What do you think?
Rate this book
The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being: Evolution and the Making of Us
Alice Roberts takes you on the most incredible journey, revealing your path from a single cell to a complex embryo to a living, breathing, thinking person. It's a story that connects us with our distant ancestors and an extraordinary, unlikely chain of events that shaped human development and left a mark on all of us. Alice Roberts uses the latest research to uncover the evolutionary history hidden in all of us, from the secrets found only in our embryos and genes - including why as embroyos we have what look like gills - to those visible in your anatomy. This is a tale of discovery, exploring why and how we have developed as we have. This is your story, told as never before.
392 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2014
About the author
Alice Roberts
35 books568 followersAlice May Roberts is an English anatomist, osteoarchaeologist, physical anthropologist, palaeopathologist, television presenter and author.
Roberts studied medicine and anatomy at Cardiff University, qualifying in 1997 as a physician with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MB BCh) degree, having gained an intercalated Bachelor of Science degree in anatomy. She earned a PhD in paleopathology in 2008 from the University of Bristol.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Roberts studied medicine and anatomy at Cardiff University, qualifying in 1997 as a physician with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MB BCh) degree, having gained an intercalated Bachelor of Science degree in anatomy. She earned a PhD in paleopathology in 2008 from the University of Bristol.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 116 reviews
May 26, 2022
Real Rating: 3.75* of five, rounded up because *I* really liked it
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: A narrative approach to a complex scientific study that's occupied Humanity for millennia is going to fall short in both rigor and scope. In that sense, Dr Roberts was doomed from the outset. What anyone who undertakes such an enterprise anyway chooses, then, is to fail in a particular way. In the case of Dr Roberts, an actual, practicing scientist, the choice was obvious: rigor, begone therefore to allow me the scope to speak directly to the audience for this book.
I'm quoting this bit from the chapter entitled "RIBS, LUNGS, AND HEARTS":
Careful, clear, and just a bit humorous...you got the "pain" play on words, right?...but the next sections are peppered with "rectus abdominis muscles" and a list of hominin names like Homo rudolfiensis and Homo habilis and we're way out of most people's comfort zone. This explains, I hope, my mingy-seeming rating.
What this book is doing, that is presenting the astounding evolutionary development of the Homo sapiens writing and reading this review, is very valuable. In and of itself, the existence of this project is heartening and necessary. There is an audience for science stuff that wants to know a lot of the material in here. But there aren't that many of us. Dumbing down, as any scientist wishing to communicate with laypersons absolutely must do, is a process of selection and elision. Author Roberts (I typoed "Riberts" and thought long and hard about just leaving it to see if anyone noticed) chose well, for me at my level of interest and information. But what about everyone else?
Choices, in any event, were made and they were illustrated with interestingly detailed line drawings and they were developed to a deeper level than I would've advised she take them; but Professor Doctor Author Roberts is a skilled communicator and (if one is willing to put in the work) will reveal to her readers an astoundingly inspiring story of unlikely events that came up with the form and function of the Homo sapiens she wrote this fascinating, but dense, book to inform and educate.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: A narrative approach to a complex scientific study that's occupied Humanity for millennia is going to fall short in both rigor and scope. In that sense, Dr Roberts was doomed from the outset. What anyone who undertakes such an enterprise anyway chooses, then, is to fail in a particular way. In the case of Dr Roberts, an actual, practicing scientist, the choice was obvious: rigor, begone therefore to allow me the scope to speak directly to the audience for this book.
I'm quoting this bit from the chapter entitled "RIBS, LUNGS, AND HEARTS":
When I look at an archaeological skeleton, the first thing I do is lay out the bones in an anatomical arrangement, as though the individual were laying on {their} back, arms by the sides, palm uppermost. Then I make an inventory of the bones, before moving on to look at each bone more carefully, taking note of features that might help me to determine the age and sex of the individual, as well as any telltale signs of disease.
Ribs can be a real pain—they're often broken into short fragments—but after some patient work on this jigsaw puzzle, it's possible to put them in order. A human chest is shaped like a barrel that has been squashed front to back, and the shape of the individual ribs reflects their position.
Careful, clear, and just a bit humorous...you got the "pain" play on words, right?...but the next sections are peppered with "rectus abdominis muscles" and a list of hominin names like Homo rudolfiensis and Homo habilis and we're way out of most people's comfort zone. This explains, I hope, my mingy-seeming rating.
What this book is doing, that is presenting the astounding evolutionary development of the Homo sapiens writing and reading this review, is very valuable. In and of itself, the existence of this project is heartening and necessary. There is an audience for science stuff that wants to know a lot of the material in here. But there aren't that many of us. Dumbing down, as any scientist wishing to communicate with laypersons absolutely must do, is a process of selection and elision. Author Roberts (I typoed "Riberts" and thought long and hard about just leaving it to see if anyone noticed) chose well, for me at my level of interest and information. But what about everyone else?
Choices, in any event, were made and they were illustrated with interestingly detailed line drawings and they were developed to a deeper level than I would've advised she take them; but Professor Doctor Author Roberts is a skilled communicator and (if one is willing to put in the work) will reveal to her readers an astoundingly inspiring story of unlikely events that came up with the form and function of the Homo sapiens she wrote this fascinating, but dense, book to inform and educate.
February 9, 2017
Thanks goes to Netgalley!
This book tries to do a couple of things, and while I have no direct issue with any of its aims in any one particular, I kept asking myself a very important question, and asked it often, namely: "Who is this author writing to?"
At the opening, I got the impression that this was going to be a grateful pat-on-the-back for all evolutionists and those who believe in science and reason, and indeed, this is what happens, but instead of a few long focuses on a few of the pieces that make humans beautiful and just like the animals we come from, it gets bogged down "hip bone connected to the thigh bone" syndrome.
Instead of a readable series of anecdotes (whether personal, which there are quite a few, or a history of science, which there are also quite a few,) we're also subject to what reads like a first or second year college biology textbook, or perhaps even worse, because it's meant to name drop and exact upon us the price of knowledge without having the depth or experience of being an anatomist, general biologist, or just being extremely well read.
I'm no expert, but I followed most of this book pretty well and understood where the author was headed nicely and enjoyed a number of new info-pieces that I had never come across before. As a reader of lots of fiction and non-fiction, I know there's a fine line to be drawn between too much info-dump or too little, especially in popular non-fiction, but then there's the importance of my repeated question. "Who is this writer writing to?"
If you're reading this book, you're probably already a convert to the alter of science. Aye. My opinion isn't going to change after being shown hundreds and hundreds of examples how and why we're similar to so many kinds of animals. I understood that a long time ago. If she ISN'T writing a book to convert us, then this gigantic overview of the grandeur of the human body might have been better served as a slightly MORE detailed book (or series of books) with a lot more time spent teaching with a lot more depth. Unfortunately, even that's out of the scope for a book of this length, so I'm back to my initial question.
It dawned on me, late in the read, that the book might be best served as something to put on your coffee table. Anyone who's attempted to read it will know just how either *scary* trying to get through it is and will be doubly impressed that *you* got through it, or your scientist friend will see it on the table and proceed to write down all the other books that you should have started with.
If you just want to impress your educated friends and don't want to actually read this book, just display it, then it's probably a fine choice. If they pick it up and thumb through it, they'll pick up on the author's enthusiasm, may recognize her from her science shows (which I have never watched,) and they'll open their mouths in wide "O"s when the big words start tumbling across the page.
