The Well-Dressed Ape: A Natural History of Myself - Hardcover

Holmes, Hannah

3.79

419 ratings by Goodreads

9780679314950: The Well-Dressed Ape: A Natural History of Myself

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679314954 ISBN 13: 9780679314950

Publisher: Random House of Canada Ltd, 2009

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Stiff meets Your Inner Fish in this surprising, humourous, and edifying look at our species as, essentially, animals.

Combining personal stories, cutting-edge science, and a buoyant sense of humour, Hannah Holmes offers an intriguing and fresh way to understand our place in the world.

Science journalist Hannah Holmes wryly examines the human animal, beginning with the animal she knows best: herself. What she finds is that, of course, we are indisputably animals – in some ways (smell and vision, for instance) rather inferior ones.

Yet Holmes also discovers that Homo sapiens exhibit some traits and behaviours found in no other animal on earth. Our species is among the most generous, and the most thoughtful. Not so admirably, we kill ourselves any number of ways, including by eating ourselves to death. All this in addition to a patently bizarre physical appearance, and shocking lack of defences.

Confronting the creature in the mirror, Holmes wrestles with the big questions: Are humans special at all? How different are men and women? (Very.) What is our place in the kingdom of animals – and on the planet Earth?

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Review:

Fascinating . . . a feast of provocative science and engaging trivia. USA Today
Smart and upbeat, [The Well-Dressed Ape] will leave you prouder of your links to wild things. People
The Well-Dressed Ape is a hoot. St. Petersburg Times
Amusing and illuminating. Outside
Full of interesting facts. The Washington Post Book World
Juicy and humorous. Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Highly recommended. Library Journal (starred review)"

"Fascinating . . . a feast of provocative science and engaging trivia." --USA Today

"Smart and upbeat, [The Well-Dressed Ape] will leave you prouder of your links to wild things."--People

"The Well-Dressed Ape is a hoot."--St. Petersburg Times

"Amusing and illuminating."--Outside

"Full of interesting facts."--The Washington Post Book World

"Juicy and humorous."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Highly recommended." --Library Journal (starred review)

About the Author:

Hannah Holmes is the author of Suburban Safari and The Secret Life of Dust. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Discover, Outside, and many more. She was a frequent contributor on science and nature subjects for the Discovery Channel Online. She lives in Portland, Maine.

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