Human Errors cover art

Human Errors

A Panorama of Our Glitches, From Pointless Bones to Broken Genes

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Human Errors

By: Nathan Lents
Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
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About this listen

We like to think of ourselves as highly evolved creatures. But if we are evolution's greatest creation, why are we so badly designed? We have retinas that face backward, the stump of a tail, and way too many bones in our wrists. We must find vitamins and nutrients in our diets that other animals simply make for themselves. Millions of us can't reproduce successfully without help from modern science. We have nerves that take bizarre paths, muscles that attach to nothing, and lymph nodes that do more harm than good. And that's just the beginning of the story.

As biologist Nathan H. Lents explains, our evolutionary history is a litany of mistakes, each more entertaining and enlightening than the last. As we will discover, by exploring human shortcomings, we can peer into our past, because each of our flaws tells a story about our species' evolutionary history.

A rollicking, deeply informative tour of our four-billion-year-long evolutionary saga, Human Errors both celebrates our imperfections - for our mutations are, in their own way, a testament to our species' greatness - and offers an unconventional accounting of the cost of our success.

©2018 Nathan H. Lents (P)2018 Tantor Media Biological Sciences Biology Science Thought-Provoking Nutrition Physiology

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All stars
Most relevant
Really good book. I found it fascinating how many flaws we humans still have, despite aeons of evolution. I found the book humerous while being informative and quite thought-provoking. The mention of pandemics in the epilogue seems ironically well-timed (seeing as I'm writing this amidst autumn 2020), but I found the variety of predictions he brings up with relation to the future of humanity quite interesting.
All-in-all, good book. Would recommend. Especially for anyone interested in biology?

Concerned about our species

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I’m not as perfect as I thought. Apparently, I have 8 more words to write but my brain is flawed. Sorry 😞

A ‘must read’

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So much i did not know about the human body, super fascinating especially the part about vitamin synthesis and amino acids, so clearly explained. Such a brilliant way of explaining the role of evolution and how it operates feel I’ve learned a lot in such a short book. Highly recommend

Really good book, very enjoyable

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Love books like these, it had a good pace and full of some facts I knew and lots that I did not know....... Did you know the brain is the organ which uses the most amount of energy in the body, 20% of your calorific intake is used by your brain.

Very well explained and despite the narrator being American my worst nightmare, LJ Ganser was quite easy in my ears.

Would recommend if you want to find out about the quirks in our bodies. Equally its a great stimulate for the mind in the quest for more knowledge..

Fascinating

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Had high hopes for this book and it surpassed all my expectations.

Intelligently argued and superbly narrated.

Great fun!

Fantastic read!

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