Books: Human Errors

What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason!
how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how
express and admirable! in action how like an angel!

The human body is the subject of Human Errors, but rather than marveling at how intricate our anatomy is, the book concentrates on our glitches and faults: the stupid inability to make essential vitamins and amino acids, the pointless bones in our hands and feet, the cognitive blindspots caused by our wild origins. As author Nathan Lents contends, these flaws stem from the random process of mutation and natural selection. It turns out that millions of years of evolution can develop a brain capable of reading these words, but also leaves us with an (arguably) inverted retina.

The first two-thirds of Human Errors is breezy, full of fun if familiar quirks of the human body (such as why the sickle cell mutation is actually selected for in malaria-prone areas). Things bog down a bit when Lents gets into speculation about the fate of human society and the future of our species; I've also seen some of this material presented better elsewhere. Still, it's an entertaining read, and worth checking out if you feel like laughing at our shared flaws.