Humans: A Brief History of How We F*cked It All Up

Written by Tom Phillips

Narrated by Nish Kumar

Modern humans have come a long way in the seventy thousand years they’ve walked the earth. Art, science, culture, trade—on the evolutionary food chain, we’re true winners. But it hasn’t always been smooth sailing, and sometimes—just occasionally—we’ve managed to truly f*ck things up.

Weaving together history, science, politics and pop culture, Humans offers a panoramic exploration of humankind in all its glory, or lack thereof. From Lucy, our first ancestor, who fell out of a tree and died, to General Zhou Shou of China, who stored gunpowder in his palace before a lantern festival, to the Austrian army attacking itself one drunken night, to the most spectacular fails of the present day, Humans reveals how even the most mundane mistakes can shift the course of civilization as we know it. Lively, wry and brimming with brilliant insight, this unique compendium offers a fresh take on world history and is one of the most entertaining reads of the year.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Harlequin Audio
• Release date: May 7, 2019
• ISBN: 9781488206368

Tom Phillips

Tom Phillips is an author and journalist from London. He is currently the editor of Full Fact, the UK’s independent fact checking organisation; before that, he was editorial director at BuzzFeed UK. His previous book, Humans: A Brief History of How We F*cked It All Up (a history of failure through the ages), was published in 2018 and has sold in 30 territories worldwide.

Reviews for Humans

[CorImmobile · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a laugh out loud survey of the greatest fuck ups of our oh so flaw species. The audio version is read by the author and I must say, it added more hilarious snark to an already sarcastic take on human history. I learned and I laughed, and that is a winning combination for me.
The author tries to end with an obligatory attempt to look positively towards the future, but I think given the rest of the book, it did not reassure me. But at least I can have a laugh at how fucked we are. 5/5

[Amir NIT · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not fascinating in any way. Underwhelming in some sections while humorous in some.