Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
Humans: A Brief History of How We F*cked It All Up
Humans: A Brief History of How We F*cked It All Up | Tom Phillips
Modern humans have come a long way in the seventy thousand years theyve walked the earth. Art, science, culture, tradeon the evolutionary food chain, were true winners. But it hasnt always been smooth sailing, and sometimesjust occasionallyweve managed to truly f*ck things up. Weaving together history, science, politics and pop culture, Humans offers a panoramic exploration of humankind in all its glory, or lack thereof. From Lucy, our first ancestor, who fell out of a tree and died, to General Zhou Shou of China, who stored gunpowder in his palace before a lantern festival, to the Austrian army attacking itself one drunken night, to the most spectacular fails of the present day, Humans reveals how even the most mundane mistakes can shift the course of civilization as we know it. Lively, wry and brimming with brilliant insight, this unique compendium offers a fresh take on world history and is one of the most entertaining reads of the year.
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
blurb
julesG
post image

#BookMail from @jenniferw88 - in lieu of the Blind Date Book, which I'd already read, I got a surprise book from Jenny.

Thank you!

review
Hooked_on_books
post image
Pickpick

This is a fun, very funny history book about stupid things humans have done through history. With chapter titles like, “Why Your Brain is an Idiot,” and stories including a German Uboat in WWII undone by a toilet malfunction, I snort-laughed all the way through this one.

julesG Sounds like my kind of history book 14mo
squirrelbrain And it‘s yellow too! @julesG 14mo
julesG @squirrelbrain The paperback is not yellow 😭 14mo
52 likes5 stack adds3 comments
review
Nikki_E
Mehso-so

Conflicted about this one. Okay outline but was definitely missing stuff. If a book was a YouTube video...this would be it.

quote
Nikki_E
post image

Next read

43 likes2 stack adds
review
Marynikum
Pickpick

Hilarious book about the blunders of our species over our relatively short history. I‘ve never read a historical book that had me laughing out loud like this one did. Totally worth reading.

2 likes1 stack add
blurb
Arvena
post image

A very readable book with lots of new information, interesting and engaging, mostly funny and depressing in equal measure.

blurb
RamsFan1963
post image

1. Tagged. It was this or Mythos, and Humans had me laughing harder.
2. Purple
3. N/A It's been a pretty bland week, work-home-work- home, nothing interesting about it.
4. Yes and Yes
5. Will do!! 👍👍

#friyayintro @howjessreads

review
RamsFan1963
post image
Pickpick

Whew!! Barely got this one finished under the deadline. Its very funny, in a sad kind of way, how we humans continue to mess things up, even when we have the best intentions.
4 💥💥💥💥

#SummersEndReadathon @Clwojick

Dragonfairykats I don't know if it shows up or not on your end, but my like button isn't working (along with my email folders) I think my tablet is trying to tell me something... 5y
68 likes3 stack adds1 comment
blurb
RamsFan1963
post image

1. Almost finished with this book, very funny in a lovely snarky, irreverent way.
2. Work, work, work...and for Labor Day...work 😡
3. Cherry Vanilla
4. No. I took piano lessons for years but it never stuck.
5. Will Do!!

#friyayintro @howjessreads

TheDaysGoBy Boo! Sorry you‘re working all weekend! Hope you still find some down time to enjoy yourself 5y
Crazeedi Me to on cherry vanilla!! Maraschino cherries!! 5y
57 likes2 comments
blurb
RamsFan1963
post image

I hate to use a Hitler-Trump comparison, but what other recent US president comes to mind when you read that paragraph?

Karisa If the hateful imbicel fits. . . 🤷‍♀️😪 5y
RamsFan1963 @Karisa I could have posted more and more, page after page of this chapter sounded so much like Trump it was friggin scary!! 5y
Leftcoastzen Sad but true. 5y
See All 6 Comments
Megabooks One interesting thing I learned in my last audiobook (First in Line about US VPs) was that the presidential briefing they read with breakfast was about 20-40 pages and a similar one is given to the VP. Pence‘s is still that length, but Trump made it known he wanted 1-2 pages and usually has someone else read it (Kushner or Jr) and summarize it for him. Summarize the summarized summary. Obviously the man is not a big reader! 😳 5y
RamsFan1963 @Megabooks I can't trust a leader who doesn't read. 5y
Megabooks @RamsFan1963 No. I‘m listening to one about the First Ladies by the same author and Ford was once asked, “What was the last book you liked?” And he turned to Betty and said, “What is the last book I liked?” Now the book made it sound like he wasn‘t a reader, but I‘ve blanked on the spot, too, though. 5y
60 likes6 comments
review
LibraryCin
post image
Pickpick

I quite enjoyed this. I expected there to be a lot of environmental stuff, and there was some, but there was much more. Some of the humour is sarcastic, but that‘s ok. The funniest was the photo at the very end, after a paragraph of doom, then a paragraph of positive, then a photo (not going to say what it‘s of – I don‘t want to spoil it!). That photo really made me laugh after the positive words in the previous paragraph! Cont in comments...

LibraryCin Some of the anecdotes were short and some were longer and went into more detail. I did lose a bit of interest in a couple of the longer ones, but mostly it was interesting. Some of it was history I (broadly) knew about and some of it was stuff I either didn‘t know about, or just didn‘t know much about (i.e. Ghengis Khan – no, he wasn‘t he one who make the stupid mistake…). Overall, though, quite enjoyable! 6y
11 likes1 comment