I know, I know, I sound like some uneducated yokel when I say this, but I seriously wanted to DNF this book many times. It was either extremely remedial in long passages or I was completely out of my depth in others.
I loved the portions on the brain and our sex organs, thought the one on the eye was rather cool, too, but for everything else, I either had a hard time keeping my eyes focused or I started questioning some fundamental aspect about the book, such as: Where are the symbiotes and all the biota that make up the human body in concert with our standard, not much different DNA from the Fruit Fly? Where is the expression of our DNA explored and how did we become what we are from all these many different starting points that follow from the fish and the primates and so many others? I'd have LOVED to see a lot more pondering along those lines, getting my blood pumping from some cutting-edge theories as well as the history of what we USED to think.
I'm no expert. I never claimed to be.
But... I also don't think I was the right reader for this book. It was either way too many details and being bogged down in the author's big brain or it was way too few, without the precise and logical steps to prove a thesis.
I wanted to like it a lot more, but I don't think it was a complete waste of time. I did get some enjoyment out of it. Maybe it ought to be read in a piecemeal way, grabbing the pieces of the anatomy that interests you the most.
This book tries to do a couple of things, and while I have no direct issue with any of its aims in any one particular, I kept asking myself a very important question, and asked it often, namely: "Who is this author writing to?"
At the opening, I got the impression that this was going to be a grateful pat-on-the-back for all evolutionists and those who believe in science and reason, and indeed, this is what happens, but instead of a few long focuses on a few of the pieces that make humans beautiful and just like the animals we come from, it gets bogged down "hip bone connected to the thigh bone" syndrome.
Instead of a readable series of anecdotes (whether personal, which there are quite a few, or a history of science, which there are also quite a few,) we're also subject to what reads like a first or second year college biology textbook, or perhaps even worse, because it's meant to name drop and exact upon us the price of knowledge without having the depth or experience of being an anatomist, general biologist, or just being extremely well read.
I'm no expert, but I followed most of this book pretty well and understood where the author was headed nicely and enjoyed a number of new info-pieces that I had never come across before. As a reader of lots of fiction and non-fiction, I know there's a fine line to be drawn between too much info-dump or too little, especially in popular non-fiction, but then there's the importance of my repeated question. "Who is this writer writing to?"
If you're reading this book, you're probably already a convert to the alter of science. Aye. My opinion isn't going to change after being shown hundreds and hundreds of examples how and why we're similar to so many kinds of animals. I understood that a long time ago. If she ISN'T writing a book to convert us, then this gigantic overview of the grandeur of the human body might have been better served as a slightly MORE detailed book (or series of books) with a lot more time spent teaching with a lot more depth. Unfortunately, even that's out of the scope for a book of this length, so I'm back to my initial question.
It dawned on me, late in the read, that the book might be best served as something to put on your coffee table. Anyone who's attempted to read it will know just how either *scary* trying to get through it is and will be doubly impressed that *you* got through it, or your scientist friend will see it on the table and proceed to write down all the other books that you should have started with.
If you just want to impress your educated friends and don't want to actually read this book, just display it, then it's probably a fine choice. If they pick it up and thumb through it, they'll pick up on the author's enthusiasm, may recognize her from her science shows (which I have never watched,) and they'll open their mouths in wide "O"s when the big words start tumbling across the page.
I know, I know, I sound like some uneducated yokel when I say this, but I seriously wanted to DNF this book many times. It was either extremely remedial in long passages or I was completely out of my depth in others.
I loved the portions on the brain and our sex organs, thought the one on the eye was rather cool, too, but for everything else, I either had a hard time keeping my eyes focused or I started questioning some fundamental aspect about the book, such as: Where are the symbiotes and all the biota that make up the human body in concert with our standard, not much different DNA from the Fruit Fly? Where is the expression of our DNA explored and how did we become what we are from all these many different starting points that follow from the fish and the primates and so many others? I'd have LOVED to see a lot more pondering along those lines, getting my blood pumping from some cutting-edge theories as well as the history of what we USED to think.
I'm no expert. I never claimed to be.
But... I also don't think I was the right reader for this book. It was either way too many details and being bogged down in the author's big brain or it was way too few, without the precise and logical steps to prove a thesis.
I wanted to like it a lot more, but I don't think it was a complete waste of time. I did get some enjoyment out of it. Maybe it ought to be read in a piecemeal way, grabbing the pieces of the anatomy that interests you the most.
Read
December 29, 2018"There's a deep history hidden in your anatomy" (p.339)
A nice easy going book that drags the reader on a double journey through the human body, firstly from conception on wards, secondly a more traditional tour round the limbs and functionality of the human body. Enroute Alice Roberts discusses human evolution, how the body came to be the way it is and some of the pitfalls and hazards associated with our current specifications.
The style is chatty and easy going, more detailed than I remember from Biology classes at age 16 but I imagine all familiar enough if you have studied at a higher level than that. The cultural references are targetted towards a British- English audience and some like to Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood will I guess go stale quite rapidly. I imagine from some of the repetitions that she wrote it in chunks and assembled the text into a whole at a late point, like Frankenstein stitching together his monster.
I learnt that one reason why much about human evolution will remain obscure is that we don't know much about the body and it's functionality, for instance in passing Roberts mentions a fairly recent study that showed that there was no appreciable difference in walking efficiency between men and women despite the variation in pelvis shape,Roberts points out several times that cartilage and soft tissues can be as important as bones in determining the range of potential motion that a person can do and that even that is an insufficient guide to actual usage, citing the example of a community who regularly climb trees barefoot in order to raid bee hives whose feet had a degree of flexibility and grip equivalent to that of an arboreal ape despite being typical anatomical modern humans - ie as with a gymnast how you use you body changes what it can do, any fossil human remains then give only a approximate guide to how that person might have actually lived and used their body.
Entertaining.
A nice easy going book that drags the reader on a double journey through the human body, firstly from conception on wards, secondly a more traditional tour round the limbs and functionality of the human body. Enroute Alice Roberts discusses human evolution, how the body came to be the way it is and some of the pitfalls and hazards associated with our current specifications.
The style is chatty and easy going, more detailed than I remember from Biology classes at age 16 but I imagine all familiar enough if you have studied at a higher level than that. The cultural references are targetted towards a British- English audience and some like to Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood will I guess go stale quite rapidly. I imagine from some of the repetitions that she wrote it in chunks and assembled the text into a whole at a late point, like Frankenstein stitching together his monster.
I learnt that one reason why much about human evolution will remain obscure is that we don't know much about the body and it's functionality, for instance in passing Roberts mentions a fairly recent study that showed that there was no appreciable difference in walking efficiency between men and women despite the variation in pelvis shape,Roberts points out several times that cartilage and soft tissues can be as important as bones in determining the range of potential motion that a person can do and that even that is an insufficient guide to actual usage, citing the example of a community who regularly climb trees barefoot in order to raid bee hives whose feet had a degree of flexibility and grip equivalent to that of an arboreal ape despite being typical anatomical modern humans - ie as with a gymnast how you use you body changes what it can do, any fossil human remains then give only a approximate guide to how that person might have actually lived and used their body.
Entertaining.
