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La vida contada por un sapiens a un neandertal

Life Told By A Sapiens To A Neanderthal | Alfaguara/PRH, 2020

The ingenuity of Millás and the wisdom of Arsuaga united to tell life as the best of stories.

«You and I could get together to talk about life; we would create a great story about existence. Should we?», said the writer.
«We should», replied the paleontologist.

For years, the interest in understanding life, its origins, and its evolution has resonated in Juan José Millás’ head, so he set out to discover, along with one of the country’s leading specialists in the field, Juan Luis Arsuaga, why we are the way we are and what has led us to the place we are. In this book, the wisdom of the paleontologist is combined with the wit and surprising outlook that the writer has on life. Because Millás is a Neanderthal (or so he says), and Arsuaga, in his eyes, a sapiens.

Thus, over the course of many months, the two visited different places, many of them common backgrounds of our daily lives, and others, unique locations where you can still see the vestiges of what we were, of the place we came from. During these outings, which may remind the reader of those of Don Quixote and Sancho, the sapiens tried to teach the Neanderthal how to think like a sapiens and, above all, that prehistory is not a thing of the past: the traces of humanity through the millennia can be found anywhere from a cave or landscape to a playground or a stuffed animal store. It is life that beats in this book. The best of stories.

TRANSLATIONS

Albania: Dudaj; Bulgaria: Colibri; English: Scribe; France: HumenSciences; Greece: Dardanos; Italy: Rizzoli; Korea: Teumsae Books; Poland: Znak; Portugal: Presença; Russia: AST; Serbia: Laguna; Slovakia: Premedia; Turkey: Epsilon-Kafka

La vida contada por un sapiens a un neandertal

Life Told By A Sapiens To A Neanderthal | Alfaguara/PRH, 2020

The ingenuity of Millás and the wisdom of Arsuaga united to tell life as the best of stories.

«You and I could get together to talk about life; we would create a great story about existence. Should we?», said the writer.
«We should», replied the paleontologist.

For years, the interest in understanding life, its origins, and its evolution has resonated in Juan José Millás’ head, so he set out to discover, along with one of the country’s leading specialists in the field, Juan Luis Arsuaga, why we are the way we are and what has led us to the place we are. In this book, the wisdom of the paleontologist is combined with the wit and surprising outlook that the writer has on life. Because Millás is a Neanderthal (or so he says), and Arsuaga, in his eyes, a sapiens.

Thus, over the course of many months, the two visited different places, many of them common backgrounds of our daily lives, and others, unique locations where you can still see the vestiges of what we were, of the place we came from. During these outings, which may remind the reader of those of Don Quixote and Sancho, the sapiens tried to teach the Neanderthal how to think like a sapiens and, above all, that prehistory is not a thing of the past: the traces of humanity through the millennia can be found anywhere from a cave or landscape to a playground or a stuffed animal store. It is life that beats in this book. The best of stories.

TRANSLATIONS

Albania: Dudaj; Bulgaria: Colibri; English: Scribe; France: HumenSciences; Greece: Dardanos; Italy: Rizzoli; Korea: Teumsae Books; Poland: Znak; Portugal: Presença; Russia: AST; Serbia: Laguna; Slovakia: Premedia; Turkey: Epsilon-Kafka

La conciencia contada por un sapiens a un neandertal

Consciousness Told From A Sapiens To A Neanderthal | Alfaguara, 2024

Al otro lado de la niebla

On the Other Side of the Fog | Destino/Planeta, 2024; Suma/PRH, 2005

Nuestro cuerpo: siete millones de años de evolución

Our Body: Seven Million Years of Evolution | Destino/Planeta, 2023

La muerte contada por un sapiens a un neandertal

Death Told By A Sapiens To A Neanderthal | Alfaguara/PRH, 2022

Vida, la gran historia

Life, the Great Story | Destino/Planeta, 2019

El collar del neandertal

The Neanderthal’s Necklace | Destino, 2019 / Temas de Hoy, 1999

Amalur

Amalur. The Atom in the Mind | Destino/Planeta, 2019

La especie elegida

The Chosen Species | Destino, 2019 / Temas de Hoy, 1997

El sello indeleble. Pasado, presente y futuro del ser humano

The Human Signature | Debate/Planeta, 2013

El primer viaje de nuestra vida

The First Journey of Our Life | Temas de Hoy/Planeta, 2012

Breve historia de la Tierra (con nosotros dentro)

A Brief History of Earth | Temas de hoy, 2010

El reloj de Mr. Darwin

Mr. Darwin's Clock | Temas de Hoy/Planeta, 2009

Mi primer libro de la Prehistoria. Cuando el mundo era niño

My First Prehistory Book. When the World Was Just a Child | Espasa, 2008

La saga humana

The Human Saga | Edaf, 2007

Al otro lado de la niebla

On the Other Side of the Fog | Suma/PRH, 2005

El mundo de Atapuerca

The World of Atapuerca | Plaza & Janés/PRH, 2004

Los aborígenes

The Aborigines. Feeding and Human Evolution | RBA, 2002

El enigma de la esfinge

The Sphinx Enigma | Plaza & Janés/PRH, 2001