So many background elements in our lives (iPhones! Hot Pockets! Poly-blend slacks!) are brand-new developments in human history. While we can mentally understand the benefits of technology, our dumb ape bodies are still adjusting. In his new book, The World Until Yesterday, Jared Diamond explains how we can learn from our distant past as a species and apply those lessons to our modern, indoor-plumbing-drunk times. Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel was an anthropological blockbuster, and Yesterday looks like it’ll be a hot topic for months to come. (Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave, townhallseattle.org, 7:30 pm, $5)