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A SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022
'A thrilling deep-dive through our evolutionary past, and a witty and learned commentary on why we are the way we are - and what wisdom we've lost along the way' Cal Flynn, author of Islands of Abandonment
'A wild ride: brave, outrageous, hilarious, helpful and urgent ... essential reading' Merlin Sheldrake, author of Entangled Lives
What kind of creature is a human? If we don't know what we are, how can we know how to act? Charles Foster sets out to understand what a human is, inhabiting the sensory worlds of humans at three pivotal moments in our history.
Foster begins his quest with his son in a Derbyshire wood, trying to find a way of experiencing the world that recognises the deep expanse of time when we understood ourselves as hunter-gatherers, and when modern consciousness was first ignited. From there he travels to the Neolithic, a way of being defined by fences, farms, sky gods and slaughterhouses, and finally to the Enlightenment, when we decided that the universe was a machine and we were soulless cogs within it.
About the author
Charles Foster is the author of the
New York Times Bestseller
Being a Beast, which was longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize and the Wainwright Prize, won the 30 million d'amis Prize in France, and is the subject of a forthcoming feature film. In 2016, he won the IgNobel Prize for Biology.
Summary
A radical work of nature writing and philosophical enquiry, resituating us in our real human skins.
Foreword
A radical work of nature writing and philosophical enquiry, resituating us in our real human skins
Report
Dazzling and, yes, eccentric ... Foster is a beautiful writer and an engaging companion throughout this ... wonderfully fun if entirely bonkers read Alex Preston Observer
