''This book is brilliant. Utterly, utterly brilliant. Apart from the epilogue, which is idiotic'' Jeremy Clarkson''F*cking brilliant'' Sarah KnightAN EXHILARATING JOURNEY THROUGH THE MOST CREATIVE AND CATASTROPHIC F*CK-UPS OF HUMAN HISTORYIn the seventy thousand years that modern human beings have walked this earth, we''ve come a long way. Art, science, culture, trade - on the evolutionary food chain, we''re real winners. But, frankly, it''s not exactly been plain sailing, and sometimes - just occasionally - we''ve managed to really, truly, quite unbelievably f*ck things up.From Chairman Mao''s Four Pests Campaign, to the American Dustbowl; from the Austrian army attacking itself one drunken night, to the world''s leading superpower electing a reality TV mogul as President... it''s pretty safe to say that, as a species, we haven''t exactly grown wiser with age.So, next time you think you''ve really f*cked up, this book will remind you: it could be so much worse...FURTHER PRAISE FOR HUMANS:''Very funny'' Mark Watson''A light-touch history of moments when humans have got it spectacularly wrong... Both readable and entertaining'' The Telegraph''Chronicles humanity''s myriad follies down the ages with malicious glee and much wit ... a rib-tickling page-turner'' Business Standard''A timely, irreverent gallop through thousands of years of human stupidity'' Nicholas Griffin, Ping-Pong Diplomacy: The Secret History Behind the Game That Changed the World