The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and DiseaseIn this landmark book of popular science, Daniel E. Lieberman—chair of the department of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and a leader in the field—gives us a lucid and engaging account of how the human body evolved over millions of years, even as it shows how the increasing disparity between the jumble of adaptations in our Stone Age bodies and advancements in the modern world is occasioning this paradox: greater longevity but increased chronic disease. The Story of the Human Body brilliantly illuminates as never before the major transformations that contributed key adaptations to the body: the rise of bipedalism; the shift to a non-fruit-based diet; the advent of hunting and gathering, leading to our superlative endurance athleticism; the development of a very large brain; and the incipience of cultural proficiencies. Lieberman also elucidates how cultural evolution differs from biological evolution, and how our bodies were further transformed during the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions. While these ongoing changes have brought about many benefits, they have also created conditions to which our bodies are not entirely adapted, Lieberman argues, resulting in the growing incidence of obesity and new but avoidable diseases, such as type 2 diabetes. Lieberman proposes that many of these chronic illnesses persist and in some cases are intensifying because of “dysevolution,” a pernicious dynamic whereby only the symptoms rather than the causes of these maladies are treated. And finally—provocatively—he advocates the use of evolutionary information to help nudge, push, and sometimes even compel us to create a more salubrious environment. (With charts and line drawings throughout.) |
Contents
3 Much Depends on Dinner | |
4 The First HunterGatherers | |
Energy in the Ice | |
6A Very Cultured Species | |
Progress Mismatch and Dysevolution | |
8 Paradise Lost? | |
The Vicious Circle of Too Much | |
Disuse | |
12The Hidden Dangers of Novelty and Comfort | |
Survival of the Fitter | |
Acknowledgments | |
Index | |
A Note About the Author | |
9 Modern Times Modern Bodies | |
Other editions - View all
The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health and Disease Daniel Lieberman No preview available - 2013 |
The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health and Disease Daniel Lieberman No preview available - 2013 |
Common terms and phrases
adapted adults Africa agriculture American Journal ancestors animals apes archaic humans Ardipithecus ramidus atherosclerosis australopiths bigger Biology bipedalism bipeds body’s bones brain calories Cambridge cancer carbohydrates cause cells chew chimpanzee chimps cultural evolution developed diet digest dysevolution early hominins effects energy environments erectus evidence Evolutionary Medicine evolutionary mismatches evolutionary perspective evolved factors farmers farming fiber forage fossils fructose fruit function genes genetic glucose grow heart disease hominins hormones human body Human Evolution hunter hunter-gatherers hunting and gathering Ice Age increase Industrial Revolution insulin Journal of Human legs less levels live liver Medicine metabolic million years ago mismatch diseases modern humans muscles myopia natural selection Neanderthals obesity osteoclasts osteoporosis Oxford people’s percent physical activity population prevent primates problem rates reproductive risk running Sciences USA shoes sometimes species sugar survive teeth type 2 diabetes University Press Upper Paleolithic walking