Human Errors, Nathan H. Lents
Human Errors, Nathan H. Lents
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Human Errors
A Panorama of Our Glitches, From Pointless Bones to Broken Genes

Author: Nathan H. Lents

Narrator: L.J. Ganser

Unabridged: 7 hr 54 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/01/2018


Synopsis

We humans like to think of ourselves as highly evolved creatures. But if we are supposedly evolution's greatest creation, why do we have such bad knees? Why do we catch head colds so often—two hundred times more often than a dog does? How come our wrists have so many useless bones? Why is the vast majority of our genetic code pointless? And are we really supposed to swallow and breathe through the same narrow tube? Surely there's been some kind of mistake.

As professor of biology Nathan H. Lents explains in Human Errors, our evolutionary history is nothing if not a litany of mistakes, each more entertaining and enlightening than the last. The human body is one big pile of compromises. But that is also a testament to our greatness: as Lents shows, humans have so many design flaws precisely because we are very, very good at getting around them.

A rollicking, deeply informative tour of humans' four billion year long evolutionary saga, Human Errors both celebrates our imperfections and offers an unconventional accounting of the cost of our success.

About Nathan H. Lents

Nathan H. Lents is a popular professor of biology at John Jay College at CUNY, and is the author of Not So Different: Finding Human Nature in Animals. He has appeared as a scientific expert in national media, including The Today Show, National Public Radio, Access Hollywood, 48 Hours, Al-Jazeera America, Chinese Central Television, and Primer Impacto (Univision).


Reviews

Goodreads review by Mario the lone bookwolf on February 12, 2020

Over millions of years, a few construction errors can accumulate. Especially when you first get up with difficulty and learn to walk on two legs and then suddenly are just sitting around all day. In the case of a machine, you need a lot of test models, prototypes and failed attempts until perfect fun......more

Goodreads review by Pam on June 15, 2023

I’m not sure about the absolute usefulness of the book but the information is interesting. Lents details many, and there are surprisingly many deficiencies and poorly developed aspects of the human body. We normally think of our bodies as so wonderful. It’s downright shocking how many things are rea......more

Goodreads review by Ross on October 21, 2019

Having consumed many works on evolution and human biology, I was shocked at just how much I learned from this delightful book. In Human Errors: A Panorama of Our Glitches, from Pointless Bones to Broken Genes, biology professor Nathan H. Lents presents a quick, conversational and nutrient-dense look......more

Goodreads review by 8stitches 9lives on May 25, 2018

I came across this on NetGalley but as it had already been published I decided to purchase a copy for myself as I haven't bought a medical text for a few months. I am always drawn to books with a medical element to them and this sounded as though it would be incredibly interesting with the added ben......more

Goodreads review by Jim on February 28, 2020

A very interesting book that was well written & narrated. It's not dry at all considering the amount of data it contains, but it certainly isn't definitive just popular science which is enough for me. It gave me a lot of food for thought. I highly recommend it. Table of Contents Introduction: Behold t......more