From renowned science journalist Sonia Shah, a look at how humans are set apart from other species—and how they aren't—for readers of Sapiens and Humankind.
 
 For centuries, Western societies have been structured around the idea that humans, among all life on earth, are special. Our unique cognitive abilities set us apart from other species; landscapes are sorted into exclusively human and exclusively animal; those who study the biology of animals are separated by discipline from biologists who study humans; history is written as though only humans could exert influence in the world. And yet, all of the qualities that have been offered as evidence of our distinctiveness in nature have been discovered in other non-human species, and by the turn of the 21st century, the limits of human exceptionalism had become clear. Animal-caused pandemics defied the borders we’d drawn between our bodies and theirs, and as the ideology of human exceptionalism collapses, what’s been called a “new animism” has emerged.
 
 Through historical analysis, personal narrative, and original reportage from New Zealand to India to the United States, Special traces its centuries-old story, from its inception in the 17th century to its incorporation into science, society, and our everyday lives—and how its impending collapse could revolutionize our ideas about ourselves, our fellow creatures, and our common future.