November 27, 2023
***NO SPOILERS***
(Full disclosure: book abandoned at page 106, out of 354 pages)
I'm discontinuing this in favor of Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body, to be read at a later date. Roberts focused a great deal on the nitty-gritty details of biology, with--in one of the sections I read--a great deal of attention given to jawless fish, such as the lamprey. Some parts are fascinating, and science nerds will revel in all of it, but the lay reader will tire of it while waiting for her to hurry up and make the connection to modern humans. In the first chapter she also detailed every step of conception, something I can't imagine anyone reading this book doesn't already know everything about.
(Full disclosure: book abandoned at page 106, out of 354 pages)
I'm discontinuing this in favor of Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body, to be read at a later date. Roberts focused a great deal on the nitty-gritty details of biology, with--in one of the sections I read--a great deal of attention given to jawless fish, such as the lamprey. Some parts are fascinating, and science nerds will revel in all of it, but the lay reader will tire of it while waiting for her to hurry up and make the connection to modern humans. In the first chapter she also detailed every step of conception, something I can't imagine anyone reading this book doesn't already know everything about.
January 1, 2017
A great book about the human anatomy, complimented with evolutionary explanations for the quirks or mistakes of the complex machines we are. Loved the writing, endlessly fascinated with the subject.
December 25, 2015
Summary: An evolutionary account of human embryological development from even before conception through birth and of human anatomy and its evolutionary antecedents.
This review should probably come with a “trigger warning”. The book I am reviewing here may offend some of the Christians I count friends whose beliefs about human origins exclude any form of evolutionary explanations. Alice Roberts unashamedly advocates a thoroughly evolutionary explanation for human origins, embryology, and anatomy. She takes swipes at “creationist” and “intelligent design” explanations at several points.
I give this warning for two reasons. One is to let you know in advance that this review and blog is not a site for debates about evolution vs. creation (and comments that seek to do so will be taken down). You should write the author! The second is to suggest that if you are not interested in reading ideas that you might not agree with or be displeased with, you may not wish to go further.
On the other hand, if you are interested in what a thorough-going evolutionary anatomist and physician would say about our development and the evidence she would invoke in our embryology and physical anatomy, then you are in for a fascinating read.
She begins at the beginning of us, how human conception occurs and how the embryo begins to develop. She explores how human embryos in their earliest stages, successive stages reflect our evolutionary origins as sea creatures, and only in later development do our distinctive human features express themselves.
She then considers our development from head to foot alternating between embryological development and how she thinks our particular anatomical distinctives evolved. She begins with our unusually large brains (in relation to our body size) and the distinctive shape of our skulls both to accommodate that brain, and our binocular vision as the foremost of our senses.
As a singer, her account of the human voice box and the differences between male and female voices and even our differing abilities to form certain vowel sounds was intriguing. Our S-shaped spine reflects both the segmented bodies of our evolutionary forebears, and evolutionary adaptation to walking on two feet (and some design compromises in our lumbar vertebrae that result in chronic back pain in a good part of our population). She gives similar treatment of heart, lungs, and digestive tract, showing how similar we are to other species.
Her discussion of the development of male and female genitalia, how sexual distinctions between male and female develop (and how at an early stage of embryological development we were the same) is illuminating for understanding both our commonality and distinctiveness as men and women.
She then explores our arms, legs, pelvis, shoulders, feet and hands. Have you thought about what it takes to make a shoulder join capable of throwing and climbing? Or hold your arm out palm down and turn over your hand and note how your whole forearm rotates. And there is the design compromise between the circumferance of the neonate head, and the size of the birth canal, basically the same–10 centimeters. Yet a wider pelvis would have affected the efficiency of a woman’s walking gait.
Roberts would say we are fearfully and (mostly) wonderfully evolved. What is striking to me is how well she captures that wonder in this book. I found myself marveling again and again how our bodies develop in all their complexity from a single fertilized egg. She would also say our human distinctiveness, apart from our cognitive abilities is only a matter of degree. And she concludes with acknowledging how lucky each of us are to be here, and even our species with its cognitive capacities.
What I regret is the lack of acknowledgement of the possibility of any providential involvement in our emergence as a species. It is the mirror image of the unwillingness of others to consider with an open mind the evidence for evolutionary origins. Roberts captures the wonder of who we are and even advocates for our significant role in the sustenance of the planet. It almost sounds like echoes of a sense of purpose for our existence. Quite a stretch if all we are is lucky chances.
________________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
This review should probably come with a “trigger warning”. The book I am reviewing here may offend some of the Christians I count friends whose beliefs about human origins exclude any form of evolutionary explanations. Alice Roberts unashamedly advocates a thoroughly evolutionary explanation for human origins, embryology, and anatomy. She takes swipes at “creationist” and “intelligent design” explanations at several points.
I give this warning for two reasons. One is to let you know in advance that this review and blog is not a site for debates about evolution vs. creation (and comments that seek to do so will be taken down). You should write the author! The second is to suggest that if you are not interested in reading ideas that you might not agree with or be displeased with, you may not wish to go further.
On the other hand, if you are interested in what a thorough-going evolutionary anatomist and physician would say about our development and the evidence she would invoke in our embryology and physical anatomy, then you are in for a fascinating read.
She begins at the beginning of us, how human conception occurs and how the embryo begins to develop. She explores how human embryos in their earliest stages, successive stages reflect our evolutionary origins as sea creatures, and only in later development do our distinctive human features express themselves.
She then considers our development from head to foot alternating between embryological development and how she thinks our particular anatomical distinctives evolved. She begins with our unusually large brains (in relation to our body size) and the distinctive shape of our skulls both to accommodate that brain, and our binocular vision as the foremost of our senses.
As a singer, her account of the human voice box and the differences between male and female voices and even our differing abilities to form certain vowel sounds was intriguing. Our S-shaped spine reflects both the segmented bodies of our evolutionary forebears, and evolutionary adaptation to walking on two feet (and some design compromises in our lumbar vertebrae that result in chronic back pain in a good part of our population). She gives similar treatment of heart, lungs, and digestive tract, showing how similar we are to other species.
Her discussion of the development of male and female genitalia, how sexual distinctions between male and female develop (and how at an early stage of embryological development we were the same) is illuminating for understanding both our commonality and distinctiveness as men and women.
She then explores our arms, legs, pelvis, shoulders, feet and hands. Have you thought about what it takes to make a shoulder join capable of throwing and climbing? Or hold your arm out palm down and turn over your hand and note how your whole forearm rotates. And there is the design compromise between the circumferance of the neonate head, and the size of the birth canal, basically the same–10 centimeters. Yet a wider pelvis would have affected the efficiency of a woman’s walking gait.
Roberts would say we are fearfully and (mostly) wonderfully evolved. What is striking to me is how well she captures that wonder in this book. I found myself marveling again and again how our bodies develop in all their complexity from a single fertilized egg. She would also say our human distinctiveness, apart from our cognitive abilities is only a matter of degree. And she concludes with acknowledging how lucky each of us are to be here, and even our species with its cognitive capacities.
What I regret is the lack of acknowledgement of the possibility of any providential involvement in our emergence as a species. It is the mirror image of the unwillingness of others to consider with an open mind the evidence for evolutionary origins. Roberts captures the wonder of who we are and even advocates for our significant role in the sustenance of the planet. It almost sounds like echoes of a sense of purpose for our existence. Quite a stretch if all we are is lucky chances.
________________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
October 4, 2019
I would probably never have heard about this book had it not been for a Goodreads recommendation I came across, but I’m glad I got a chance to read it. The writing style is clear, the many drawings are helpful and informative, and even people who are decades away from their last biology class will be able to follow along.
