The Revolutionary Story of Humanity

The Powerful Primate

How Homo Sapiens Came to Dominate the Planet

In our histories we invariably cast ourselves as the underdog: a feeble being who needs to use its cunning and intelligence to survive against the odds in a brutal world. The Powerful Primate shows the reverse. As bipedal primates, we have long been a bully, combining our bodies and tools to hit harder, throw further and cut deeper than any other animal.  The book charts the rise of humanity, from arboreal primates in African rainforests to scavengers in the savannas, finally becoming hunter gatherers who were able to colonise the whole world.  It shows how we used our physical skills and engineering acumen to grow crops, harness draft animals and invent machinery that enabled us to become wealthy farmers. It shows how we developed that machinery to build a new industrial world that supports unprecedented numbers of urban dwellers in ease and plenty. But it also relates how our progress this has led us to inflict massive destruction on our planet, and it investigates if and how we can modify our behaviour to reduce our impact and enable us to survive long into the future.