Tamed: From Wild to Domesticated, the Ten Animals and Plants That Changed Human History

An “epic and joyous” (Adam Rutherford) history of our species, using recent scientific discoveries to explore humanity’s domestication of the plants and animals that have allowed human civilization to thrive.

“An excellent point of entry for anyone who wants to understand the new deep human history and what it portends.”—The Guardian

Dogs became our companions.
Wheat fed booming populations.
Cattle gave us meat and milk.
Corn fueled the growth of empires.
Potatoes brought feast and famine.
Chickens inspired new branches of science.
Rice promised a golden future.
Horses gave us strength and speed.
Apples provided harvestable sweetness.
Humans tamed them all.

For hundreds of thousands of years, our ancestors were just one wild species among many, their survival dependent on the whims of nature. Then, gradually, we began to tame the plants and animals all around us—and ourselves.

    
Alice Roberts is an academic, author, and broadcaster specializing in human anatomy, physiology, evolution, archaeology, and history. Roberts has been a professor of public engagement with science at the University of Birmingham since 2012. Her more than ten other science and history books include Anatomical Oddities: The Otherworldly Realms Hidden within Our Bodies.