Throughout history, people have sought to improve society by reducing suffering, eliminating disease or enhancing desirable qualities in their children. But this wish goes hand in hand with the desire to impose control over who can marry, who can procreate and who is permitted to live. In the Victorian era, in the shadow of Darwin's ideas about evolution, a new full-blooded attempt to impose control over our unruly biology began to grow in the clubs, salons and offices of the powerful. It was enshrined in a political movement that bastardised science, and for sixty years enjoyed bipartisan and huge popular support. ... |
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A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War and the Evolution of Us. ... What makes us human? Waging war? Sex for pleasure? Creating art? Mastery of fire? In this thrilling tour of the animal kingdom, Adam Rutherford tells the story of how we became the unique creatures we are today. Illuminated by the latest scientific discoveries, THE BOOK OF HUMANS is a dazzling compendium of what unequivocally fixes us as animals, and reveals how we are extraordinary among them."Charming, compelling." Peter Frankopan "Intriguing... entertaining." Observer "This superbly accessible discussion about who we ... |
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Човешката история, преразказана от нашите гени. Това е една история за вас - за това кои сте и как сте стигали дотук. Тя е уникална за всеки един от стоте милиарда души, които някога са стъпвали по тази земя. Засяга всички ни, защото всеки носи в генома си нашата колективна история, изпълнена с раждания, смърт, глад, болести, войни, миграция и много секс. Откакто учените разчетоха човешкия геном за пръв път през 2001 г., той е обект на всевъзможни твърдения, противоречия и митове. Всъщност, както Адам Ръдърфорд обяснява, геномите ни трябва да се четат не като инструкции за създаване на човек, а като епични поеми за ... |
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Award-winning readers series of original fiction for learners of English. At seven levels, this impressive selection of carefully graded readers offers exciting reading for every student's capabilities. Billy Marr, a local misfit, claims he has murdered someone in an Edinburgh park. Inspector Logan and Sergeant Grant don't believe him - Billy has lied many times in the past about crimes he hasn't committed. But then a young woman is found dead in the park. Soon there is another body. Perhaps Billy is not so innocent after all. ... |
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Jonathan Swift's classic satirical narrative was first published in 1726, seven years after Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (one of its few rivals in fame and breadth of appeal). As a parody travel-memoir it reports on extraordinary lands and societies, whose names have entered the English language: notably the minute inhabitants of Lilliput, the giants of Brobdingnag, and the Yahoos in Houyhnhnmland, where talking horses are the dominant species. It spares no vested interest from its irreverent wit, and its attack on political and financial corruption, as well as abuses in science, continue to resonate in our own ... |