Evolutionary biology is a fascinating topic, as body forms shift over time and species come and go in response to environmental conditions and opportunities. Sometimes anatomical features move around and change function. For example, reptiles have several bones in their jaws that are not present in mammals, but only one in their ears, the stapes. Over time one bone from the upper, and one from the lower jaw migrated into the ear to form the mammalian malleus and incus, which connect with the stapes, and in combination the three work together to transmit sounds more efficiently to the brain.
The book is structured so that it links a specific phase of embryonic development with evolutionary adaptations that are present at that time. It starts with the head and spine, moves down through the organs, and ends with the feet and hands. In most of the sections there is a discussion of fossils which illustrate how features emerged, changed, and adapted, including the last common ancestor with homo sapiens that had that trait. For instance, a discussion of how the human embryo starts to develop (it won’t be called a fetus until week eight) describes how certain cells roll up into a cylinder called the notochord, from which the brain and spinal cord will develop, and then takes the reader back to a half billion year old fossil called Haikouella, the earliest known progenitor of notochords, and one of the early species which would ultimately give rise to vast multitudes of vertebrate descendants.
The author talks about some of the history of anatomical research, and the scientists who expanded our knowledge of the form, function, and antecedents of current features. Ernst Haeckel's famous phrase "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" did not turn out to be correct, but it wasn’t a bad guess based on what was known at the time.
The subject of humanity’s more recent ancestors comes up frequently, and is always interesting. It is amazing how much can be deduced from a piece of vertebra or a fragment of rib or ankle bone. The subject of bi-pedalism is mentioned several times. For all the nature documentaries I have watched, it never occurred to me to make the connection that monkeys move through the trees on all fours, using their hands as a second pair of feet, but apes walk upright and use their arms to steady themselves by grasping branches. If our distant ancestors moved through the trees in an ape-like fashion, as seems probable, then walking upright on the ground is not the great mystery it is sometimes made out to be. This idea gives rise to another interesting observation. We have all seen depictions of the march of evolutionary progress where mankind stands triumphantly upright after leaving his knuckle-walking progenitors behind, but in fact the last common ancestor of humans and apes, who lived between five and seven million years ago, may have been an upright walker even then, which means knuckle-walking is the later evolutionary adaptation, while habitually upright walking is the older, non-evolved method of getting around.
This book is full of interesting bits of information, about anatomy ancient and modern, about fetal development, evolution, and how the environment can influence modifications to muscles, the skeleton, and perhaps even brain function. I definitely enjoyed this book and would recommend it for anyone with an interest in evolution.
Evolutionary biology is a fascinating topic, as body forms shift over time and species come and go in response to environmental conditions and opportunities. Sometimes anatomical features move around and change function. For example, reptiles have several bones in their jaws that are not present in mammals, but only one in their ears, the stapes. Over time one bone from the upper, and one from the lower jaw migrated into the ear to form the mammalian malleus and incus, which connect with the stapes, and in combination the three work together to transmit sounds more efficiently to the brain.
The book is structured so that it links a specific phase of embryonic development with evolutionary adaptations that are present at that time. It starts with the head and spine, moves down through the organs, and ends with the feet and hands. In most of the sections there is a discussion of fossils which illustrate how features emerged, changed, and adapted, including the last common ancestor with homo sapiens that had that trait. For instance, a discussion of how the human embryo starts to develop (it won’t be called a fetus until week eight) describes how certain cells roll up into a cylinder called the notochord, from which the brain and spinal cord will develop, and then takes the reader back to a half billion year old fossil called Haikouella, the earliest known progenitor of notochords, and one of the early species which would ultimately give rise to vast multitudes of vertebrate descendants.
The author talks about some of the history of anatomical research, and the scientists who expanded our knowledge of the form, function, and antecedents of current features. Ernst Haeckel's famous phrase "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" did not turn out to be correct, but it wasn’t a bad guess based on what was known at the time.
The subject of humanity’s more recent ancestors comes up frequently, and is always interesting. It is amazing how much can be deduced from a piece of vertebra or a fragment of rib or ankle bone. The subject of bi-pedalism is mentioned several times. For all the nature documentaries I have watched, it never occurred to me to make the connection that monkeys move through the trees on all fours, using their hands as a second pair of feet, but apes walk upright and use their arms to steady themselves by grasping branches. If our distant ancestors moved through the trees in an ape-like fashion, as seems probable, then walking upright on the ground is not the great mystery it is sometimes made out to be. This idea gives rise to another interesting observation. We have all seen depictions of the march of evolutionary progress where mankind stands triumphantly upright after leaving his knuckle-walking progenitors behind, but in fact the last common ancestor of humans and apes, who lived between five and seven million years ago, may have been an upright walker even then, which means knuckle-walking is the later evolutionary adaptation, while habitually upright walking is the older, non-evolved method of getting around.
This book is full of interesting bits of information, about anatomy ancient and modern, about fetal development, evolution, and how the environment can influence modifications to muscles, the skeleton, and perhaps even brain function. I definitely enjoyed this book and would recommend it for anyone with an interest in evolution.
December 9, 2022
Alice Roberts is the Professor of Public Communication of Science at Birmingham University and boy, does it show. This book is jaunty enthusiasm from start to finish. She has a very amiable and pleasant style. Ideal for TV I thought to myself and after a few pages lo and behold it turns out she is a well-known science populariser on the BBC. A sort of British Degrasse-Tyson - biology version.
We are treated to an in-depth examination of the human body and how evolution helped shape it. Basically it unfolded in a piecemeal, haphazard and not necessarily the most efficient manner. I call the vagus nerve to the stand. We're basically a perpetual patch job.
Each body part is examined in much more detail than I remember from my biology class in secondary school. Very detailed and thorough if not overly exciting. Some parts of the body are just more interesting than others, the ear for example. I feel that these sections would work well in a TV format but are not very compelling on the page.
Where she’s strong is the development of the embryo. The similarities between the embryos of vastly different species are nothing short of amazing.
She moves from embryo species comparison to our particular human journey. How so many of us make it from conception to birth is nothing short of miraculous considering just how precarious the first 9 months are. She avoided citing abortion interestingly enough.
Many interesting odd tidbits are encountered in this book. E.g Neural pruning, lamprey habits, the well known but misunderstood clitoris. I would have preferred more tangents but she sticks solidly to her task.
She's not combative in her presentations but she still manages a few digs at creationists and their intelligent design fellow travellers. Soft target, safe to attack.
I won't pretend to have understood everything but it kept my interest for the most part. I was disappointed to see her reference Gould and to a lesser extent Dawkins in excessively positive terms. Their work, especially Gould, is heavily skewed politically and weak as a result.
Roberts is of the left if not aggressively so. I prefer scientific writers, even more so, the TV varieties, to be non political or centrist at worst. A political bias often means bias elsewhere. I don't want to know how you vote.
I doubt I'll read her again. Maybe someone less mainstream next time on this topic.
We are treated to an in-depth examination of the human body and how evolution helped shape it. Basically it unfolded in a piecemeal, haphazard and not necessarily the most efficient manner. I call the vagus nerve to the stand. We're basically a perpetual patch job.
Each body part is examined in much more detail than I remember from my biology class in secondary school. Very detailed and thorough if not overly exciting. Some parts of the body are just more interesting than others, the ear for example. I feel that these sections would work well in a TV format but are not very compelling on the page.
