Why Are We Like This? An evolutionary search for answers to life's big questions

by Zoe Kean

What can snorkelling at Shark Bay teach us about the evolution of sex? Will the secrets of our gendered society be uncovered by stick insects? What can Tasmanian devils teach us about the evolution of cancer? 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. Modern science and evolutionary thinking have uncovered fresh and exciting answers to these perennial head-scratchers.

Why Are We Like This? takes us behind the scenes of the evolutionary paradoxes that make up life on this planet. Exploring with scientists, from freezing in Tasmanian sleet to 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.

Zoe Kean shows us that 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.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Audiobook

352 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2024

Reviews

[Katya Isabelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kean brings a balanced and nuanced perspective answering “why are we like this”. Without shying away from all sides of scientific debate, including the sticky and shameful history of some evolutionary theories, this book dives into our wonderful, weird and meaningful existence in the context of all life on earth. I particularly enjoyed the final section on sentience, and Kean’s thoughtful, approachable and sometimes humourous prose.

[Ash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zoe Kean, a science writer and communicator based in lutruwita/Tasmania takes a deep dive into why us humans are the way we are, from an evolutionary perspective. It's an interesting subject, and each chapter breaks down a big question with real-world examples.

I liked it, but it was a bit of a slog in parts. I was expecting it to be a lighter pop-sci bedtime read, but it's a bit heavier and I found myself having to reread bits or skim over others. Despite that it's a fascinating deep dive into our species' history, and what makes us ‘us’. You should give it a go.

[B.P. Marshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

[Review for Tasmanian Times:]

The art of good science isn’t discovering facts, truths or proofs (the latter is solely the domain of math) but in finding better questions to ask. Which is why award-winning Tasmanian science writer, Zoe Kean, has done so well with the title of her latest work, Why Are We Like This?

Hell, don’t we all pause, bewildered and frustrated, to ask that question at least once a day?

Why Are We Like This? is subtitled An evolutionary search for answers to life’s big questions, and Kean puts human behaviours in the context of evolution to explain them.

Every chapter is a pithy question, such as ‘Why do we care?’, ‘Why do we drink?’, ‘Why do we sleep?’ and ‘Why do we have inner lives?’ All are not only fascinating in their own right, and cover the history of each question through the ages, but are directly relatable to each and every reader and their friends and family.

The fact is, humans are weird. Life is weird, sex is weird, sleep is weird and the voices in our heads are weird. Each topic is littered with questions, which form the stepping-stones to navigate how our thinking has evolved on every aspect of our being alive and conscious.

The delight of good science writing is how often the reader pauses to think on what they’ve just read, so in that sense Why Are We Like This is no page turner – the ideas and thought trails are to be savoured, like a walk in a forest. Kean also makes the processes of science, as clunky and human and fallible as they can be, more transparent, allowing us to think alongside earlier eras of thoughtful humans as they ponder the great questions. Science, along with art, is the great giver of insight and understanding, of connection and joy in ourselves, and with the life around us.

My favourite question is the last in the book, Why Do We Have Inner Lives? Kean is actually addressing the Hard Problem – arguably the most interesting question extant in the entire universe: what is consciousness? How can something so ineffable, glorious, weird, wild and wonderful as thought emerge from meat?

What is the thing in our heads that makes us feel like a unified whole; a sentient entity that feels and reasons and associates this thing with that thing to end up with an entirely new thing? I won’t bang on, though I could, but Kean leaves the best till last, and makes the whole book a very worthwhile read.

Well done to Kean and those all involved in getting this one published.

[Rozanna Lilley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book tackles all the big questions: why do we have sex?; why do we get cancer?; why do we sleep? - and so on. It's written in a lively chatty style by what is known these days as a science communicator (or something like that). I didn't understand all of it but that's definitely not the author's fault. It left me thinking about orangutang's building nests in trees, the sex lives of black-capped chickadees, and drunken elephants. It's all a bit dizzying. I guess evolutionary theory is like that. I appreciated the plea for humans to knock themselves off their self-created perch and have a go at acknowledging the sentience of other creatures. An informative read

[Andrea J · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a magnificently conceived, researched and written book. Well done Zoe Kean. If you're interested in the big questions about life on Earth, this book helps to showcase what we know so far about the answers. Amazing.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

An insightful, well researched and thought provoking book outlining some interesting evolutionary biological answers to questions posed by the author, Zoe Kean

[Alana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really my thing but well done with so much interesting research and quotes

[cherryyemilyy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4☆

You mean to tell me a monkey made this alcohol??

But this was a very interesting and engaging audiobook and reminds me that non fic can be good!

[Lucinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Juicy, rigorous and cheeky. Loved.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed some sections more than others but Zoe Keans book discusses some interesting avenues of research that challenge the way we see ourselves.