
Tamed
From Wild to Domesticated, the Ten Animals and Plants That Changed Human History
The Experiment · Print & ebook · February 25, 2025
Dogs became our companions.
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- Who it’s for
- Readers interested in how domesticated species shaped human history
- Themes
- Domestication and human history, Human relationships with nature, Origins of domesticated species
- Genres
- Physical Anthropology, Evolution, Civilizations
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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.
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Then, gradually, we began to tame the plants and animals all around us—and ourselves. Combining genetics, archaeology, evolutionary biology, and anthropology, Tamed tells the story of the greatest revolution in human history, revealing the fascinating origins of crucial domesticated species and how they, in turn, transformed us. Dogs, our first natural ally, aided Ice Age?era hunters and gatherers. Domesticated horses led to new ideas about hunting and combat in the Eurasian Steppe. The reliability of wheat and corn allowed humans to settle down and build civilizations of unprecedented complexity. As she uncovers the astounding global implications of domestication, Alice Roberts urges us to look again at our relationship with the natural world—and our incredible influence upon it.
Who it’s for
- Readers interested in how domesticated species shaped human history
- Readers interested in genetics, archaeology, evolutionary biology, and anthropology
Where it sits
| Evolution | 56% |
|---|---|
| Physical Anthropology | 30% |
| Civilizations | 24% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Civilizations
- Evolution
- Paleontology & Fossils
- How Cultures Work
- Authors
- Alice Roberts
- Publisher
- The Experiment
- Published
- February 25, 2025
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Domestication and human history · Human relationships with nature · Origins of domesticated species
- Reading lane
- Civilizations