This is a small book on a large subject: What is special about human beings? Hamlet mused, 'What a piece of work is man How noble in reason how like a god ' but went on to speak of this quintessence of dust . Helen Oppenheimer prefers to start with the dust and move to the glory: we really are animals and from these animals has come Shakespeare. People are indeed miserable sinners and also magnificent creatures. The author does not disguise that she is a Christian theologian whose subject is ethics, but she writes equally for non-Christians. Her invitation to the reader is: Here is a way...

This book continues the discussions in "What a piece of work: on being human" (Imprint Academic 2006) and may be considered its sequel. Among all the creatures in the physical universe, humans seem to be more than simply physical, because they are aware of being creatures in the universe. Human beings essentially belong to the world of nature, yet stand out as the most complex and fascinating of all living beings. Like and also unlike other animals, they respond to what happens to them; they make plans and carry them out; they recognize one another, sometimes lovingly; they make friends...