The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health and Disease

ISBN-13: 9780141399959 / Angielski / Miękka / 2014 / 480 str.

Daniel Lieberman

Opis

This book explores how the way we use our bodies is all wrong. From an evolutionary perspective, if normal is defined as what most people have done for millions of years, then it's normal to walk and run 9-15 kilometers a day to hunt and gather fresh food which is high in fibre, low in sugar, and barely processed. It's also normal to spend much of your time nursing, napping, making stone tools, and gossiping with a small band of people. Our 21st-century lifestyles, argues Dan Lieberman, are out of synch with our stone-age bodies. Never have we been so healthy and long-lived - but never, too, have we been so prone to a slew of problems that were, until recently, rare or unknown, from asthma, to diabetes, to - scariest of all - overpopulation. This book asks how our bodies got to be the way they are, and considers how that evolutionary history can help us evaluate how we use our bodies.

Recenzje

Monumental. The Story of the Human Body, by one of our leading experts, takes us on an epic voyage that reveals how the past six million years shaped every part of us - our heads, limbs, and even our metabolism. Through Lieberman's eyes, evolutionary history not only comes alive, it also becomes the means to understand, and ultimately influence, our body's future Neil Shubin, author of Your Inner Fish

O autorze

Daniel Lieberman is Edwin M. Lerner II Professor of Biological Sciences and a professor of the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. He is a leading figure in the field of human evolution and its relevance to health. He is renowned for his research on the evolution of running, which he also enjoys himself - sometimes barefoot, earning him the nickname 'the Barefoot Professor'. He has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles, many of them in Nature and Science. His previous books include The Story of the Human Body. He lives in Massachusetts.