From which side of the bed you sleep on to where to play a backyard game of hide-and-go-seek, Maximilian Werner examines elements of everyday behavior through the eye-opening lens of evolutionary theory in this memoir-infused nonfiction. Werner applies an intriguingly fresh take to seldom-explored habits of humans and animals alike, guiding readers backward in time to the Pleistocene.
"Werner questions why he responds to particular situations in particular ways, from choosing which bedroom to give his son to feeling less protective of a friend than of his wife during hikes, and tries to connect those subconscious decisions to evolutionary reasons."
ForeWord Reviews
"Werner makes evolutionary theory accessible through case studies of both human and nonhuman subjects, teaching us how immersed all living creatures still are in the things that made the difference between life and death hundreds of generations ago."
Salt Lake City Weekly
"Werner's prose is compelling, his natural history is thoroughly engaging, and his line of curious inquiry is an admirable attempt to better understand humanity and its changing relationship with the external world."
