Follies of the wise men

A chapter on assorted kings and other leaders features a bizarre cast of characters

HUMANS

A Brief History of How We F---ed It All Up

Tom Phillips

Hachette India

258 pages; Rs 499

In Humans, Tom Phillips, a journalist and former editorial director of BuzzFeed UK, chronicles humanity’s myriad follies down the ages with malicious glee and much wit and humour. As he points out, Homo Sapiens in Latin means “wise man”, but humans come through in the book as a species whose actions no doubt inspired Murphy’s Law which, bluntly put, says that if anything can go wrong, it will.

Mr Phillips is a confirmed sceptic. The sum and substance of Humans is that