The Handshake: A Gripping History

Description

Strangers do it, friends do it, politicians do it and so do chimpanzees: in fact, the handshake is so deeply embedded in our history and culture that it might even be older than humanity itself. So let's shake on it, and join palaeoanthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi as she embarks on a fascinating voyage of discovery through everything from evolutionary biology to the etiquette of modern life. Whether in ancient cave paintings or WHO guidelines, the handshake has helped us seal the deal, welcome a stranger and end conflict - as well as testifying to the enduring power of human contact.

Ella Al-Shamahi is a National Geographic Explorer, palaeoanthropologist, evolutionary biologist and stand-up comic. Specialising in in Neanderthals, caves and expeditions in hostile, disputed and unstable territories, she is also a TV presenter, a TED speaker and has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She has degrees in Genetics, Taxonomy and Biodiversity, and is currently undertaking her PhD in Palaeoanthropology.

Al-Shamahi's beguiling book has a more general claim to attention than merely being an account of the crisis in manners that Covid has made ... cheerful, witty and well-researched. -- Stephen Bayley * Spectator * It's a little book of wonder, it's fantastic -- Chris Evans A fabulously sparky, wide-ranging and horizon-broadening little study ... joyously unboring * Sunday Times * Having not particularly missed shaking hands over the past year, I ended this very engaging little book so desperate to get started again that I'm in danger of becoming a super-spreader. * Telegraph * [Ella Al-Shamahi] makes a convincing argument that in the not-so-distant future we will once again be clasping the clammy, germ-ridden paws of near-strangers. I can't wait. * Daily Mail * Brisk, quirky and good-humoured * The Business Post *