The Handshake

A Gripping History

By: Ella Al-Shamahi

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Paperback | 2 September 2021

At a Glance

Paperback
176 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
1.4 x 12.9 x 19.7

Paperback

$26.50

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A quirky and engaging history reveals the secrets of one of our most ancient social gestures.

'A fabulously sparky, wide-ranging and horizon-broadening little study ... joyously unboring' - Sunday Times

Friends do it, strangers do it and so do chimpanzees - and it's not just deeply embedded in our history and culture, it may even be written in our DNA. The humble handshake, it turns out, has a rich and surprising history.

So let's join palaeoanthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi as she embarks on a funny and fascinating voyage of discovery - from the handshake's origins (at least seven million years ago) all the way to its sudden disappearance in March 2020. Drawing on new research, anthropological insights and first-hand experience, she'll reveal how this most friendly of gestures has played a role in everything from meetings with uncontacted tribes to political assassinations - and what it tells us about the enduring power of human contact.

Because the story of the handshake ... is far from over.

About the Author

Ella Al-Shamahi is a National Geographic Explorer, palaeoanthropologist, evolutionary biologist and stand-up comic. Specialising in in Neanderthals, caves and expeditions in hostile, disputed and unstable territories, she is also a TV presenter, a TED speaker and has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She has degrees in Genetics, Taxonomy and Biodiversity, and is currently undertaking her PhD in Palaeoanthropology.

Industry Reviews

'Al-Shamahi's beguiling book has a more general claim to attention than merely being an account of the crisis in manners that Covid has made ... cheerful, witty and well-researched.' - Stephen Bayley

'It's a little book of wonder, it's fantastic' - Chris Evans

'A fabulously sparky, wide-ranging and horizon-broadening little study ... joyously unboring' - Sunday Times

'Having not particularly missed shaking hands over the past year, I ended this very engaging little book so desperate to get started again that I'm in danger of becoming a super-spreader.' - Telegraph

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