Ten thousand years ago, in prehistory, there was a revolution that changed the landscape around us and our relationship with plants and animals, making also our DNA different. It’s the Neolithic revolution, the dawn of our history.

Today, eating pasta and walking the dog are taken for granted. But if we look back a little, we realise that these and many other daily activities, far from being revolutionary in themselves, are the direct result of a revolution: the most radical of all. Ten thousand years ago, in fact, changes were set in motion that still affect us today, influencing the way we live, eat and relate. A revolution so great that it altered the DNA (ours and that of many animals and plants). In fact, everything changed with the Neolithic period: a humanity that had always been hungry began to produce the food it needed, and thus to grow and spread across the planet. Agriculture and animal husbandry in the space of a few millennia reached the entire world. Starting from the Fertile Crescent, humans stopped being nomads and started building villages and then cities, where our society took shape. For example, if today many people in Europe drink milk and speak similar languages, it is a consequence of Neolithic migrations. At that time we also started to genetically modify plants and animals, and we have never stopped. This book is a journey into the past that helps us understand how much genetics has to do with our lives and debunks many of the myths and errors of current narratives (such as discussions on race or ethnic substitution).