The Species that Changed Itself

Other species adapt to their environments; we alone create ours. Over the past few generations, we have remade the world to suit ourselves - banishing plague and famine from much of the planet - and for the most part enjoy prosperity beyond the dreams of our ancestors. What's more, in changing our world, we have also reshaped the human phenotype - the interaction between genes and environment that moulds our bodies and minds.

The results can be seen in the streets of our post-industrial cities. We grow taller and heavier than before, and live longer. We think and behave differently, have a changing relationship with our microscopic fellow-travellers, and die from once rare diseases. Our individual experience of life has been transformed, and so have our societies.

Weaving together biology, social anthropology, epidemiology and history, Edwin Gale examines the shifting physical and mental dimensions of our lives, from food production to reproduction, ageing to illness, designer bodies to IQ tests, and asks: have we become self-domesticated animals? The Species that Changed Itself is a fascinating and timely exploration of humans as creatures of our own making.