According to Spencer Wells, geneticist, anthropologist and Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society, the most revolutionary moment in human history wasn't when Homo sapiens stepped out of Africa or Nicolaus Copernicus discovered that Earth wasn't the centre of the universe: it was the point that our ancestors stopped hunting and gathering and began to grow their own food.
As a result of this shift 10,000 years ago, our society - and even the planet - has changed in ways never imagined, explains Wells in the cleverly titled and engrossing Pandora's Seed: The Unforseen Cost of Civilisation.
With an elegant and clear writing style, Wells explains how a change in the way our ancestors fed themselves unleashed unexpected evils on the planet and fundamentally altered our environment, our health and even our genomes. And we are still living with the consequences today.
Wells is the head of the Genographic Project and in his previous book, The Journey of Man, he used genetics to trace Homo sapiens's origins. In Pandora's Seed he weaves new genetic research together with archaeology and anthropology to create striking links between the agricultural revolution and unlikely global problems, such as climate change, obesity, terrorism, mental illness and HIV. "Is there some sort of fatal mismatch between Western culture and our biology that is making us ill?" asks Wells.
Pandora's Seed takes the reader back to the Fertile Crescent of Mesopotamia (today's Iraq) and the birth of agriculture to answer that question. Using research he shows that, even though farming gave us more free time and allowed us to develop modern society, after the Agricultural Revolution life was significantly worse for our ancestors.
Populations were no longer limited by the amount of wild crops and animals that could be gathered and hunted, and the number of humans swelled - causing epidemics of disease and famine. These problems have swelled and cascaded to form, in Wells's opinion, almost all of the major problems that society faces today.
The vast scale of the book gives Pandora's Seed appeal to a large audience - anyone with an interest in the human race, science or society would find it fascinating. But there is plenty of genetic and historical data to satisfy data-hounds looking for a more substance.
He keeps the book moving along at a quick pace by beginning each chapter in a different location: while researching the book he travelled the world talking to scientists. It is the way that Wells has mixed work from such a variety of disciplines that makes his arguments so compelling.
But it is one thing to know where society went wrong, and another to change things. According to Wells, the way to set society back onto a sustainable track is to rediscover our place on Earth, assess what humanity really needs, and get back to basics. "With great desires come great consequences," he writes.
How realistic it is to believe we will be able to turn our backs on 10,000 years of development is another question. Wells himself understands the appeal of not having to hunt to stay alive. "Would you want to make stone tools and hunt for your dinner?" he asks.
With a population nearing seven billion and severely depleted natural food sources, it won't be as easy as simply putting down our ploughs and dusting off our spears, but Wells leaves the reader with the understanding that we can't go on as we are - something has got to give.
