Why Are We Like This?

An Evolutionary Search for Answers to Life's Big Questions

By: Zoe Kean

Narrated by: Zoe Kean

What can snorkelling at Shark Bay teach us about humanity? Will the secrets of our sex lives be uncovered by stick insects? What do whale societies reveal about kindness? And why did we evolve to spend a third of our life asleep?

Some questions have nipped at humanity's heels for as long as we've been ... well, humans. In Why Are We Like This? science journalist Zoe Kean takes us behind the scenes of the evolutionary paradoxes that make up life on this planet. Exploring with scientists, whether freezing in Tasmanian sleet or in a laboratory of sleeping sharks in North Queensland, we see how these evolutionary mysteries might just uncover the secrets of a better life for humans and the creatures we share the planet with.

The ancient ancestors of life on Earth faced the same challenges we do, so let's learn a lesson or two about how they dealt with them.

©2024 Zoe Kean (P)2025 Bolinda Publishing

Critic reviews

'Evolution is not perfect, just good enough. This book brilliantly guides you through this complexity, showing us how we evolved to be marvellously imperfect.' (Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, author of Karl, The Universe and Everything)

'[A] bold, scientifically savvy and nuanced work.' (The Sydney Morning Herald)

'Why Are We Like This? is profound, philosophical and insightful within science's sensible and reliable parameters.' (Mark Parry, Good Reading Magazine)

'Overall, this book offers a wonderful opportunity to learn about what life is and why we are what we are. Not only does it provide many thought-provoking observations into evolution, it challenges the very way we’ve always thought about the concept.' (Erich Mayer, Arts Hub)