Where she’s strong is the development of the embryo. The similarities between the embryos of vastly different species are nothing short of amazing.
She moves from embryo species comparison to our particular human journey. How so many of us make it from conception to birth is nothing short of miraculous considering just how precarious the first 9 months are. She avoided citing abortion interestingly enough.
Many interesting odd tidbits are encountered in this book. E.g Neural pruning, lamprey habits, the well known but misunderstood clitoris. I would have preferred more tangents but she sticks solidly to her task.
She's not combative in her presentations but she still manages a few digs at creationists and their intelligent design fellow travellers. Soft target, safe to attack.
I won't pretend to have understood everything but it kept my interest for the most part. I was disappointed to see her reference Gould and to a lesser extent Dawkins in excessively positive terms. Their work, especially Gould, is heavily skewed politically and weak as a result.
Roberts is of the left if not aggressively so. I prefer scientific writers, even more so, the TV varieties, to be non political or centrist at worst. A political bias often means bias elsewhere. I don't want to know how you vote.
I doubt I'll read her again. Maybe someone less mainstream next time on this topic.
August 29, 2021
Recunoaștem că semănăm cu maimuțele, dar rareori ne dăm seama că suntem maimuțe. Richard Dawkins
O frumoasă introducere generală în înțelegerea neamului nostru primordial și cum nu suntem așa de unici (din punct de vedere anatomic) în comparație cu regnul animal. Singurul lucru care ne deosebește de ființele necuvântătoare este gândirea, însă de multe ori acestea se dovedesc a fi mai inteligente decât noi. :)
O frumoasă introducere generală în înțelegerea neamului nostru primordial și cum nu suntem așa de unici (din punct de vedere anatomic) în comparație cu regnul animal. Singurul lucru care ne deosebește de ființele necuvântătoare este gândirea, însă de multe ori acestea se dovedesc a fi mai inteligente decât noi. :)
April 8, 2024
I absolutely loved this book. It’s informative, accessible and completely fascinating and is a brilliant book to start exploring the subject of evolution. It has so much packed into manageable chapters and is told with enthusiasm that’s contagious and a wonderful sense of humanity. It also provides an intriguing insight into the history of our species (so far relatively short) time here on planet Earth. It’s definitely changed the way I see the world and our humble place in it. I cannot recommend it enough.
July 21, 2022
Nu pot aprecia valoarea conținutului științific al acestei cărți (nu am competența). Pot spune că povestea e spusă destul de pe înțelesul meu.
De-ar fi lipsit inserturile străvezii de ideologie socialistoidă ar fi fost și mai bine. Grija neobosită a autoarei de a sublinia că omul nu e “special” mi-a devenit, după câteva repetiții, suspectă.
Și, mai spune anatomista, faptul că am evoluat nu ne face neapărat “superiori”. Într-un loc, aproape că sunt negate beneficiile sau avantajele sau câștigurile sau definiția însăși a evoluției organismului uman - doar pentru ca alte specii să nu pară “discriminate” în raport cu omul. Or dacă asta nu-i ideologie… Ridicol!
Așa se întâmplă, probabil, când ideologia “infectează” știința sau când un specialist se simte îndreptățit să trimită și un “mesaj” pseudo-politic, în loc să-și vadă de știința sa.
De-ar fi lipsit inserturile străvezii de ideologie socialistoidă ar fi fost și mai bine. Grija neobosită a autoarei de a sublinia că omul nu e “special” mi-a devenit, după câteva repetiții, suspectă.
Și, mai spune anatomista, faptul că am evoluat nu ne face neapărat “superiori”. Într-un loc, aproape că sunt negate beneficiile sau avantajele sau câștigurile sau definiția însăși a evoluției organismului uman - doar pentru ca alte specii să nu pară “discriminate” în raport cu omul. Or dacă asta nu-i ideologie… Ridicol!
Așa se întâmplă, probabil, când ideologia “infectează” știința sau când un specialist se simte îndreptățit să trimită și un “mesaj” pseudo-politic, în loc să-și vadă de știința sa.
February 26, 2018
This book covers the fascinating story of how a human body develops, from gametes to fully formed baby. Each chapter covers a specific segment of the body, explaining how it forms (in terms of genes and structure) and gives an evolutionary background for why it developed like that and not some other way, and also sometimes how that particular body part works (especially in terms of feet and hands). Roberts has a lovely writing style and clearly explains what happens when; with minimal intrusions of personal anecdotes. The book contains a large number of diagrams to help explain some of the technical physiological terminology, and there is a great deal of it. Each piece of anatomy is usually referred to by its proper name, which might make the book too complicated for some readers? Personally I enjoyed the lesson in embryology, anthropology and evolution, and appreciated the scientific details and lack of vagueness.
Your Inner Fish: A Journey Into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body by Neil Shubin is probably an easier book to read, but the The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being by Alice Roberts provides more specific embryological details.
Your Inner Fish: A Journey Into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body by Neil Shubin is probably an easier book to read, but the The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being by Alice Roberts provides more specific embryological details.
October 7, 2015
From a British anatomist, this is excellent popular science writing, exploring the precarious collection of parts that is the human body and what, with very minor changes in normal development, can go wrong with it. Roberts climbs into MRI machines, uses 3-D printed versions of her own parts and offers lively examples from many years of teaching to illustrate how astounding it is we function at all (and the attractive life of the sea squirt).
February 16, 2016
I bought this book for my grandson, based on a review in the WSJ. I read it in a few days, and loved every minute of it. It explains, in layman's terms, the development of us, not only from the minute of conception (or just preceding it), but from the first life on the planet. How every living embryo resembles a human embryo. It is illustrated, so you can follow her explanations with an image. And it is fun to read. I am sure my grandson will love it.
February 9, 2024
Precies mijn cursus ontwikkelingsbiologie
August 24, 2020
I can consider this book as an average popular science book about human evolution and human embryo development for a wide range of people. Narration is quite ubiquitous: the book begins with conception and further divided by chapters where particular part of the body develops such as brain, skull, etc. Although book is mainly about human, there are also correlations with other animals, frequent mentions of apes and primates, less – about mammals, in places very interesting and full of informative facts. The book also touches embryo development and giving birth in various animals in order to demonstrate how evolution tends to find different ways to do these things but with the same kernel.
December 29, 2020
The author makes great use of her knowledge of anatomy in covering some fascinating aspects of our being alive in the shape that we are, with examination of evolutionary after-effects, embryology and comparison to other apes and hominin forerunners. Very interesting through and through.
June 19, 2019
Eerlijk gezegd, biologie is nooit mijn sterkste kant geweest en zal het wellicht ook nooit worden. Maar ... ik heb mijn gebrek aan kennis ter zake toch een beetje ingehaald dankzij dit zeer lezenswaardige boek. En dat ondanks het feit dat de auteur, Alice Roberts, dokter, anatoom en paleoantropoloog is en dus zonder twijfel in staat me in slaap te lullen met een hele hoop termen waar ik geen snars van begrijp.
Dat Roberts dat niet doet, heeft wellicht dezelfde reden als het feit dat ze eerder BBC-programma's als The Incredible Human Journey en Origins of Us heeft mogen presenteren. Ze weet over haar business te vertellen in een taal die ook een leek als ik kan vatten.
