{"product_id":"the-handshake-a-gripping-history-1","title":"The Handshake: A Gripping History","description":"Product Description      \nA TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR'It's a little book of wonder, it's fantastic' Chris Evans'A fabulously sparky, wide-ranging and horizon-broadening little study ... joyously unboring' Sunday TimesFriends do it, strangers do it and so do chimpanzees - and it's not just deeply embedded in our history and culture, it may even be written in our DNA. The humble handshake, it turns out, has a rich and surprising history.So let's join palaeoanthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi as she embarks on a funny and fascinating voyage of discovery - from the handshake's origins (at least seven million years ago) all the way to its sudden disappearance in March 2020. Drawing on new research, anthropological insights and first-hand experience, she'll reveal how this most friendly of gestures has played a role in everything from meetings with uncontacted tribes to political assassinations - and what it tells us about the enduring power of human contact.Because the story of the handshake ... is far from over.\n      Review      \nAl-Shamahi's beguiling book has a more general claim to attention than merely being an account of the crisis in manners that Covid has made ... cheerful, witty and well-researched. -- Stephen Bayley ―\nSpectator\n\nIt's a little book of wonder, it's fantastic -- Chris Evans\n\nA fabulously sparky, wide-ranging and horizon-broadening little study ... joyously unboring ―\nSunday Times\n\nHaving not particularly missed shaking hands over the past year, I ended this very engaging little book so desperate to get started again that I'm in danger of becoming a super-spreader. ―\nTelegraph\n\n[Ella Al-Shamahi] makes a convincing argument that in the not-so-distant future we will once again be clasping the clammy, germ-ridden paws of near-strangers. I can't wait. ―\nDaily Mail\n\nBrisk, quirky and good-humoured ―\nThe Business Post\n      Book Description      \nThis quirky and engaging history reveals the secrets of one of our most ancient social gestures\n      About the Author      \nElla Al-Shamahi is a National Geographic Explorer, paleoanthropologist, evolutionary biologist and stand-up comic. She specialises in Neanderthals, caves and expeditions in hostile, disputed and unstable territories. She is a TV presenter, a TED 2019 speaker and has taken 4 shows up to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She has degrees in Genetics, Taxonomy and Biodiversity and is undertaking her PhD in Palaeoanthropology.","brand":"smeikalbooks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":39972973969493,"sku":"9781788167802N","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/c0c552fd-3372-4011-ae2b-1f3c11de7a31.jpg?v=1647338659","url":"https:\/\/smeikalbooks.co.uk\/en-us\/products\/the-handshake-a-gripping-history-1","provider":"smeikalbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}