The Book of Humans Quotes

“Nature is not cruel, it is simply indifferent,”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War, and the Evolution of Us: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature―A New Evolutionary History

“As a species, all the things we do are unique, and are also seen all over the natural world.”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War, and the Evolution of Us: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature―A New Evolutionary History

“embiggen”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War, and the Evolution of Us: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature―A New Evolutionary History

“Cromulent”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War, and the Evolution of Us: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature―A New Evolutionary History

“Genes are the units of inheritance, the things that are selected by nature to be carried into the future. Nature sees the physical manifestation of a gene—the phenotype—and as a result of that trait enhancing survival, the DNA underwriting it succeeds, and is passed on down the generations. Genes are the templates on which our lives are built.”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War, and the Evolution of Us: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature―A New Evolutionary History

“Many people know of the maxim said by the biologist François Jacob describing natural selection as a tinkerer. I like to think of the words of the US president Teddy Roosevelt: “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War, and the Evolution of Us: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature―A New Evolutionary History

“sexual violence and rape in our oldest texts. These include the rape of Hera, Antiope, Europa and Leda, all by Zeus; Persephone by Hades; Odysseus by Calypso;”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War and the Evolution of Us

“The revolution was not televised; it was livestreamed.”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War, and the Evolution of Us: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature―A New Evolutionary History

“As man advances in civilization, and small tribes are united into larger communities, the simplest reason would tell each individual that he ought to extend his social instincts and sympathies to all members of the same nation, though personally unknown to him. This point being once reached, there is only an artificial barrier to prevent his sympathies extending to the men of all nations and races.”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War, and the Evolution of Us: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature―A New Evolutionary History

“DNA subtly changes over time via the genetic equivalents of typos—spelling mistakes which slip through due to inaccurate copyediting by the proteins that check the code after it has been replicated.”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War, and the Evolution of Us: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature―A New Evolutionary History

“There are plenty of scientific theories why they do this, none of which can be summarized as “because they can,” disappointingly.”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War, and the Evolution of Us: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature―A New Evolutionary History

“males and females can be made. In the second broad category of being a sexual organism are the species that have dozens of sexes, possibly thousands.”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War, and the Evolution of Us: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature―A New Evolutionary History

“The mammals—hairy creatures that produce milk to nurture their young—are a small group of organisms on Earth, with only around 6,000 types known, one-fifth of which are different styles of bat.”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War, and the Evolution of Us: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature―A New Evolutionary History

“Most cultures agree that killing other people is forbidden, and it is even enshrined in the Abrahamic commandments, though it seems this is interpreted as more of a guideline than a rule, given the enthusiasm with which the disciples of Christ and Muhammad have engaged with the snuffing out of other people’s light.”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War, and the Evolution of Us: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature―A New Evolutionary History

“When it comes to expressions of violence, humans excel.”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War, and the Evolution of Us: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature―A New Evolutionary History

“The use of technology to extend the physical abilities of an animal includes weapons, which are a violent subset of tools.”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War, and the Evolution of Us: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature―A New Evolutionary History

“you can’t start a fire without a spark.”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War, and the Evolution of Us: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature―A New Evolutionary History

“There are maybe 9,000 bird species living today, which is not quite double the number of mammal species.”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War, and the Evolution of Us: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature―A New Evolutionary History

“Orangutans like fish and appear to like to fish. Sometimes they scavenge them dead from river banks, but they have been seen poking sticks at fish in the shallows of rivers whereon they flop into their awaiting hands. They’ve also been seen trying, but so far failing as far as we have observed, to stab fish in ponds with tooth-sharpened sticks; this may be a behavior they have seen and copied from humans. If this is true, it is an example of a cultural trait not only being passed between individuals, but between individuals of different species.”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War, and the Evolution of Us: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature―A New Evolutionary History

“Imagine if we could access 100 percent” is a surfeit-of-gravitas line spoken by a typically august Morgan Freeman in the 2014 film. Scarlett Johansson is the titular protagonist who pharmacologically gains access to the other 90 percent, and acquires telepathy, telekinesis, the ability to somehow encounter her Australopithecine namesake, and even witness the Big Bang. It’s dumb-as-bricks scientifically illiterate hooey, and highly recommended for that precise reason.”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War, and the Evolution of Us: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature―A New Evolutionary History

