Just Finished Reading: The Human Swarm – How Our Societies Arise, Thrive, and Fall by Mark W Moffett (FP: 2019) [424pp] 

Even seemingly the most mundane things can be surprising if you think about them for a while and with a different perspective. Take for example walking into your local coffee shop. You walk in and see a few empty tables; you spot a few people you recognise from previous visits and you nod a hello to your favourite barista. You join the queue and slowly shuffle to the front, order your brew, pick it up a few moments later and snag one of the two remaining spots. Sipping the hot coffee, you pull your laptop out of your bag and check your e-mail while your coffee cools a little. What could be more normal? What you don’t realise is just how ABnormal the whole thing is. We are the only species that can encounter complete strangers in a confined space on a regular basis and not completely freak out about it. Our closest chimp relative would be hyper-stressed by the whole thing and would, if dropped into such an environment populated with his own kind rather than ours would instantly flash to a fight-flight response. There would, as a significant understatement, be carnage. We are the only species that can be in (often very) close proximity with people we have never seen before and who may look and sound very different from us and IGNORE it. We have developed, over our long, long history, the ability to live in anonymous societies, and it is this ability that allows us to build towns, cities and global civilisations. 

Unfortunately, for such a (reasonably) chunky and involved book that’s just about what I took away from the whole thing. Part of the problem I had is (again unfortunately) with the author. He’s a Biologist with a particular interest in ants. I also have an interest in ants and I did find some of his comments and observations rather engrossing. Less so, not doubt as we’ve all been guilty of, with his comparisons between them and us [Side Note: If you haven’t seen the 1954 SF horror flick ‘Them!’ I can definitely recommend it]. Somewhat more relevant was his discussion of the deep societal differences between chimps (our closest evolutionary relatives) and Homo Sapiens. The book started to go downhill for me, and SLOW down too, with the seemingly endless discussion, which was HEAVY with speculation, regarding the transition from hunter-gatherer bands to semi-nomadic and ultimately fixed societies made up of relative strangers. FAR too often the author brought up unfounded assumptions (more than once actually flagged as speculative) and then proceeded to build on these invented ‘foundations’ to explain how we got here today. Although there are copious Endnotes I would have much preferred them in the form of Footnotes so I didn’t have to flick back and forth when I felt the need to. That got annoying fast! Lastly, my other big criticism was about his whole perspective on societal ‘markers’ that are used to separate ‘us’ from ‘them’. Almost without fail the author used American ideals as if they were universals – for example love of flag. Coming from a country where Union Flag underwear, socks and pillow cases are unremarkable, American style patriotism is a real headscratcher. If people here used Union Jack’s to light a BBQ the only thing that would raise any issues is the possibility of air pollution. This was the author’s most obvious example of ‘markers’ and, despite his stories of visits to other countries and other cultures, showed that he was (more than likely subconsciously) using a very local perspective to try to explain an obviously global question. There were moments when I almost DNF’d this but I gritted my teeth and ploughed on. It was honestly interesting at times but I had to grind through quite a lot to find the good stuff. Disappointingly not recommended.