Desondanks kan het al eens fout lopen. In de vertaling bijvoorbeeld. Niet dat die vertaler in dit geval een dokter of een anatoom of een paleoantropoloog moest geweest zijn - Judith Dijs blijkt op studievlak vooral bezig geweest te zijn met filosofie -, maar het kan wel eens voorvallen dat die vertaler, hoe goed ook, een nuance mist. Dat leek me in ieder geval zo te zijn met de titel: "Het ongelooflijke toeval van ons bestaan".
Iets voelde niet juist aan met dat "toeval". En wat bleek ? In het Engels was de titel: The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being. En "unlikeliness" is zoals we allemaal weten iets totáál anders dan "toeval". "Unlikeliness" is "onwaarschijnlijkheid". "De ongelooflijke onwaarschijnlijkheid van ons bestaan" zou dan ook perfect de lading van dit boek gedekt hebben. Ik houd het er echter op dat Dijs dat óók zo gezien heeft, maar dat ze bij uitgeverij Lannoo een woord als "onwaarschijnlijkheid" niet op een leesbaar formaat op de kaft wisten te krijgen en dat het dan maar het onjuiste maar veel kortere "toeval" geworden is.
Hoe dan ook, verdere opmerkingen op de vertaling heb ik niet. Tenzij de vertaalster consequent een of ander bot of een orgaan of een diersoort verkeerd zou vertaald hebben en ik het dus niet door zou hebben. En dat het om "onwaarschijnlijkheid" gaat, maakt de auteur ook nog eens duidelijk in het concluderende hoofdstuk: "Als je een meteoriet op je hoofd krijgt, maakt het weinig uit hoe evolutionair geslaagd je bent. Zowat 66 miljoen jaar geleden sloeg de Chicxulub-asteroïde in het schiereiland Yucatan van Mexico in en het was afgelopen met de dino's. Ook de gevolgen van zulke uitstervingen zijn onmogelijk te voorspellen. Maar in het kielzog van de Chicxulub-inslag zag een kleine groep overlevende dieren (onze eigen zoogdiervoorouders) kans om te diversifiëren en de ecologische plaatsen in te nemen die door de inslag waren vrijgekomen. Als Chicxulub niet was gebeurd, is het uiterst onwaarschijnlijk dat er ooit mensen zouden zijn geëvolueerd."
Over evolutie gaat eigenlijk dit hele boek: niet dat Roberts precies kan verklaren waarom iets in een bepaalde richting geëvolueerd is - als het al niet een paar keer "over en weer" evolueerde, want lineariteit is in evolutie duidelijk niet noodzakelijk -, maar ze maakt wel mooi duidelijk waarom we, op zijn zachtst gezegd, enigszins eigenaardig in mekaar zitten: we zijn vanuit weinig begonnen, maar elke verdere evolutie (het is per slot van rekening nog steeds evolutie, geen tabula rasa en dan iets nieuws) is wel verder gebouwd op dat weinige. En hoewel ze de theorie verwerpt van Johann Friedrich Meckel, die "een fundamenteel verband [zag] tussen de grote levensketen en de manier waarop een ogenschijnlijk eenvoudig embryo tijdens zijn ontwikkeling steeds complexer werd", waardoor embryo's in zijn ogen "werkelijk een herhaling van de evolutie door[maakten), versneld en op heel kleine schaal" (de zogenaamde recapitulatietheorie), legt ze aan de hand van dat embryo én de diersoorten waar het tijdens zijn evolutie afwisselend op lijkt (en toch weer heel erg van verschilt) uit hoe het met die evolutie in mekaar zit.
Uit die evolutie trekt ze overigens - in tegenstelling tot zovelen (sommige "ecologisten" inbegrepen) - niet de conclusie dat onze soort dan het summum van die evolutie is: "Het lijdt geen twijfel dat we onszelf graag zien als speciaal, maar wat betekent dat echt ? In brede zin is de Homo sapiens uniek als soort; we hebben een unieke combinatie van kenmerken zoals bij voorkeur rondlopen op twee benen, heel vaardige handen en enorme hersenen. Maar is niet elke soort uniek ? Dat is toch juist het hele punt ?" En: "In de moderne biologie is het idee van lineaire progressie die begint bij lagere dieren en zich opwerkt naar hogere dieren, vervangen door het idee van een weelderig vertakte levensboom. Maar die gedachte van een lineaire scala naturae met de mensheid als uiteindelijke bestemming is heel hardnekkig. Juist omdat we zoveel invloed hebben op de wereld om ons heen, is het heel verleidelijk om te geloven dat wij op de een of andere manier het hoogtepunt van de evolutie zijn. Aan het begin van de twintigste eeuw schreven evolutionaire biologen nog vanuit dit beeld. Ze stelden de menselijke evolutie voor als een natuurlijke uitbreiding van trends in de evolutie van primaten, als een bijna onvermijdelijke en progressieve ontwikkeling. Maar tegen de jaren vijftig begonnen fossiele ontdekkingen een andere geschiedenis bloot te leggen, een waarin onvoorspelbare veranderingen in de omgeving invloed hadden op de manier waarop soorten evolueerden. De menselijke evolutie bleek contingentie en toeval in zich te bergen."
Aha, dan toch nog toeval ? Dat heeft zijn invloed op de evolutie gehad, inderdaad. Soms op een vrij onwaarschijnlijke manier zelfs. Hoe dan ook, wie wat meer wil weten over ons hoofd en hersenen, onze schedel en zintuigen, ons strottenhoofd, onze ruggengraat en de segmenten ervan, onze ribben, longen en hart, onze darmen, onze geslachtsklieren, genitaliën en draagtijden, onze ledematen, heupen, tenen, schouders, duimen en de manier waarop we al die dingen gebruiken, zal dit boek graag lezen.
Dat Roberts dat niet doet, heeft wellicht dezelfde reden als het feit dat ze eerder BBC-programma's als The Incredible Human Journey en Origins of Us heeft mogen presenteren. Ze weet over haar business te vertellen in een taal die ook een leek als ik kan vatten.
Desondanks kan het al eens fout lopen. In de vertaling bijvoorbeeld. Niet dat die vertaler in dit geval een dokter of een anatoom of een paleoantropoloog moest geweest zijn - Judith Dijs blijkt op studievlak vooral bezig geweest te zijn met filosofie -, maar het kan wel eens voorvallen dat die vertaler, hoe goed ook, een nuance mist. Dat leek me in ieder geval zo te zijn met de titel: "Het ongelooflijke toeval van ons bestaan".
Iets voelde niet juist aan met dat "toeval". En wat bleek ? In het Engels was de titel: The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being. En "unlikeliness" is zoals we allemaal weten iets totáál anders dan "toeval". "Unlikeliness" is "onwaarschijnlijkheid". "De ongelooflijke onwaarschijnlijkheid van ons bestaan" zou dan ook perfect de lading van dit boek gedekt hebben. Ik houd het er echter op dat Dijs dat óók zo gezien heeft, maar dat ze bij uitgeverij Lannoo een woord als "onwaarschijnlijkheid" niet op een leesbaar formaat op de kaft wisten te krijgen en dat het dan maar het onjuiste maar veel kortere "toeval" geworden is.
