I’m always looking for books that challenge the status quo, and when I learned about Roland Ennos’ new book The Powerful Primate: How Controlling Energy Enabled Us to Build Civilization, I couldn’t wait to get my eyes on it. In this landmark work, Ennos offers “a compelling argument that flips the traditional view of humanity on its head. Rather than focusing solely on our intellectual abilities…[he] argues it’s our physical power and engineering brilliance that have set us apart in the animal kingdom.” (His arguments reminded me of an eye-opening interview I did with author Justin Gregg.) Here’s what Ennos had to say about these intriguing and well-supported ideas blending anthropology, biomechanics, and history, and the costs of progress. Marc Bekoff: Why did you write The Powerful Primate? Roland Ennos: In my last book, The Science of Spin, I uncovered the ways in which we use rotational motion. I showed how we use compound sling actions to swing our arms when we hit or throw, and described how spinning machinery powers our modern world. In …