“Flight is a good trick, and has evolved repeatedly in distantly related creatures, but it has also evolved many times over within the same groups of creatures.”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War, and the Evolution of Us: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature―A New Evolutionary History

“All life is set for extinction over a long enough timescale; more than 97 percent of species that have ever existed are already gone.”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War, and the Evolution of Us: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature―A New Evolutionary History

“Viruses are normally and traditionally excused from this definition; arguments rage over whether viruses are living or not, though I vacillate between not caring and thinking that for all intents and useful purposes they display the characteristics of being alive. That they cannot reproduce themselves without the presence of a cellular living entity is, to my mind, not relevant. No organism has ever existed without dependence on another. The role of viruses in evolution cannot be understated and has been a major driver of the continuation of life for its entire duration, as is discussed later.”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War and the Evolution of Us

“A gene encodes a phenotype – that is, the physical manifestation of a piece of DNA – and differences in those physical manifestations in a population are visible to nature as a means of selecting what works better. The gene that encodes that phenotype is what is transmitted from generation to generation, the unit of inheritance. A gene for processing goat’s milk after weaning was selected in humans over a gene that did not permit digestion of a nutritious drink. Individuals are merely carriers of genes, which drive the necessity of procreating simply so that the existence of the gene is perpetuated.”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War and the Evolution of Us

“We talk of the traditional five senses, but in reality, there are many more than that. Proprioception is a significant one here – awareness of one’s own body in space; another is interoception – an awareness of one’s internal bodily state: try sitting perfectly still (like a toad) and counting your heartbeats by nothing other than feeling them in your body. These are also key expressions of a sense that you are a body in space, independent of the environment. Self-awareness is essential for recognising that you are a being which is separate from everything else. It is part of the conscious experience of being human, and the experience of being in some other animals.”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War and the Evolution of Us

“Consciousness is a poorly defined concept, and means many things to many people, including a sense of self, sentience, an ability to experience or to feel, and other things. Much has been made of the question of whether animals have consciousness or not, but it really depends on what you mean by consciousness. Clearly animals are sentient and experience their environment. Many animals can recognise themselves, and can engage with the mind of another creature within or outside of their own species. Do they have an ineffable inner life? Will we be able to establish a neurological basis of our own consciousness and then compare it to that of other animals? These are all outstanding questions for much more research, and another book.”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War and the Evolution of Us

“By 40,000 years ago, there are clear, unequivocal depictions of figurative art in multiple forms, and clear evidence for imagination, abstract thought, music and profound fine motor skills. Something had changed.”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War and the Evolution of Us

“This Venus is also an abstraction. It is clearly a human body, but a heavily distorted one, with features that are well beyond realism. The breasts are colossal, and the head is tiny. She has a huge waist, and engorged labia. These enhanced sexual characteristics are also seen in some of the other Palaeolithic Venus figurines, which has led to speculation that these were fertility charms, or even goddesses of fertility. Some people have suggested that they might be pornography. While there is no shortage of art by men depicting sexualised women, we cannot know the motivation of the Venus sculptor. The similarities between the few Venus figurines that remain do suggest a sexual dimension to their existence, and imagining that they are fertility amulets is no more or less speculative than considering that they are the fantasy of a Palaeolithic artist. We’re not sure why the heads are often small: it might be to do with perspective, that you can’t actually see your own head, so relatively from one’s own vision it is small, and looking down, breasts may look disproportionally larger; though that doesn’t account for the fact that the artist could’ve seen the heads and bodies of other people. Maybe it was an artistic choice. If in one million years’ time, you discovered a Francis Bacon portrait or the Bayeux tapestry isolated out of any context, you might have questions about what was on the minds of those artists. We will never know what the Palaeolithic sculptors were thinking. What we do know is that their minds were not different to our own.”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War and the Evolution of Us

“It is the oldest depiction of the human body.”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War and the Evolution of Us

“A few miles to the east, we find the earliest example of another charm – the Venus of Hohle Fels (see illustration on here). There are many examples of prehistoric sculpted female bodies. They are generically called Venus figurines, after the first one discovered in the Dordogne in the 1860s by Paul Hurault, the eighth Marquis de Vibraye, who, noting the pronounced incision representing the vulva, called it Vénus Impudique – the ‘immodest Venus’. The Venus of Hohle Fels is the most ancient of these figures, probably again around 40,000 years old.”
― Adam Rutherford, The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War and the Evolution of Us