunately, I worry it may only be accessible to those who are already familiar with at least a portion of these experts or have some background in fields related to human evolution. Apart from the book's prelude, which provides a very condensed primer of human evolution 101, this book doesn't provide significant depth on any given body of work. It's a mixed and superficial grab bag that's often bogged down by ultracrepidarian cultural and political commentary, which Almécija's question set regrettably encourages. The format of the work is also fatiguingly repetitive. The work would be greatly improved if accompanied by some sort of quantitative or qualitative summary of the response and/or additional editorial remarks from Almécija.
On the plus side of things, Humans does provide exposure to a wide variety of different ideas in human evolution, which I guess is the main purpose of the effort. For the most part, it appears mostly mainstream ideas in these fields are represented. It would have been interesting to have elicited more heterodox and speculative models and compelled defense and attacks. There are also just domains that are neglected. So again, this isn't a great text for learning more or deeply about human evolution but it has some interesting content plus a novelty angle (peaking into the unvarnished thoughts of experts).
In justifying the book project, Almécija asserts that the book should function as an "encyclopedia of stories (and theories) about us," humanize research scientists, illustrate the broad relevance of human evolution, and provide "a new way to learn about human evolution." The work generally accomplishes the first two goal, though it is debatable whether the humanizing of research scientists will be appealing to reader given some of their grating perspectives. However, I would not recommend this book to reader looking to get a high-level perspective on human evolution. There are a lot of superior options in this regard some of which are recommended within Humans itself. Humans does indeed function reasonably well as a good suggested reading list. So if someone is inclined to pick up this book, I suggested flipping to your favorite researchers' responses and then go directly to the bibliography of readings.
June 12, 2024
A collection of expert responses to questions on human evolution, this fascinating compendium includes personal observations by prominent evolutionary scientists. Questions were posed to 103 paleoanthropologists and other experts. Typical questions were: What were your beginnings in the field? What do you consider a game-changer in the field? If you could time travel, to what specific time would you go? Is evolution compatible with religion and spirituality?
The 103 contributions vary all over the board because the experts each specialize in some particular area. I had to learn to distinguish between “hominids” and “hominins,” the former being apes in general, including humans, and the latter being human-like beings. Some people were experts on teeth, others on archaeological remains, others on bipedalism, others on primitive behavior, and so on. I counted in the index reference to 36 scientific names (genus and species) of animals related to humans, so keeping track was arduous.
The question of whether evolution (or scientific method generally) is compatible with religion and spirituality was particularly interesting. The answers varied through a full spectrum. Some thought science and religion were at complete loggerheads, while others felt them to be complementary. Several endorsed Steven Jay Gould’s position that science and religion are “non-overlapping magisteria,” that they address separate domains altogether. Science addresses empirical evidence, while religion addresses meaning and morals. Those who felt the two domains were compatible generally discounted literalist interpretations of sacred writing, such as the creation story of Genesis.
When asked to imagine the future, most of the scientists were pessimistic, in that all species seem to have a limited lifespan, and humans have so much altered the environment that they have raised the possibility of extinction in various ways, through global warming, through population growth, through pollution, through global warfare, etc. Many of the scientists hoped that the study of evolution would educate people to act more wisely with respect to the environment.
When describing how they got started in the field, the scientists often indicated a fascination with nature from an early age, which they pursued in increasingly sophisticated ways. They often mentioned scientific mentors and teachers who inspired them. I would love to see a parallel survey of those who became interested in philosophy (or history, or any academic field). It is inspiring to hear the stories of people who have pursued their passion over a lifetime, despite the demands of the workaday world, and have made a success of it.
The 103 contributions vary all over the board because the experts each specialize in some particular area. I had to learn to distinguish between “hominids” and “hominins,” the former being apes in general, including humans, and the latter being human-like beings. Some people were experts on teeth, others on archaeological remains, others on bipedalism, others on primitive behavior, and so on. I counted in the index reference to 36 scientific names (genus and species) of animals related to humans, so keeping track was arduous.
