Publisher Description

'TOM PHILLIPS IS A VERY CLEVER, VERY FUNNY MAN' Greg JennerThis is a book about TRUTH - and all the ingenious ways, throughout history, that we've managed to avoid it.We live in a 'post-truth' age, we're told. The US has a president who openly lies on a daily basis (or who doesn't even know what's true, and doesn't care). The internet has turned our everyday lives into a misinformation battleground. People don't trust experts any more.But was there ever really a golden age of truth-telling? As the editor of the UK's leading independent fact-checker, Tom Phillips deals with complete bollocks every day. Here, he tells the story of how we humans have spent history lying to each other - and ourselves - and asks an important question: how can humanity move towards a truthier future?PRAISE FOR HUMANS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF HOW WE F*CKED IT ALL UP:'F*cking brilliant' Sarah Knight, The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck'Very funny' Mark Watson'In dark times, it's reassuring to learn that we've always been a bunch of clueless f*cking nitwits' Stuart Heritage, Don't Be a Dick, Pete'A light-touch history of moments when humans have got it spectacularly wrong... Both readable and entertaining' Telegraph

Flap

This is a book about TRUTH - and all the ingenious ways, throughout history, that we've managed to avoid it. We live in a 'post-truth' age, we're told. The US has a president who openly lies on a daily basis (or who doesn't even know what's true, and doesn't care). The internet has turned our everyday lives into a misinformation battleground. People don't trust experts any more. But was there ever really a golden age of truth-telling? As the editor of the UK's leading independent fact-checker, Tom Phillips deals with complete bollocks every day. Here, he tells the story of how we humans have spent history lying to each other - and ourselves - and asks an important question: how can humanity move towards a truthier future? PRAISE FOR HUMANS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF HOW WE F*CKED IT ALL UP: 'Utterly, utterly brilliant' Jeremy Clarkson 'Very funny' Mark Watson 'A light-touch history of moments when humans have got it spectacularly wrong... Both readable and entertaining' Telegraph

Author Biography

Tom Phillips is the former editor of Full Fact, Britain's leading independent fact-checking organisation. Previously he was the editorial director of BuzzFeed UK. Tom's first book, HUMANS: A Brief History of How We F*cked It All Up, was published in 2018, and has since been translated into more than 30 languages. Tom's second book, TRUTH: A Brief History of Total Bullsh*t was published in 2019 and has been translated into more than 20 languages.

Review

For Tom Phillips and HUMANS:In dark times, it's reassuring to learn that we've always been a bunch of clueless f*cking nitwits - Don't Be a Dick, PeteA light-touch history of moments when humans have got it spectacularly wrong... Both readable and entertaining - TelegraphIf you find yourself looking at the news and wondering how humanity has got so many things wrong, over and over again, this book is a very funny answer to just that question'Tom Phillips has proven beyond a doubt that humans are goddamn lucky to be here and are doing nearly nothing to remain relevant and viable as a species - except, that is, for writing witty, entertaining, and slightly distressing-but-ultimately-endearing books about same. And if you care to avoid orbiting the earth in a space-garbage prison of your fellow humans' design, you should probably read it - The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ckTom Phillips is a very clever, very funny man, and it shows. If Sapiens was a testament to human sophistication, this history of failure cheerfully reminds us that humans are mostly idiots - A Million Years and a DayChronicles humanity's myriad follies down the ages with malicious glee and much wit . . . a rib-tickling page-turner - Business StandardHumans is Tom Phillips' timely, irreverent gallop through thousands of years of human stupidity. Every time you begin to find our foolishness bizarrely comforting, Phillips adds another kick in the ribs. Beneath all this book's laughter is a serious question: where does so much serial stupidity take us? - Ping-Pong Diplomacy: The Secret History Behind the Game That Changed the World

Long Description

'TOM PHILLIPS IS A VERY CLEVER, VERY FUNNY MAN' Greg Jenner This is a book about TRUTH - and all the ingenious ways, throughout history, that we've managed to avoid it. We live in a 'post-truth' age, we're told. The US has a president who openly lies on a daily basis (or who doesn't even know what's true, and doesn't care). The internet has turned our everyday lives into a misinformation battleground. People don't trust experts any more.But was there ever really a golden age of truth-telling? As the editor of the UK's leading independent fact-checker, Tom Phillips deals with complete bollocks every day. Here, he tells the story of how we humans have spent history lying to each other - and ourselves - and asks an important question: how can humanity move towards a truthier future? PRAISE FOR HUMANS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF HOW WE F*CKED IT ALL UP: 'F*cking brilliant' Sarah Knight, The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck 'Very funny' Mark Watson 'In dark times, it's reassuring to learn that we've always been a bunch of clueless f*cking nitwits' Stuart Heritage, Don't Be a Dick, Pete 'A light-touch history of moments when humans have got it spectacularly wrong... Both readable and entertaining' Telegraph

Review Quote

For Tom Phillips and HUMANS: In dark times, it's reassuring to learn that we've always been a bunch of clueless f*cking nitwits - Don't Be a Dick, PeteA light-touch history of moments when humans have got it spectacularly wrong... Both readable and entertaining - TelegraphIf you find yourself looking at the news and wondering how humanity has got so many things wrong, over and over again , this book is a very funny answer to just that question'Tom Phillips has proven beyond a doubt that humans are goddamn lucky to be here and are doing nearly nothing to remain relevant and viable as a species - except, that is, for writing witty, entertaining, and slightly distressing-but-ultimately-endearing books about same. And if you care to avoid orbiting the earth in a space-garbage prison of your fellow humans' design, you should probably read it - The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck Tom Phillips is a very clever, very funny man , and it shows. If Sapiens was a testament to human sophistication, this history of failure cheerfully reminds us that humans are mostly idiots - A Million Years and a DayChronicles humanity's myriad follies down the ages with malicious glee and much wit . . . a rib-tickling page-turner - Business Standard Humans is Tom Phillips' timely, irreverent gallop through thousands of years of human stupidity. Every time you begin to find our foolishness bizarrely comforting, Phillips adds another kick in the ribs. Beneath all this book's laughter is a serious question: where does so much serial stupidity take us ? - Ping-Pong Diplomacy: The Secret History Behind the Game That Changed the World

Promotional "Headline"

TRUTH: A hilarious journey through the most bizarre and brilliant lies told by humans through the ages, from the author of HUMANS: A Brief History of How We F*cked It All Up

Details