Last Ape Standing

Twenty-seven human species evolved but only one remains. How did that happen?

Over the past 180 years scientists have sifted through evidence that at least twenty-seven human species have evolved on planet Earth. Yet of all of them, why does only one remain? What enabled us to survive when so many other human species were shown the evolutionary door?

In this sequel to Thumbs, Toes, and Tears—And Other Traits That Make Us Human, Chip Walter tells the intriguing tale of how against all odds and despite nature’s brutal and capricious ways we stand here today, the only surviving humans, and the planet’s most dominant species. Drawing on a wide variety of scientific disciplines, he reveals how a rare evolutionary phenomenon led to the uniquely long childhoods that make us so resourceful and emotionally complex. He looks at why we developed a new kind of mind and how our highly social nature has shaped our moral (and immoral) behavior. And in exploring the traits that enabled our success, he plumbs the roots of our creativity and investigates why we became self-aware in ways that no other animal is. Along the way, Last Ape Standing profiles the mysterious “others” who evolved with us and who have also shaped our kind in startling ways—the Neanderthals of Europe, the “Hobbits” of Indonesia, the Denisovans of Siberia, and the recently discovered Red Deer Cave people of China, who died off just as we stood at the brink of civilization eleven thousand years ago.

Last Ape Standing is evocative science writing at its best—a witty, engaging, and accessible story that explores the forces that molded us into the peculiar and astonishing creatures we are. If you’re curious to understand the roots of why we do, feel, and think the things we do as a species and as individuals—good and bad, ingenious and cunning, heroic and conflicted––read this book.

Chip Walter is the founder of the popular website AllThingsHuman.net, a former CNN bureau chief, screenwriter, and documentary filmmaker. His articles have appeared in the Boston Globe, the Economist, Discover, Scientific American, Slate, and numerous other publications and websites. He is author of three books, most recently Thumbs, Toes, and Tears, and his writing has been published in six languages. He lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with his wife Cyndy and their four children.

“Chip Walter's Last Ape Standing is provocative, insightful, and engaging; a rare trifecta among science books. He tackles one of the grandest questions of all: ‘How did a creature as astonishing and strange as we are come into existence?’ He then takes us on an enthralling journey that unmasks the startling evolutionary events that not only enabled our survival in a brutal world, but shaped every facet of our humanity, including our remarkable gift for invention. As you read, you come to realize there is no way we can hope to handle the future we are creating today without first understanding the forces that shaped us long ago. Elegantly written, nearly every page offers something that will surprise or intrigue you.”—Ray Kurzweil, inventor, futurist, and author of How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed

“I read Last Ape Standing while sitting, then I jumped up and cheered. It’s that good!”—William Shatner