Take a photo of a barcode or cover
288 reviews for:
Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers: The Acclaimed Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping
Robert M. Sapolsky
4.05 AVERAGE
288 reviews for:
Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers: The Acclaimed Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping
Robert M. Sapolsky
4.05 AVERAGE
Not actually enjoying this book as much as I thought I woudl, given Sapolsky's brilliant lectures. He is able to make flippant, "trite" comments - an ability that you only gain once you are so excruciatingly familiar with your subject matter. But sometimes, I feel parts of it are too "dumbed down". Or the flippant jokes can catch me off guard.
challenging
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
(Read as physical book)
What's it about?
It's mostly about the biological mechanisms of stress. Answer to question in title is that zebras get stressed when being chases by a lion, and then either get away and stop being stressed or get caught and eaten. Humans on the the other hand can get chronic stress by worrying about things, mostly about other people. The book focuses on the many ways that stress can be bad for you, including compromising immune response and stunting growth. The
What did I think?
I really enjoy Sapolsky's writing. He does a good job of making the science interesting and engaging, and I enjoy his asides. I liked how things are presented, with each chapter focusing on a different aspect of stress. I got a bit bored with the focus on the biological mechanisms. I preferred the parts on the psychological and social aspects of stress, but there were less of them. I would have a hard time recommending the book, while I would definitely recommend Sapolsky's Behave book.
What's it about?
It's mostly about the biological mechanisms of stress. Answer to question in title is that zebras get stressed when being chases by a lion, and then either get away and stop being stressed or get caught and eaten. Humans on the the other hand can get chronic stress by worrying about things, mostly about other people. The book focuses on the many ways that stress can be bad for you, including compromising immune response and stunting growth. The
What did I think?
I really enjoy Sapolsky's writing. He does a good job of making the science interesting and engaging, and I enjoy his asides. I liked how things are presented, with each chapter focusing on a different aspect of stress. I got a bit bored with the focus on the biological mechanisms. I preferred the parts on the psychological and social aspects of stress, but there were less of them. I would have a hard time recommending the book, while I would definitely recommend Sapolsky's Behave book.
Zebras don't get ulcers because they kick anyone trying to shove a endoscope into any of their orifices. What you can't see doesn't exist
My edition is 1992 so I'd really prefer to read something more up to date
informative
slow-paced
A textbook for the average person. The writing was fluid and interesting but it did get a bit thick at times. I liked how all the subtopics were pretty short and easy to skip over if I wasn't interested in the topic. Overall life is stressful, learn to deal with it in healthy ways.
This book is so very good despite it being so very long. Most books mention stress as this bad thing that causes all kinds of ailments, but Robert Sapolsky really goes onto depth and explains the biological mechanisms behind a variety of things that are related to stress, and he does it well scientifically. On top of this feat, he's also a great writer with the talent of making an expository text interesting and hard to put down. Think Bill Bryson but add a ton of scientific rigor. This is astounding - a balancing act of making the text entertaining while keeping it at a high scientific standard is difficult to pull off. Plus, as a scientist myself, I'm normally not interested in reading about science - either it's not rigorous enough, or it's too academic for my leisure time given I already deal with this stuff for work. I also liked that the author was modest, seemingly not an uberego, which as a lady in academia is appreciated - especially at Stanford, where I encountered way too many of these egomaniacs!