Tom Phillips - Humans - A Brief History of How We F*cked It All Up

Alamy: Chapter 4, image 1 (SOTOK2011); Chapter 4, image 2 (World History Archive); Chapter 8, image 1 (Granger Historical Picture Archive); Chapter 10, image 2 (Granger Historical Picture Archive); Chapter 10, image 3 (IanDagnall Computing)

Bridgeman Images: Chapter 8, image 2 (Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris [MS Pers.113.f.49]); Chapter 9, image 1 (Académie des sciences, Paris/Archives Charmet)

Tom Phillips is a journalist and humor writer based in London. He was the editorial director of BuzzFeed UK, where he divided his time between very serious reporting on important issues, and making jokes.

Over his career Tom has been a member of a very briefly acclaimed comedy group, worked in television and in Parliament, and once launched an unsuccessful newspaper.

He studied Archaeology and Anthropology and the History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge, and is pleasantly surprised to have written a book that actually makes use of them.

The pagination of this digital edition does not match the print edition from which the index was created. To locate a specific entry, please use your ebook reader’s search tools.

Page numbers in italics indicate illustrations.

Abubakari II (emperor of Malia), 170

acclimatization societies, 87–89

Afghanistan, 211

“Africanized” bees, 82–83

Age of Discovery. See European exploration

agriculture

animal domestication and, 76

environmental changes and, 55–61, 64–65

in Great Plains of US, 55–57, 58

inequality and, 96

negative consequences of, 54–55

rise of, 53–54

Ahmed I (Sultan of Ottoman Empire), 109–10

airplanes, 265

air pollution, 136

Ala ad-Din Muhammad II (Shah of Khwarezmian Empire), 212–18, 219

alcohol and Battle of Cádiz, 144–45

al-Farghani, Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Kathir, 167

al-Nasir, 217

al-Qaeda, 211

Alulim (Sumerian ruler), 96

Álvares Cabral, Pedro, 168

American Acclimatization Society, 87–89

“America’s Sewage System and the Price of Optimism” ( Time ), 62

Amu Darya water diversion, 58–59, 60

anchoring heuristic, 38–39, 40

Andrée, Salomon, 197

Anglo-Zanzibar War (1896), 159

animals

agriculture and domestication, 76–77

domestication of dogs, 75

draft, and inequality, 96

importation of, to new environments, 77–82, 79 , 81 , 87–89

anomalous water, 230–31

anthrax outbreak, 268–69

antimicrobial resistance, 279

Aquinas, Thomas, 166

Aral Sea, 57–60

Argentina, 222

Arminius (Germanic tribal leader), 207

Ashanti people of West Africa, 160

Asian tiger mosquitoes, 90

Atahualpa, 222

Athens, 123

atomic bombs, 266, 267

Austin, Thomas, 77–78

Australia

cane toads in, 90

exploration and, 196, 197

rabbits imported, 77–80, 79

Australopithecus afarensis, 19–20, 25–26

autocrats

Abubakari II (emperor of Malia), 170

Ala ad-Din Muhammad II (Shah of Khwarezmian Empire), 212–18, 219

Alulim (Sumerian ruler), 96

Charles VI of France, 118

Christian VII of Denmark, 117

Farouk I of Egypt, 104–6, 105

Genghis Khan, 212–20, 213

Hitler, Adolf, 131–34, 149–51, 266

James I (of England) and VI (of Scotland), 117, 144–45, 182

Joseph II of Austria, 146

Ludwig II of Bavaria, 100–103

Muhammad II (Shah of Khwarezmian Empire), 212–18, 219

Napoleon, 126, 148–49

Niyazov, 106–8, 107

Peter III of Russia, 117

Qin Shi Huang of China, 98–99

rise of, 124–25, 127

war and, 98–99, 124–26

Wilhelm II of Germany, 117

Zhengde Emperor of China, 99–100

See also Ottoman Empire sultans

automobiles, 243–49, 252, 262–63, 269

availability heuristic, 39–40

A World of Wonders as Revealed by the Microscope (Ward), 260–61, 261

Aztecs, 204–6

Bank of England, 181

Battle of Cádiz (1625), 144–45

Battle of Cannae (216 bce), 124–25

Battle of Điện Biên Phủ, 154–55

Battle of Karansebes (1788), 145–46

Battle of Kiska (1943), 151–53

Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba (1961), 156–59

biases, 40–42, 279

biological warfare, dangers of, 80

Bitcoin, 275, 276

blockchain technology, 276

Blondlot, René Prosper, 235 , 235–38

Boeung Kak Lake, 70

Bologna, 159

Bosco, 128

Bougainville, Louis-Antoine de, 196

Brazil, 222

Britain

Anglo-Zanzibar War, 159

colonial records in Africa, 174

gray squirrels in, 90

union of England and Scotland, 182–83, 194–95

Vortigern, 222

War of Jenkins’s Ear, 159–60

War of the Golden Stool, 160

Brown, Joshua, 269

Bucaram, Abdalá, 129–30

Buddhas of Bamiyan, Afghanistan, 70

Bukhara, 220

Burke, Robert O’Hara, 177–78, 179

Caesar, 125

the Cage, 109–10, 111, 113

Caledonia, 189

See also Darien colonial scheme

cane toads in Australia, 90

Cantemir, Dimitrie, 114–15

Carrión García, Daniel Alcides, 253

Castro, Fidel, 158

cats in New Zealand, 90

Cavelier, René-Robert, 178

Cecil, Sir Edward, 144–45

chain letters, 264

Chamberlain, Neville, 266, 266

Chamber Pot Rebellion, 160

Charles I (King of England), 144

Charles VI (King of France), 118

Charpentier, Augustin, 236

China

Four Pests campaign, 83–86

Ming dynasty, 207–8

Qin Shi Huang, 98–99

unification of, 98

Zhengde Emperor, 99–100

chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), 250–51, 252, 279

choice-supportive bias, 41–42

Christian VII (King of Denmark), 117

civilization, as product of human brain, 33–34

Clark, William, 244

Clarke, R. D., 37

Cleveland, Ohio, 61–64, 63

Cleveland Plain Dealer , 62

climate change, 268–69, 277–79

“clustering illusion,” 36–37

cobra effect, 135

Cold War, 229–33

Collapse (Diamond), 68, 69

Columbus, Christopher

explorations by, 165–68

religion and, 174

Taíno people and, 204

sinking of Santa María, 170

Company of Scotland, 183–86, 187–88, 189–90, 193, 194

computers, 267–68

confirmation bias, 40–41

Congo, 175

Corte-Real brothers, 168

Cortés, Hernán, 204–6

crime and leaded gasoline, 248

cryptocurrencies, 275–77

Cuba, 156–59

culture, as product of human brain, 33–34

Cumming, Hugh, 247

Curthose, Robert, 160

Cuyahoga River fires, 61–64, 63

dancing manias, 46, 47

danger, brain mechanisms for judging presence of, 40

Darien colonial scheme, 180 , 180–81, 182, 183, 187–94, 195

decision-making

choice-supportive bias and, 41–42

by computer algorithms, 279–80

confirmation bias and, 40–41

elections in democracies, 128–34

by Hitler, 132

hubris and, 43

mental shortcuts and, 36, 38–40

modesty and, 43

rise of rulers and, 96

snap judgments, 40

decision-making failures

Battle of Cádiz, 144–45

Battle of Karansebes, 145–46

Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, 156–59

Điện Biên Phủ, 154–55

Hitler’s invasion of Russia, 149–51, 151

Kiska, 151–53

Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, 148–49

Siege of Petersburg (Virginia), 146–47