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A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived

The Stories in Our Genes - Fully Updated 10th Anniversary Edition
Brief Description
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 to each of the 100 billion modern humans who have ever drawn breath. But it is also our... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
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The repackaged and fully updated 10th anniversary edition of this science history classic

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

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 to each of the 100 billion modern humans who have ever drawn breath. But it is also our collective story, because in every one of our genomes we each carry the history of our species—births, deaths, disease, war, famine, migration and a lot of sex.

In this captivating journey through the expanding landscape of genetics, Adam Rutherford reveals what our genes now tell us about human history, and what history can now tell us about our genes. From Neanderthals to murder, from redheads to race, dead kings to plague, evolution to epigenetics, this is a demystifying and illuminating new portrait of who we are and how we came to be.

A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived offers an insightful exploration into our individual and shared pasts through the lens of genetics, presenting us with fresh understanding and perspective on our very essence as human beings.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781399638982

Publisher: Orion Publishing Co

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 21 May 2026

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Weidenfeld & Nicolson

Edition: New edition

Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 40.0mm

Width: 128.0mm

Height: 196.0mm

Weight: 382g

Pages: 512

About the Author

Dr Adam Rutherford is a scientist, writer and broadcaster. He has written and presented award-winning series and programmes for the BBC, including Radio 4's Inside Science and The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry with Dr Hannah Fry. He is the author of Creation, shortlisted for the Wellcome Trust Prize, A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived, The Book of Humans, the Sunday Times bestselling How to Argue With a Racist and the co-author of Rutherford and Fry's Complete Guide to Absolutely Everything (Abridged).

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