The Ten Types of Human - Dexter Dias

Where do I start with this one? A monstrous 800-page tome which somehow managed to keep me utterly engaged and hooked for its entirety. I received this book as a gift, based on how much I liked Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, and it was reminiscent of Harari's text in a lot of ways. This book is such a fantastic blend of fact and storytelling - so much so that you forget you're reading a work non-fiction and become fully absorbed in Dias's writing.

Dias is a human rights lawyer and draws on his own experiences and interactions with many people from different walks of life, in order to explain and analyse his 'ten types of human'. These types are: 

• The Kinsman, who will protect their own blood at any expense; 
• The Perceiver of Pain, who not only recognises but also feels the pain of others; 
• The Ostraciser, a figure which exists amongst all human beings and animals; 
• The Tamer of Terror, who recognises our fragility and the fear this instills; 
• The Nurturer, the self-sacrificing parental figure; 
• The Romancer, a passionate and free-spirited person; 
• The Aggressor, who practises violence as a defence mechanism; 
• The Tribalist, who is violent and fiercely protective; 
• The Beholder, who is drawn in by superficial beauty; and
• The Rescuer, an altruistic figure who will defend and save anyone, regardless of relation.

Each type is described in terms of the science and psychology behind its title, and Dias then refers to many interesting figures he has encountered throughout his life or during his time as a lawyer. His travels, both physically and through the novel, extend to Russia, Central African Republic and Haiti, to name a few. Each place he visits presents a harrowing tale, with some difficult themes such as child trafficking, slave labour, and FGM - but each tale plays a part in presenting the ten types of human within the novel. 

I particularly like Dias's enthralling style of writing, in which he intermittently jumps back and forth between dialogue, theory, neuroscience, anecdote, and even letters. This creates an engaging and exciting narrative which is difficult to drag yourself away from. Each night I would find myself thinking "just 50 more pages" and over 100 later I would still be glued and completely unable to put it down and turn off the light. Ultimately I learned so much from this book, and was surprised to find myself as captivated as though I were reading a fictional novel. This was due to the interspersed stories of the interesting people we encounter throughout.

That's not to say that this wasn't also a challenging read. Dias presents a number of moral dilemmas to readers throughout the text which are completely gut-wrenching, but which help illuminate the qualities of the particular type of human in question. For example, you are presented with a scenario: you wake up to the smell of smoke, and realise quickly that your house is on fire. You ignore your instincts and head towards the source of the fire, out of your room, and into the corridor where on either side, at equal distance from you, are your daughter's bedrooms. Each contains one of your two daughters, aged six and seven, and you can only possibly save one child. An impossible choice, right? Then Dias throws something else into the mix: one of your children has a life-limiting disease and has been given approximately one year to live. The other may live a long and healthy life. Does this affect your decision?

It is questions like this, those that make you feel completely uncomfortable, which frame many of Dias's elucidations of the "Ten Types of Human" - which one do you identify with? Are there elements of a few, or many? If I urge you to read one book this year, definitely make it this one! It definitely stays with you far beyond the last page. It will make you feel hopeful, at times sorrowful, and definitely uplifted by the end!