Sunday 3 May 2009

Natural History

Finished May 2
The Well-Dressed Ape: A Natural History of Myself by Hannah Holmes
There is a lot of information packed into this book. Holmes treats herself (and humans as a species) as a biological study. She starts each chapter with a textbook description of humans and spends the chapter discussing each topic in more detail, including how we compare to other animals.
The topics covered here are: physical description, the brain, perception, range, territoriality, diet, reproduction, behavior, communication, predators, and ecosystem impacts.
She uses humour throughout to keep the information from getting too heavy, but she doesn't skimp on the details. Citing scientific studies and personal observations, she takes a good hard look at humans and how we relate to the rest of the world.
I found it both immensely entertaining and educational.

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