Review by Choice Review
In Humanimal, Rutherford, a science journalist, draws on findings from molecular biology, anthropology, and linguistics, among other fields, to survey what makes humans simultaneously singular among and similar to other animals. The result is an engaging, entertaining, and highly accessible account. The book is punctuated with footnotes, useful for readers who wish to delve into specific anecdotes from natural history but unobtrusive for readers who prefer to approach the book as a freestanding narrative. Rutherford's interweaving of long-standing findings with very recent discoveries nicely underscores his central argument: that we are just beginning to understand the remarkable capacities of non-human animals and their relevance to the evolution of human behavior. Pencil drawings by Alice Roberts nicely highlight some memorable behaviors in non-human animals, including fire-spreading by a bird and tool use by a dolphin. While individual chapters (e.g., one that serves as an overview of genetics and genomics) will be of lower interest for specialists, the book as a whole will be enjoyable and thought provoking for readers of diverse interests and expertise. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels. --Diane Patricia Genereux, Broad Institute of Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by New York Times Review
Rutherford describes "Humanimal" as being about the paradox of how our evolutionary journey turned "an otherwise average ape" into one capable of creating complex tools, art, music, science and engineering. It's an intriguing question, one his book sets against descriptions of the infinitely amusing strategies and antics of a dizzying array of animals that manipulate their natural environments much as we do. From Rutherford's myriad examples - leaf-cutter ants that produce a "pesticide" to protect the leaves they rely on to nourish their food source; Australian "firehawks" that spread bush fires to flush out prey from burning grasses; orangutans that use branches as sex toys - it becomes apparent that much of what we may think to be uniquely human is, in fact, not. As Rutherford says, tool use has been documented in nine classes of animals, from sea urchins and snails to octopuses and mammals; there is no simple answer to the question of how brains, tools and intelligence are related. So what, then, makes us us? A former geneticist, Rutherford speculates about the underlying genetic characteristics that set us apart from even our closest primate cousins, which would seem the obvious place to look for an answer. But the book's broader argument goes beyond how "humanity" is encoded in our genes. Instead, it traces the uniqueness of our ability to transmit culture. In this, the intrinsic interdependence between biological evolution and cultural evolution is key. "Each drives the other," Rutherford writes, so that "biology enables culture, culture changes biology." AARATHI PRASAD has a doctorate in geneticsfrom Imperial College London and is the author of "In the Bonesetter's Waiting Room: Travels Through Indian Medicine."
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [May 12, 2019]
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Rutherford (A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived), a science journalist and BBC radio host, assembles an enlightening "compendium of that which unequivocally fixes us as animals, and simultaneously reveals how we are extraordinary." He focuses primarily on three broad topics-tool usage, sex, and communication-looking closely at the myriad ways that other animals resemble humans. By describing instances of crows who "manufacture and use hooked tools to fish out fat grubs" and works of art created by Neanderthals over 64,000 years ago, among other topics, Rutherford teaches a great deal about the basics of evolutionary relationships, while cementing homo sapiens's position as just another member, among many, of the animal kingdom. But RuthA-erA-ford also looks beyond those similarities to explore what makes humanity unique, concluding that while there is a continuum of types of cultures across the animal kingdom, humans reside at one end of that spectrum. He observes: "we stand apart most significantly... in cultural accumulation and transmission," since "many animals learn" but "only humans teach." Rutherford's entertaining work offers a refreshing and perspective-altering view of the complex history of life on Earth. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
British geneticist Rutherford (A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived) explores how humans resemble and differ from other living beings. Noting that the human genome has 23 pairs of chromosomes, only one pair fewer than other great apes, he presents a wide-ranging discussion of why, despite small genetic differences, human capabilities surged ahead of those of other creatures. In a section on the use of tools, for example, Rutherford considers how other animals can construct tools and use fire, abilities once thought to be unique to humans. He provides intriguing illustrations for his points, such as certain dolphins who use live sponges as nose guards when they go after prickly prey, and hawks who light twigs from wildfires so that they can spread the fire and draw prey out of hiding. In an amusing section on sex, he ponders why so little of it is actually for procreation. He also explores the human physical structures that enabled language and our development of consciousness and a sense of regret. Rutherford speculates in conclusion that our development of social culture is what may have made humans "the paragon of animals." VERDICT Engaging, accessible, and highly recommended.-Caren Nichter, Univ. of -Tennessee at Martin © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A lively exploration of "the epic meandering journey that every organism has made."That humans are conscious, cultured, and much cleverer than any other animalbut an animal neverthelessis no secret to popular science writers. A steady stream of books explains how we got that way, and readers will not regret choosing this cheerful addition to the genre from British science journalist Rutherford (A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Human Story Retold Through Our Genes, 2017, etc.). Humans use tools, he explains, but many mammals and birds do the same. They are often no more than sticks poked into a hole to tease out food, but ingenious variations arise; many are adopted by others, becoming a rudimentary cultural element. In the author's native Britain, out of 1,000 sexual acts that could result in a baby, only one actually does, as he reports in a long section shooting down the belief that only humans have sex for pleasure. The author then steps back, admitting that one can never know why nonhumans engage in nonproductive intercourse, but innumerable creatures do so. Readers under the illusion that behavior like homosexuality, anal intercourse, and even necrophilia are "contrary to nature" will learn that the opposite is true. Rutherford also ably explores current conceptions and focus on cooperation through communication. Animals can deliver signals, and a few ancestors of Homo sapiens may have talked, but we took it to a new level. "We transmit information," writes the author, "not just via DNA down the generations, but in every direction, to people with whom we have no immediate biological ties. We log our knowledge and experience, and share them. It is in the teaching of others, the shaping of culture, and the telling of stories, that we created ourselves."A smooth, expert, and often startling history that emphasizes that no behavior separates us from other animals, but we remain an utterly unique species. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
