This is a story about you. It is the history of who you are and how you came to be. It is unique to you, as it is for every one of the 100 billion modern humans who has ever drawn breath. But it is also our collective story, because in each of our genomes we carry the history of our species.
In this journey through the landscape of genetics, A Brief History explores what our genes now tell us about human history and what history tells us about our genes. From Neanderthals to Denisovans, from redheads to dead royals, murder to racism, evolution to epigenetics, A Brief History is a demystifying and illuminating new portrait of who we are and how we came to be.
The US edition features a special introduction by Siddhartha Mukherjee.
‘Nothing less than a tour de force — a heady amalgam of science, history, a little bit of anthropology and plenty of nuanced, captivating storytelling.’
The New York Times
‘Magisterial, informative and delightful’ Peter Frankopan
‘Well-written, stimulating and entertaining. What's more important, he consistently gets it right.’
Richard Dawkins
‘A brilliant, authoritative, surprising, captivating introduction to human genetics. If you know little about the human story, you will be spellbound. If you know a lot about the human story, you’ll be spellbound. It’s that good’ Brian Cox
