The Handshake: A Gripping History Audiobook By Ella Al-Shamahi cover art

The Handshake: A Gripping History

 Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection of titles.
Yours as long as you’re a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for $8.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Handshake: A Gripping History

By: Ella Al-Shamahi
Narrated by: Ella Al-Shamahi
Try Standard free

$8.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $14.66

Buy for $14.66

Friends do it, strangers do it and so do chimpanzees - and it's not just deeply embedded in our history and culture, it may even be written in our DNA. The humble handshake, it turns out, has a rich and surprising history.

So let's join palaeoanthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi as she embarks on a funny and fascinating voyage of discovery - from the handshake's origins (at least seven million years ago) all the way to its sudden disappearance in March 2020. Drawing on new research, anthropological insights and first-hand experience, she'll reveal how this most friendly of gestures has played a role in everything from meetings with uncontacted tribes to political assassinations - and what it tells us about the enduring power of human contact.

Because the story of the handshake ... is far from over.

“It's a little book of wonder, it's fantastic” CHRIS EVANS

“A fabulously sparky, wide-ranging and horizon-broadening little study ... joyously unboring” SUNDAY TIMES

©2022 Ella Al-Shamahi (P)2022 W. F. Howes Ltd Social Sciences Anthropology Inspiring Funny

Critic reviews

“It's a little book of wonder; it's fantastic.” (Chris Evans)

“A fabulously sparky, wide-ranging and horizon-broadening little study...joyously unboring." (Sunday Times)
All stars
Most relevant
As a self proclaimed germaphobe, that handshake has always been something I’ve frustratingly tolerated with a dab of sanitizer discretely afterwards. I’ve never understood why this gesture ever existed, and how in a post Covid 19 world, it persists. This book helped me understand it so much more than I ever thought possible. The history, the science, everything. It also made me realize that it’s probably never going away, so I’ll just keep my mini bottle of sanitizer nearby indefinitely.

Fascinating and Thought Provoking

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I found the historical information within the book interesting. The author did a good job of reading it. I struggled to finish it due to the author's polical bias when referring to American politics. The author is a British Muslim and should not show or state bias on any other countries policies or politics.

Historical Information within book informative

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.