Life As Told by a Sapiens to a Neanderthal

A New Scientist Book of the Year

Prehistory is all around us. We just need to know where to look.

Juan Jose Millas has always felt like he doesn't quite fit into human society. Sometimes he wonders if he is even a Homo sapiens at all, or something simpler. Perhaps he is a Neanderthal who somehow survived? So he turns to Juan Luis Arsuaga, one of the world's leading palaeontologists and a super-smart sapiens, to explain why we are the way we are and where we come from.

Over the course of many months, the two visit different places, many of them common scenes of our daily lives, and others unique archaeological sites. Arsuaga tries to teach the Neanderthal how to think like a sapiens and, above all, that prehistory is not a thing of the past- that traces of humanity through the millennia can be found anywhere, from a cave or a landscape to a children's playground or a toy shop.

Millas and Arsuaga invite you on a journey of wonder which unites scientific discovery with the greatest human invention of all- the art of storytelling.



'Dazzling ... The charming result of this collaboration combines Millas's surreal, ironic humour and beautiful reflections with Arsuaga's expertise, expressed with sharp and surprising observations and an ability to bring prehistory up to date.'
-Rebecca Wragg Sykes, New Scientist

'A very special book indeed- a passionate, sympathetic portrait of one life scientist's world view.'
-Simon Ings, The Telegraph

'Written with humour and lightly-worn learning, this book makes the familiar strange and the strange uncannily familiar; a fascinating journey into our shared prehistory via the shops, galleries, restaurants, playgrounds, and parks of a twenty-first century city.'
-Helen Gordon, author of Notes from Deep Time- a journey through our past and future world