A Story of Us

A New Look at Human Evolution

By: Lesley Newson, Pete Richerson

Narrated by: Mike Cooper

In a few decades, a torrent of new evidence and ideas about human evolution has allowed scientists to piece together a more detailed understanding of what went on thousands and even millions of years ago. We now know much more about the problems our ancestors faced, the solutions they found, and the trade-offs they made.

Our species' unique capacity for culture began to evolve millions of years ago, but it only really took off in the last few hundred thousand years. This capacity allowed our ancestors to survive and raise their difficult children during times of extreme climate chaos. Understanding how this has evolved can help us understand the cultural change and diversity that we experience today.

Lesley Newson and Peter Richerson, a husband-and-wife team based at the University of California, Davis, have spent years researching and collaborating with scholars from a wide range of disciplines to produce a deep history of humankind. In A Story of Us, they present this rich narrative and explain how the evolution of our genes relates to the evolution of our cultures. Newson and Richerson take listeners through seven stages of human evolution, beginning seven million years ago with the apes that were the ancestors of humans and today's chimps and bonobos. The story ends in the present day and offers a glimpse into the future.

©2021 Lesley Newson, Peter Richerson (P)2021 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

I loved it!

I’m fascinated in the development of the human species. This book was interesting and informative and I couldn’t put it down! I loved the story montages of each of the development stages! It really helped to bring each species to life, in a way, helping to illustrate a possible scenario.

Excellent scientific ideas and stories.

The stories made the scientific ideas come to life. Good work. I would have preferred the performance to have American accent, but it was good performance.

Very entertaining.

This book was very informative and the stories were very interesting and entertaining. I would highly recommend it.

Educational, Thought Provoking, Entertaining

An excellent history of humanity with hisltircally accurate accounts of human life over thousands of years. Culture was thr through line, and I enjoyed every chapter.

Excellent All Around

Hearing human evolution from this perspective was completely captivating, I couldn’t stop listening. The narrator was super engaging and made the whole experience all the more terrific.