The question of whether evolution (or scientific method generally) is compatible with religion and spirituality was particularly interesting. The answers varied through a full spectrum. Some thought science and religion were at complete loggerheads, while others felt them to be complementary. Several endorsed Steven Jay Gould’s position that science and religion are “non-overlapping magisteria,” that they address separate domains altogether. Science addresses empirical evidence, while religion addresses meaning and morals. Those who felt the two domains were compatible generally discounted literalist interpretations of sacred writing, such as the creation story of Genesis.
When asked to imagine the future, most of the scientists were pessimistic, in that all species seem to have a limited lifespan, and humans have so much altered the environment that they have raised the possibility of extinction in various ways, through global warming, through population growth, through pollution, through global warfare, etc. Many of the scientists hoped that the study of evolution would educate people to act more wisely with respect to the environment.
When describing how they got started in the field, the scientists often indicated a fascination with nature from an early age, which they pursued in increasingly sophisticated ways. They often mentioned scientific mentors and teachers who inspired them. I would love to see a parallel survey of those who became interested in philosophy (or history, or any academic field). It is inspiring to hear the stories of people who have pursued their passion over a lifetime, despite the demands of the workaday world, and have made a success of it.
Read
March 31, 2023This is a hefty tome, which I'm about to use as a guide to finding PhD advisors. It suggests not reading it cover to cover in the prelude, and yes that's the right thing to do. It's perfect for what I was doing (figuring out if this field is what I want from my life), but if you have no background, you're absolutely screwed. I encourage an interested reader to start with something easier and then attempt this collection. This should've been edited more heavily - people definitely felt free to express their thoughts, and it got pretty lengthy. It's just not super practical to read unless you're working in a related field. I love the one guy who cited his own work as a "game changer". Kudos to him for having the self-confidence to say that to everyone, but negative points for bashing religion without any nuance and overuse of parentheses.
Questions I like: advice, religion, amazing fact
Questions I dislike: time travel, are we special
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Questions I like: advice, religion, amazing fact
Questions I dislike: time travel, are we special
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
November 13, 2022
In my opinion, this book was ill-conceived from the start. The author asked countless anthropologists (and other scientists) a list of questions to which they could opt to respond. Still, after reading the replies from dozens of researchers, the topics became boring. The one thing I did come away with is that my regard for anthropology as a science was greatly diminished.
March 17, 2026
A pretty disappointing book. I was looking forward to learning more about human evolution but this book is just a collection of answers to a pretty basic questionnaire.
You will learn some new things but the information is scattered in between the personal opinions and thoughts of the researchers, very little of which was interesting or thought-provoking.
I was also kind of shocked by how many of the researchers responded that evolutionary studies have little relevance in the modern day. I personally think there are a lot of insights we can gain from learning more about our past and origins, so learning that the researchers who are responsible for finding out these things don't think their work is relevant seems bizarre.
You will learn some new things but the information is scattered in between the personal opinions and thoughts of the researchers, very little of which was interesting or thought-provoking.
I was also kind of shocked by how many of the researchers responded that evolutionary studies have little relevance in the modern day. I personally think there are a lot of insights we can gain from learning more about our past and origins, so learning that the researchers who are responsible for finding out these things don't think their work is relevant seems bizarre.
January 26, 2024
I enjoyed reading, “Humans, perspectives on our evolution from world experts” by Sergio Almécija and published by Columbia University Press. Such a great book that peers into the minds of the world’s most knowledgeable human evolution scientists. I found it easy to read, as you can jump around and read the thoughts from so many different experts. The thought provoking questions drew out how passionate each person is about his/her career.
I definitely recommend reading this book.
I definitely recommend reading this book.
September 12, 2023
Humans is the kind of book I would recommend to past, current, or prospective anthropology students. It’s definitely a bulky read, but it’s full of different perspective across the field of Physical Anthropology. I recommend reading by jumping around a bit, as there isn’t a linear narrative. I got more out of it by going topic to topic as I was interested.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews