Today we enjoy an existence our ancestors could only dream of. We live longer, healthier, better nourished lives. Over a handful of generations, human societies have altered almost beyond recognition.
Other species adapt to their environments; we alone create ours. Our ability to do so has not only liberated much of the planet from plague and famine over the last century, but also reshaped the human phenotype - the interaction between genes and environment that moulds our bodies and minds.
Weaving together biology, social anthropology, epidemiology and history, Edwin Gale argues that we are the only species to have domesticated itself. But at what cost? The Species that Changed Itself is timely reminder that we are products of the world we have made.