Hoe dan ook, verdere opmerkingen op de vertaling heb ik niet. Tenzij de vertaalster consequent een of ander bot of een orgaan of een diersoort verkeerd zou vertaald hebben en ik het dus niet door zou hebben. En dat het om "onwaarschijnlijkheid" gaat, maakt de auteur ook nog eens duidelijk in het concluderende hoofdstuk: "Als je een meteoriet op je hoofd krijgt, maakt het weinig uit hoe evolutionair geslaagd je bent. Zowat 66 miljoen jaar geleden sloeg de Chicxulub-asteroïde in het schiereiland Yucatan van Mexico in en het was afgelopen met de dino's. Ook de gevolgen van zulke uitstervingen zijn onmogelijk te voorspellen. Maar in het kielzog van de Chicxulub-inslag zag een kleine groep overlevende dieren (onze eigen zoogdiervoorouders) kans om te diversifiëren en de ecologische plaatsen in te nemen die door de inslag waren vrijgekomen. Als Chicxulub niet was gebeurd, is het uiterst onwaarschijnlijk dat er ooit mensen zouden zijn geëvolueerd."
Over evolutie gaat eigenlijk dit hele boek: niet dat Roberts precies kan verklaren waarom iets in een bepaalde richting geëvolueerd is - als het al niet een paar keer "over en weer" evolueerde, want lineariteit is in evolutie duidelijk niet noodzakelijk -, maar ze maakt wel mooi duidelijk waarom we, op zijn zachtst gezegd, enigszins eigenaardig in mekaar zitten: we zijn vanuit weinig begonnen, maar elke verdere evolutie (het is per slot van rekening nog steeds evolutie, geen tabula rasa en dan iets nieuws) is wel verder gebouwd op dat weinige. En hoewel ze de theorie verwerpt van Johann Friedrich Meckel, die "een fundamenteel verband [zag] tussen de grote levensketen en de manier waarop een ogenschijnlijk eenvoudig embryo tijdens zijn ontwikkeling steeds complexer werd", waardoor embryo's in zijn ogen "werkelijk een herhaling van de evolutie door[maakten), versneld en op heel kleine schaal" (de zogenaamde recapitulatietheorie), legt ze aan de hand van dat embryo én de diersoorten waar het tijdens zijn evolutie afwisselend op lijkt (en toch weer heel erg van verschilt) uit hoe het met die evolutie in mekaar zit.
Uit die evolutie trekt ze overigens - in tegenstelling tot zovelen (sommige "ecologisten" inbegrepen) - niet de conclusie dat onze soort dan het summum van die evolutie is: "Het lijdt geen twijfel dat we onszelf graag zien als speciaal, maar wat betekent dat echt ? In brede zin is de Homo sapiens uniek als soort; we hebben een unieke combinatie van kenmerken zoals bij voorkeur rondlopen op twee benen, heel vaardige handen en enorme hersenen. Maar is niet elke soort uniek ? Dat is toch juist het hele punt ?" En: "In de moderne biologie is het idee van lineaire progressie die begint bij lagere dieren en zich opwerkt naar hogere dieren, vervangen door het idee van een weelderig vertakte levensboom. Maar die gedachte van een lineaire scala naturae met de mensheid als uiteindelijke bestemming is heel hardnekkig. Juist omdat we zoveel invloed hebben op de wereld om ons heen, is het heel verleidelijk om te geloven dat wij op de een of andere manier het hoogtepunt van de evolutie zijn. Aan het begin van de twintigste eeuw schreven evolutionaire biologen nog vanuit dit beeld. Ze stelden de menselijke evolutie voor als een natuurlijke uitbreiding van trends in de evolutie van primaten, als een bijna onvermijdelijke en progressieve ontwikkeling. Maar tegen de jaren vijftig begonnen fossiele ontdekkingen een andere geschiedenis bloot te leggen, een waarin onvoorspelbare veranderingen in de omgeving invloed hadden op de manier waarop soorten evolueerden. De menselijke evolutie bleek contingentie en toeval in zich te bergen."
Aha, dan toch nog toeval ? Dat heeft zijn invloed op de evolutie gehad, inderdaad. Soms op een vrij onwaarschijnlijke manier zelfs. Hoe dan ook, wie wat meer wil weten over ons hoofd en hersenen, onze schedel en zintuigen, ons strottenhoofd, onze ruggengraat en de segmenten ervan, onze ribben, longen en hart, onze darmen, onze geslachtsklieren, genitaliën en draagtijden, onze ledematen, heupen, tenen, schouders, duimen en de manier waarop we al die dingen gebruiken, zal dit boek graag lezen.
June 26, 2015
Evolution, biology, and anthropology in one very interesting book.
June 13, 2017
Probably 4.5. I do wish Goodreads allowed half stars! Full review coming later.
July 3, 2018
Started out well but got more detailed than my interest could sustain so I skimmed.
April 8, 2022
Alice Roberts, a paleoanthropologist and embryologist, uses insights from both fields to give a detailed account of how we develop in the womb. A veteran TV presenter, she writes in a scientifically well-founded yet accessible manner. I should clarify what I mean by accessible: This is not at the dumbed-down end of the spectrum. Instead, I found it required careful attention and occasional recourse to my dictionary. Even then, it was challenging to keep various terms straight. But that’s fine. When I read a book of popular science, I like to be stretched a bit.
My two takeaways from the book may seem contradictory, but to me, they are complementary. On the one hand, tracing the development of an embryo, then a fetus offers more convincing evidence for evolution than the study of adult species. The yolk sac alone is compelling. On the other, when you consider all that has to go right for conception to occur and to result in a viable live birth, it is incredible that we exist at all (see the book title). My name for the reason there is anything at all rather than nothing is God. Your mileage may vary.
Back to evolution: I was fascinated to learn in this book that while natural selection, as proposed by Darwin, is at work, it is not the only mechanism contributing to evolution. There is, for example, epigenetics (which, Roberts points out, is not the same as the discredited view of epigenesis). But I was also interested to read that epigenesis is only one of several discarded views (recapitulation and preformation are others) that nonetheless contained a grain of truth. All in all, this was an interesting lesson in how science develops.
Roberts repeatedly addresses the question of whether the human species is unique. In one sense, of course, it is—that’s what makes it a species. But the same is true of every other species, so that doesn’t take us much further. More relevant is our tendency to view ourselves as the pinnacle of life, which is a holdover from picturing life as climbing an ascending ladder (scala naturae). Instead, as many from Darwin to Gould have pointed out, a more appropriate metaphor is a tree of life. Additionally, the characteristics we point to when defining the species (habitual bipedalism, opposing thumb, large brain size) turn out to be not absolute differentiators from other species but a matter of degree.
Although this book required effort and concentration, I felt the payoff was worth it.
My two takeaways from the book may seem contradictory, but to me, they are complementary. On the one hand, tracing the development of an embryo, then a fetus offers more convincing evidence for evolution than the study of adult species. The yolk sac alone is compelling. On the other, when you consider all that has to go right for conception to occur and to result in a viable live birth, it is incredible that we exist at all (see the book title). My name for the reason there is anything at all rather than nothing is God. Your mileage may vary.
Back to evolution: I was fascinated to learn in this book that while natural selection, as proposed by Darwin, is at work, it is not the only mechanism contributing to evolution. There is, for example, epigenetics (which, Roberts points out, is not the same as the discredited view of epigenesis). But I was also interested to read that epigenesis is only one of several discarded views (recapitulation and preformation are others) that nonetheless contained a grain of truth. All in all, this was an interesting lesson in how science develops.
