AT A time when youth culture is feared and demonised, here is a welcome antidote. As well as providing a highly readable account of the physical, emotional and mental changes that occur in the second decade of life, argues that teenagers are the most impressive creatures on the planet. The evolution of adolescence, he contends, is what allowed the human brain to make its 鈥済reat leap forward鈥�.
Bainbridge鈥檚 thesis is thought-provoking, if not entirely convincing. Recent research leaves no doubt that the teenage years are special, but was the emergence of adolescence, between 800,000 and 300,000 years ago, necessary for us to become fully human? Surely the adult brain could be rewired without all that teenage angst? Perhaps, instead, the evolution of rebellious, creative teenagers who see the world afresh each generation is what allows our species to be so adaptable to whatever life should throw at us.
Teenagers: A natural history
Portobello Books