For most of human history, we lived as wandering hunter-gatherers. The settled, modern lifestyles we know today are a very recent development – and, Foster argues, not always to our benefit. To better understand our modern-day lifestyles, he has immersed himself in three pivotal periods of human history: the Upper Palaeolithic, the Neolithic and the Enlightenment. Through these experiences, he explores what it feels like to live in each era and asks what they can teach us about living well in the present.

Charles Foster is a writer, traveller and Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford. His acclaimed books include Being a Beast, a New York Times bestseller that won international recognition for its imaginative exploration of the natural world.