Cover art for Explaining Humans
Published
Penguin, June 2021
ISBN
9780241987117
Format
Softcover, 256 pages
Dimensions
19.8cm × 12.9cm × 1.5cm

Explaining Humans Winner of the Royal Society Science Book Prize 2020

Not in stock
Fast $7.95 flat-rate shipping!
Only pay $7.95 per order within Australia, including end-to-end parcel tracking.
100% encrypted and secure
We adhere to industry best practice and never store credit card details.
Talk to real people
Contact us seven days a week – our staff are here to help.

How proteins, machine learning and molecular chemistry can teach us about human behaviour

WINNER OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY INSIGHT INVESTMENT SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE 2020

How do we understand the people around us? How do we recognise people's motivations, their behaviour, or even their facial expressions? And, when do we learn the social cues that dictate human behaviour?

Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder at the age of eight, Camilla Pang struggled to understand the world around her and the way people worked. Desperate for a solution, Camilla asked her mother if there was an instruction manual for humans that she could consult. But, without the blueprint to life she was hoping for, Camilla began to create her own. Now armed with a PhD in biochemistry, Camilla dismantles our obscure social customs and identifies what it really means to be human using her unique expertise and a language she knows best- science.

Through a set of scientific principles, this book examines life's everyday interactions including-

  • Decisions and the route we take to make them;

  • Conflict and how we can avoid it;

  • Relationships and how we establish them;

  • Etiquette and how we conform to it.

Explaining Humans is an original and incisive exploration of human nature and the strangeness of social norms, written from the outside looking in. Camilla's unique perspective of the world, in turn, tells us so much about ourselves - about who we are and why we do it - and is a fascinating guide on how to lead a more connected, happier life.


'Unveiling hidden complexities of human behaviour, this book navigates a mind-bending topic with incisiveness and lucidity' David Lammy, Labor MP for Tottenham, author of Tribes

Related books