The story of mankind's origins has always been told as a novel-a tale of heroic, daring conquests by the most unlikely of living creatures, struggling to survive in the cruel, hostile environment of Africa a few million years ago.
Yet this extraordinary tale of triumph and dominance is riddled with bizarre plot holes, systematically ignored by both academic and popular science. There is, therefore, another story-one we either do not know or pretend not to know, lest we raise uncomfortable and unsettling doubts about human nature.
In this book, Prof. Marco Ragusa breaks free from the rigid dogmas surrounding our origins with a conversational tone. Taking on the role of a Darwinian alien studying the evolutionary reasons for humanity's presence on Earth, he tells a story less linear, more fragmented, and far more mysterious than the official one.
It examines the imaginative and compelling reasons that led us down from the trees, burdening us with inexplicable, anachronistic adaptations-traits often useless or even detrimental to survival. It speaks of "dangerous brains," impractical sexual organs, highly dynamic DNA, and characteristics that make humans eerily similar to domesticated animals. It demonstrates how Nature, in "shaping" us, followed new and inexplicable rules-never applied before and never to be applied again.
Rich in insights, this book will help us understand why Homo sapiens can truly be considered an "unnatural" animal.