THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
‘Nobody deals with challenging subjects more interestingly and compellingly than Adam Rutherford, and this may be his best book yet. This is a seriously important work’ BILL BRYSON
‘A fascinating and timely refutation of the casual racism on the rise around the world. The ultimate anti-racism guide for data-lovers everywhere’ CAROLINE CRIADO PEREZ
***
Race is real because we perceive it. Racism is real because we enact it. But the appeal to science to strengthen racist ideologies is on the rise – and increasingly part of the public discourse on politics, migration, education, sport and intelligence. Stereotypes and myths about race are expressed not just by overt racists, but also by well-intentioned people whose experience and cultural baggage steer them towards views that are not supported by the modern study of human genetics. Even some scientists are uncomfortable expressing opinions deriving from their research where it relates to race. Yet, if understood correctly, science and history can be powerful allies against racism, granting the clearest view of how people actually are, rather than how we judge them to be.
HOW TO ARGUE WITH A RACIST is a vital manifesto for a twenty-first century understanding of human evolution and variation, and a timely weapon against the misuse of science to justify bigotry.
‘Nobody deals with challenging subjects more interestingly and compellingly than Adam Rutherford, and this may be his best book yet. This is a seriously important work’ BILL BRYSON
‘A fascinating and timely refutation of the casual racism on the rise around the world. The ultimate anti-racism guide for data-lovers everywhere’ CAROLINE CRIADO PEREZ
***
Race is real because we perceive it. Racism is real because we enact it. But the appeal to science to strengthen racist ideologies is on the rise – and increasingly part of the public discourse on politics, migration, education, sport and intelligence. Stereotypes and myths about race are expressed not just by overt racists, but also by well-intentioned people whose experience and cultural baggage steer them towards views that are not supported by the modern study of human genetics. Even some scientists are uncomfortable expressing opinions deriving from their research where it relates to race. Yet, if understood correctly, science and history can be powerful allies against racism, granting the clearest view of how people actually are, rather than how we judge them to be.
HOW TO ARGUE WITH A RACIST is a vital manifesto for a twenty-first century understanding of human evolution and variation, and a timely weapon against the misuse of science to justify bigotry.
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Reviews
Enlightening and entertaining
A fascinating and timely refutation of the casual racism on the rise around the world. The ultimate anti-racism guide for data-lovers everywhere
Brilliant, succinct genetics for the uninitiated
Adam Rutherford is the perfect writer to arm you with evidence
This fascinating, illuminating and original book on human evolution and development is essential reading in an age of false science, resurgent racism and conspiracy theory - and the perfect antidote to racial bigotry
Nobody deals with challenging subjects more interestingly and compellingly than Adam Rutherford, and this may be his best book yet. This is a seriously important work
A counter-blast to those who would use science to justify prejudice
How to Argue with a Racist is doubtlessly one of the most important reads of the year. But it's arguably the most interesting too . . . Engaging and thought-provoking throughout
A remarkable telling of the shared ancestry of the human race. The book is a treasure trove filled with gems of knowledge from the field of genetics and what it knows about skin colour, intelligence, ancestry, athletic ability and racial superiority. The reader is provided the fascinating scientific weaponry to confidently take on questions about race, genes, ancestry. Ultimately, Rutherford's book is a challenge against the manipulation, misrepresentation, and abuse of science to justify hatred and prejudice
Adam Rutherford is a master storyteller
Stylish and punchy
Characteristically far-reaching, insightful and brilliant, Adam Rutherford casts his net wide in a book that is as timely as it is invigorating and important
Rutherford, a geneticist, debunks racist pseudoscience, showing that everyone's ancestry is cosmopolitan in a stylish, punchy, myth-busting study
Elucidating, enabling, and powerful in its simplicity, everyone should have a copy of this book
If teaching is what makes humans special, then Adam Rutherford is superhuman - a truly gifted transmitter of knowledge: lucid, enlightening, witty and delightful
[An] enthralling, illuminating book
Timely and accessible
Poignant . . . A timely weapon against the misuse of science to justify bigotry and casual racism
A book that could save lives
Admirable . . . The reader will be similarly enriched by the quick blood of this book
Not only shows what science really says about race, ancestry and genetics, but also helps us argue against the idea that certain people are biologically inferior and encourages informed conversations about race . . . This book's gift is to use science to talk about a pseudoscience
One of the most pleasing observations offered by Adam Rutherford, a great communicator who knows how to simplify difficult concepts, is that the racist you are arguing with will themself be far from racially pure
Dr Adam Rutherford has a gift for making complicated concepts simple
For centuries science has been used and abused by racists. This book wrests it from their grubby hands by showing that race is biologically meaningless and that modern genetic science is a racist's worst enemy. Along the way Adam Rutherford reveals that you are related to royalty, that every Nazi had Jewish ancestors and that you share no DNA with half your ancestors. A critical book on a critical issue
A fascinating debunking of racial pseudoscience . . . engaging and enlightening . . . equip[s] the reader with the scientific tools necessary to tackle questions concerning race, genes and ancestry
Vital
HOW TO ARGUE WITH A RACIST smashes race myths that plague society