The Professor Emerita at the University of Sydney makes a radical, compelling new account of the origin of human language. It wasn't hunting or fighting or simply being smart that gave us language: it was caring for our kids.

Journeying to the dawn of Homo sapiens, evolutionary biologist Madeleine Beekman reveals the happy ‘accidents’ hidden in our molecular biology – our chromosomes, DNA and proteins – that led to one of the most fateful events in the history of life on Earth: humans giving birth to less developed babies than those of our cousins, the Neanderthals and Denisovans. Faced with highly dependent infants requiring years of nurturing and protection, early human communities needed to cooperate and coordinate, and it was this unprecedented need for communication that triggered the creation of human language – and changed everything.

Infusing cutting-edge science, sharp humour and insights into the history of biology and its luminaries, Beekman weaves a narrative that’s both enlightening and entertaining. Challenging the traditional theories proposed by men such as Noam Chomsky, Steven Pinker and Yuval Noah Harari, she invites us into the intricate world of molecular biology and its ancient secrets. The Origin of Language is a tour de force by a brilliant biologist on how a culture of cooperation and care have shaped our existence from the very beginning.