Louise Bean

This book is akin to accidentally getting roped into a droning conversation with the self-important misanthropic guy in the corner at a party who fancies himself an expert on every academic discipline. The author manages to fill 400 pages of insubstantiated claims with an insidious neoliberal ideology at the core. This book is the perspective of one man, (who's worldview is so obviously shaped by capitalism and western imperialism that his trite, nihilistic, and self-important narrative voice cannot disguise) but is sold as an objective account of the history of the ENTIRE species. For someone who spends so much time pretending to unpack the socially constructed myths, he cannot seem to unpack his own ideological baggage. This book is only challenging if your only brush with history was through an American history textbook. Don't waste your time with this one. If you're looking for engaging and easy to read musings on humanity, try The Anthroprocene Reviewed by John Green. If you're interested in hominid life and culture, try Kindred by Rebecca Wragg Sykes. If you're interested in the evolutionary biology of sex, check out Phallacy by Emily Willingham. One of the biggest achievements of modern humans is our ability to develop a deep and complex specialized knowledge of specific subjects so don't let this author fool you into thinking he knows it all.