Life As Told by a Sapiens to a Neanderthal

‘Dazzling … The charming result of this collaboration combines Millás’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 *

‘Novelist Millás … and palaeontologist Arsuaga combine forces in this introspective and playful exploration of human prehistory and evolution … Erudite yet fun, this is an illuminating trip into the past.’

* Publishers Weekly *

‘A lovely book, full of information and wisdom … No doubt comparisons will be made to Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens, but Life as Told By a Sapiens to a Neanderthal, is much more fun … It makes you want more. What better recommendation for any book can there be than this? Roll on Life as Told By a Sapiens to a Neanderthal volume 2.’

-- Neil Robinson * Irish Examiner *

‘Charming.’

-- Simon Ings * New Scientist *

‘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

‘Absorbing, amusing, and enlightening; a charming exploration not only of evolution, but of human enquiry and wonder.’

-- Rebecca Wragg Sykes, author of Kindred: Neanderthal life, love, death and art

‘Millás is one of the writers with the most truth per square centimetre of a page.’

-- Antonio Iturbe * What to Read *

‘We like wise men to explain things to us and understand each other. This is what Arsuaga does wonderfully in his book, a luminous treatise on life, the universe, and human existence.’

-- Víctor M. Amela * La Vanguardia *

‘Juan José Millás is the owner of a fantastic territory of unquestionable personality.’

-- J.E. Ayala-Dip * El País *

‘Juan Luis Arsuaga has recounted that prodigious start of human life with all the force of the great chronicles of travel and discoveries, with his double talent as a storyteller and scientist.’

-- Antonio Muñoz Molina

‘[Arsuaga] is one of the world’s leading experts on the evolution of our species, as well as a prestigious scientist and a born populariser.’

-- Ixone Díaz Landaluce * ABC *

‘Millás takes advantage of the present to tell us about his life, to express his perplexity, which is ours, before the passing of the world … Navigating through it allows our imagination to travel.’

-- Fernando Delgado * La Opini