Roberts repeatedly addresses the question of whether the human species is unique. In one sense, of course, it is—that’s what makes it a species. But the same is true of every other species, so that doesn’t take us much further. More relevant is our tendency to view ourselves as the pinnacle of life, which is a holdover from picturing life as climbing an ascending ladder (scala naturae). Instead, as many from Darwin to Gould have pointed out, a more appropriate metaphor is a tree of life. Additionally, the characteristics we point to when defining the species (habitual bipedalism, opposing thumb, large brain size) turn out to be not absolute differentiators from other species but a matter of degree.
Although this book required effort and concentration, I felt the payoff was worth it.
September 21, 2021
This was an energising run through evolution and embryology, written well with a clear passion for the subject. I have long wanted to read this book, having has a gap between my intense readings of Darwin, many biographies, studies on evolution and physics on which I spent so much of my time and energy from the 1990s to onwards.
The Incredible Likeness ... has re-energised me to renew my interest in the wide and captivating subject. I especially liked the analysis of how we, as creatures shaped by evolution and our ability to excel in our environment, are now shaping it ourselves. Moreover, studies of our DNA show that it, and our bodies, can be shaped by our interaction with the world. In times gone by, this Lamarkian approach was considered nonsensical but Lamark is now being proved to be partially correct. This opens up new grounds for research and is a tantalising glimpse into an even more expanded future - if humans do not destroy ourselves first.
Well written, full of great material - I would recommend it to anyone even remotely interested in ourselves.
The Incredible Likeness ... has re-energised me to renew my interest in the wide and captivating subject. I especially liked the analysis of how we, as creatures shaped by evolution and our ability to excel in our environment, are now shaping it ourselves. Moreover, studies of our DNA show that it, and our bodies, can be shaped by our interaction with the world. In times gone by, this Lamarkian approach was considered nonsensical but Lamark is now being proved to be partially correct. This opens up new grounds for research and is a tantalising glimpse into an even more expanded future - if humans do not destroy ourselves first.
Well written, full of great material - I would recommend it to anyone even remotely interested in ourselves.
January 19, 2020
Very poor book. Badly written and chaotic, doesn't signpost well (mentions things sixty pages after they're first mentioned and expects the reader to remember without a prompt) and repeats words a lot within a couple of lines, for example "natural selection doesn't seem to be quite as 'in charge' of the direction of evolution as we might have imagined. It has a limited selection to select from" (pg345) and "Natural selection can only select among possible varients, and variation is already limited, before natural selection gets a chance" (pg 346). I also question her comma use, but then I query my own punctuation quite often. Between this and the clunky way she interjects her own life and the unclear line drawings/diagrams I was unimpressed and disappointed. I've watched documentaries she's presented before, that was one of the reasons I picked up her book, and enjoyed them. I may continue watching her documentaries. I think I shall avoid her books in future.
December 24, 2020
A highlight of my love of reading was picking up this particular book, which I only encountered by chance- so I am very grateful for that luck factor...
Prof. Alice Roberts is a world renowned scientist whose embryology tutorials are a massive hit on YouTube- but this book is no less. Embryology will either put you to sleep (oops sorry!) or keep enthralled- this book did the latter. Each and every chapter is woven into its evolutionary basis with plenty of focus on Human side of things. It also indulges the reader with numerous examples from a number of animal species and links it to the commonalities and how similar life is right from the beginning! The final few chapters are the highlight which is so elegantly written and the closure to the book is also very enjoyable. Without further spoilers- I recommend this book to anyone who is genuinely interested in how it all begins! Utterly beautiful.
Prof. Alice Roberts is a world renowned scientist whose embryology tutorials are a massive hit on YouTube- but this book is no less. Embryology will either put you to sleep (oops sorry!) or keep enthralled- this book did the latter. Each and every chapter is woven into its evolutionary basis with plenty of focus on Human side of things. It also indulges the reader with numerous examples from a number of animal species and links it to the commonalities and how similar life is right from the beginning! The final few chapters are the highlight which is so elegantly written and the closure to the book is also very enjoyable. Without further spoilers- I recommend this book to anyone who is genuinely interested in how it all begins! Utterly beautiful.
February 11, 2024
I know Alice Robert's work a little from watching various BBC documentaries that she hosts, and have always been impressed with her knowledge and easy way of explaining complex things. I really enjoyed the audiobook of The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being - it was a chatty whirlwind tour of different aspects of our bodies starting from embryos, and how our embryos contain information deep from our evolutionary past.
I was fascinated to read how much disregarded 'data' we still hold in our genes (the information needed to create gills springs to mind!) and how imperfect the evolutionary process has been throughout the eons of time - it's because our backs have so much mobility that they all wear out before the end of our lifetimes!
Occasionally I got a little lost in the detail as I don't have any sort of scientific background, but I really enjoyed humankind being firmly but kindly taken off it's pedestal. Roberts clearly explains how humans are not all that unique or special in genetic or evolutionary terms, and that we are just one branch off of the huge family tree of life amongst so many amazing and sometimes downright weird lifeforms on earth.
I was fascinated to read how much disregarded 'data' we still hold in our genes (the information needed to create gills springs to mind!) and how imperfect the evolutionary process has been throughout the eons of time - it's because our backs have so much mobility that they all wear out before the end of our lifetimes!
Occasionally I got a little lost in the detail as I don't have any sort of scientific background, but I really enjoyed humankind being firmly but kindly taken off it's pedestal. Roberts clearly explains how humans are not all that unique or special in genetic or evolutionary terms, and that we are just one branch off of the huge family tree of life amongst so many amazing and sometimes downright weird lifeforms on earth.
January 7, 2024
I found this book really interesting. I have some background in biology, but not a huge amount. I suspect if you didn't manage to pass GCSE biology and don't watch documentaries, you might struggle with this book, but for the reasonably educated, it's a good book. It's a foundation at least, for university study. It's not a textbook however, it is written with a general audience on mind. If you enjoy Dr Roberts' documentary series' you'll be fine with this book.
I giggled at the occasional digs at creationists, because they deserve it for their wilful ignorance. If you're sensitive about that, you probably need a slightly less advanced book before you get to this one.
I'm listening to Ancestors next.
I giggled at the occasional digs at creationists, because they deserve it for their wilful ignorance. If you're sensitive about that, you probably need a slightly less advanced book before you get to this one.
I'm listening to Ancestors next.
August 26, 2017
A really interesting mixture of anatomy, embryology and discussions of evolution. The author explains it all reasonably well and the in-text illustrations really added to the explanations.
The main point the author gets across is that humans are not in a category of their own separate from the rest of the animals and apes. We are not some special being with a purpose and destiny to fulfill. We are just animals with big brains. The author was probably pushing against an open door with this point as this would have been in line with my thinking. But it was nice to have someone make a coherent argument for this citing the evidence.
An interesting read for those generally interested in physiology and evolution and one I would recommend.
The main point the author gets across is that humans are not in a category of their own separate from the rest of the animals and apes. We are not some special being with a purpose and destiny to fulfill. We are just animals with big brains. The author was probably pushing against an open door with this point as this would have been in line with my thinking. But it was nice to have someone make a coherent argument for this citing the evidence.
An interesting read for those generally interested in physiology and evolution and one I would recommend.
March 26, 2024
This quickly devolved into an enumeration of sensible remarks on embryology, physiology, evolutionary biology, anatomy; the narrative sorely lacks a clear vision or central thought process; this could have been a tantalizing discourse on the incredible unlikeliness and intricate aspects of life; on the subject you'd better check out the classics: any writing on evolutionary biology by Dawkins Richard or Jared Diamond or Neil Shubin.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 116 reviews